Image
1 - Lying on the
floor or along a couch, place the fingertip
ridge just under the base of the head–
find the boney prominence at the back, centre
and bottom of your head and “hook”
that over the S.O.S. ridge (This is the
Occipital protuberance and the ridge of
the S.O.S. needs to be as high as that prominence).
Make sure the head is NOT resting
in the palm section when you start
– there should be a good 3 –
4cms gap between the back
of your head and the floor (Palm section)
of the S.O.S.
When you feel that there is good support
for your head AND a good sense of traction,
just relax, do some deep breathing and let
your neck “lengthen”.
After 5 – 10 minutes
you will probably give a spontaneous “sigh”
and then feel the head “sinking”
back over the ridge – let this happen
it is NOT the head "tipping backwards",
but the neck "lengthening" and
allowing the head to sink and settle over
the ridge of the S.O.S. - Keeping the head
slightly flexed throughout this time. Push
your toes away from you to exaggerate the
traction slightly and then let the head
sink some more. After 15 – 20 minutes
your head will have settled comfortably
into the palm section of the S.O.S. and
the technique is complete. There is NO force
required, just relaxing and letting gravity
work FOR you.
Use the S.O.S. for 15
– 20 minutes at a time only. Have
more sessions in a day but do not go over
this time frame as you may stir yourself
up for a day or two – like after a
heavy massage session.
DO NOT fall ASLEEP on
the S.O.S. – IT IS NOT a PILLOW! -
set a timer if needed!
Place the S.O.S. “anyway
round” Some bigger heads cause the
S.O.S. to “Tip Up” in this position
– if so, turn it around so that the
ridge is still under the base of the head
– BUT the palm section is lying under
the Neck and not the Head (The video shows
this quite well).Basically, whatever “Gets
At It”.
Image 2
- Slump in the chair a little to “Focus”
the upper back onto the S.O.S. Push your
pelvis towards the front of the chair to
aid this. Rotate your arm to help Focus
the S.O.S. onto the painful site. Notice
the S.O.S. can be placed either Across the
spine(to get at both sides at once) or,
Alongside the spine to work the Ribs and
those Deep Muscles like the Rhomboids –
which feature in many pain syndromes of
the Thoracic spine and shoulder girdle.
Image 3 & 4
- Notice the S.O.S.’s curves are such
that you can make the unit fit the Arches
of your spine, allowing you to be more specific
and potent with its use. For the shoulder
region, place the fingertip ridge across
the spine with the palm section towards
the floor – when working from the
lower Ribs into the Lumbar spine, place
the S.O.S. the opposite way around –
with the palm section uppermost. (You can
see what I mean if you enlarge the lower
2 photos)
You can bring BOTH the
fingertip ridge and the two rear prominences
into use, pushing and pulling against the
two areas. The Ribs and Intercostal muscles
can be reached easily with this position.
The lower in the spine you work –
bring your pelvis more towards the back
of the chair.
Image 5 - You
can see the S.O.S.
“The Other Way Round” in this
photo – this IS the most potent position
for work on your neck pain. It is a massage
position – NOT the lying position
described with the first photo! Be VERY
GENTLE! Using the S.O.S. is NOT an EXERCISE,
it is a Relaxation session. When you want
to get that “Deep Massage” Effect,
you should have had a few sessions on the
S.O.S. first, otherwise you may feel a little
sore and bruised the next day – like
a strong massage session, it will settle
in a day or two.
For the neck, gently roll the head from
side to side and tipping Forwards. Try NOT
to tip the head back over the ridge in a
vigorous way – the neck can compact
tipping it back over the ridge and this
is OPPOSITE what we want to achieve.
Shuffle your body up and down to get at
all the neck and after a few sessions you
will really have the hang of it and the
relief you can achieve is …….ASTOUNDING!
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