Cranial Trauma during Sports Activities
Author: Wilma Seedorf-Silos
Abstract: This case study is about a 19 year old young man who incurred a cranial trauma from a soccer injury. Due to the injury, the man had quit school and started working. He reported dizziness and headaches, an inability to drive, insomnia, and learning disabilities. The patient received two sessions of Integrative Manual Therapy (IMT). After treatment, re-evaluation showed evidence of increased mobility in his lower quadrant as well as increased activities of daily living. The patient reported a total elimination of headaches and dizziness as well as no longer experiencing insomnia. The patient was playing soccer again.
Key Words: Cranial Trauma, Sports Injuries, Psychosynthesis
The recovery from cranial trauma not only depends on the condition or biomechanics of the cranium, spinal column, pelvis and dural system. It also depends on the mental, emotional, spiritual balance of the patient.
Some of my patients are youngsters who have incurred cranial trauma during sports activities. This case study concerns a soccer player with hypomobility in different parts of the pelvis as a result of recurrent ankle injuries. I choose this case because of his response to the Shock Analog (Therapeutic Horizons—Biologic Analogs, Sharon W. Giammatteo PhD, PT, IMPC and Frank Lowen MT, IMPC) and the being treated with Psychosynthesis (Integrative Diagnostics for Applied Psychosynthesis—Sharon W. Giammatteo PhD, PT, IMPC). This treatment made him understand his inner child.
The patient
The patient is a 19-year-old young man who has been suffering from a headache for 1 year. During a soccermatch he was deliberately hit against the back of his head and, petrified, he fell to the ground. After a few minutes he continued the match despite a strange pounding in his head. Over the following days he developed a headache, dizziness, insomnia, fading of sight, attention and learning disabilities. He wasn’t able to play soccer anymore. He quit school and found a job. The following months, his physical condition decreased. The neurologic diagnosis offered no peculiarities: no extravasations or bone fractures. The treating doctors reassured him that he was healthy. In spite of that, he was frequently confronted with his poor physical condition. Inability to drive in order to go to work exemplified his poor condition.
Mood: At his arrival, he reported that he was very frustrated and angry. He also did not understand why his opponent kicked him from behind.
His future goals:Examination: No problems from birth and no learning disabilities
The site of the injury: Left parietal-occipital region
Visual Examination -- Eye-catching: Wide pupils, three times wider than normal
Gait Analysis: Head forward, cervical column flexed, rotated and side bent left. Bilateral elevated shoulders. Walking with right leg in exorotation and poor interaction between foot and pelvis.
Myofascial Mapping:
Diaphragms: No noticeable difference in excursion during respiration in all four diaphragms.
The first treatment:
He descended into a deltastate and he had the sensation of an odour. I decided to look for the significant ages: five, eleven, sixteen and eighteen years old. The odour belonged to the five-year stage and this gave him a very clear picture of himself. The eleven-year stage was almost the same story. The sixteen-year stage was even stronger. This sequence gave a sudden understanding of his personality. At eighteen years, his opponent was in the same position as he was in at five, eleven and sixteen. He immediately understood the action of his opponent. At the same moment, I noticed a relaxation of the tentorium and repositioning of the limbic system. He felt the anger flowing out of his body. His permanent headache also vanished and the shoulders, hip, and ankle structures lost their tension. He was also able to agree with the action of his opponent, because it resembled the way in which he acted at five, eleven and sixteen. When he was that old, he didn’t accept anybody to force him into doing things he didn’t like. After two hours of treatment, he couldn’t find his balance in sitting. I worked with the pineal-pituatary switch to connect the different bodies and with the pancreas support to the limbic system, he found his new balance.
He went home with lots of Neurofascial Process (NFP) to his limbic system and liver and he was surprised by his own personality and impressed by the possibilities of Integrative Manual Therapy (IMT©).
The second visit:
No Headache anymore! He plays soccer again. He is also able to work again and to drive his car. The insomnia also belongs to the past. These changes made him a very happy person.
Examination: The diameter of the pupils fluctuates between normal and double size.
Gait Analysis: No elevated shoulders while walking. More rotation in the spinal column.
Myofascial Mapping: The mapping changes from total body still space into a transverse plane positive mapping of the lower right extremity, pelvis, spinal cord, and the occipital region.
The second treatment:
Treatment for pelvis, right leg and ankle with all IMT techniques available opened the possibilities to successful work in the cranium. At the end of the second treatment, he had a new pelvis, right leg and ankle. He also plays soccer as never before. We made an appointment for a third treatment to follow-up and dot the "I’s" and cross the "T’s".