Question
four weeks ago i started chiropractic care for a pain and numbness in my limbs, shoulders, and neck caused by forward head/shoulders. Since my second adjustment (ive been having three a week) I have a large lump in my throat, just where my neck meets my jawline, and all the way to the jaw in all directions. I also have an extra lump that wasn't there before (i don't know how else to describe it) in my throat, just below adam's apple.  My adam's apple is swollen and tender on both sides and has been pushed up against the lump under my jaw for about 3 weeks-- it was the first symptom i was aware of. When I get tired or gassy, it sometimes seems like it ascends up out of my neck entirely.  It has been getting better of late, but the discomfort (really no constant pain, scattered bits as i feel pressure on my throat) is always worse when tired, sometimes seemingly unbearable.  When its not agitated by fatigue, it feels like theres a lump in my throat that just won't swallow, and that my jaw is being pulled towards my neck, almost like its got rubber bands attaching it.
Sometimes I get a lot of gas pain in chest lately, which is odd because my gas pains usually come from a bit deeper.  And when i feel i need to belch it just will not come out, and when it does its forced and just a tiny bit.  I can feel pretty much every lymph node in my neck, and the one under my chin is rather unhappy-- very inflamed and sometimes painful.

Well I was wondering what you thought may be the problem.  My posture has changes quite a bit so my chiropractor just waves this off as normal without really listening to me, and says "well your muscles are getting a good workout" My main concern is that the home neck traction that I am doin twice a day as part of my treatment is upsetting it, but I'd really just like to know what is wrong, and I can do to help make it go away.

Answer

Hanna Somatic Educatio Hello, Jordan,

The "rubber bands" feeling and your chiropractor's comment about the muscles getting a good workout point to the same thing:  muscles in contraction.

The swallowing muscles of the throat, when in spasm, create the "lump" feeling.  The "gas pain" feeling would be muscles in contraction of the same muscles, lower down.  The adams' apple displacement has a similar cause: muscular pulls.

It all sounds muscular, to me.  Sometimes, chiropractic adjustments provoke spastic responses in the muscles attached to the bones being adjusted.

That's a description of the problem, as I see it.

Here's a description of the solution:  clinical somatic education.

The procedures ease muscular spasticity by retraining brain-muscle conditioning (the 'education' part).  Considered "movement education", it's actually training in muscular control.

Here's a write-up of mine on the process:

http://somatics.com/pdf/What_Really_Happens_in_a_Somatics_Session.pdf

Here's a write-up of mine on traction.  Up-front, I'll say it:  I'm against it.  The write-up says why.

http://somatics.com/page4.htm#Traction

I believe you can get good results from some sessions of clinical somatic education.

practitioner list: http://hannasomatics.com/practitioners

If necessary, I can make a recommendation for self-help/self-care exercises.

regard,
Lawrence Gold