INSPIRATION & EDUCATION

The SCM muscle shown on the front of the neck. This picture is an anatomical drawing of the skeleton--the head to the middle of the sternum. With the only muscle shown the SCM.

This is What You Need to Know About Your Powerful SCM Muscles: the Sternocleidomastoid and TMJ, Neck, and Face Pain, Ear and Throat Dysfunction, Breathing Difficulties, and More!

In my practice, I have seen this manifest in many ways. For instance, I treated a woman who was diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia. She had intense face and ear pain (see ear below) and had been to the emergency room many times. She could not drive because of the medication. She was working with her naturopath, chiropractor, ENT, and others. She had taken rounds of antibiotics. What was missing was soft tissue manipulation of the neck muscles—so simple!

Tara Lee Clasen

Dec 11, 202510 min read

A woman’s back with highlighted, circular pain areas between the shoulders and on her low back. The image in black and white with a pink hue.

Neurogenic inflammation, the Peripheral and Central Nervous Systems, Emotional and Immune System Stress, Collagen, Elastin, Fibroblasts, Inflammation loops, and the Healing of Manual Therapy.

The overall state of your central nervous system influences local pain and inflammation and systemic pain and inflammation. If your system is already taxed, overwhelmed, and producing low-grade systemic inflammation throughout the body, you will have a weakened immune system. When new threats arise in another local system, a shoulder or elbow, your body will probably experience more pain, inflammation, and swelling than needed for the repairs.

Tara Lee Clasen

Nov 19, 20257 min read

Suffer from TMJ, Neck, and Pelvic Floor Pain? Broadly Explore How Your Entire Self —Your TMJ, Neck, and Pelvic Floor, Postural Awareness, and Breath are Connected— and Guide Yourself Out of Pain

By working with the top and bottom of the spine, the jaw joint, the upper cervical spine, and the pelvic floor, we are hitting places that mirror each other in tension. We’re observing which muscles are hypertonic and overworking, and which muscles are underactive, even if they’re also tight and sore. Direct physical touch therapy to the top and bottom of the spine is very healing.

Tara Lee Clasen

Jul 14, 20256 min read

A woman is receiving TMJ massage to the inside of her jaw.

TMJ Pain Relieving Therapy: What Jaw and Neck Muscles Do We Work On?

In this post, I will quickly name some of the TMJ muscles that we work on in a therapy session. In an hour-long session, we are working the head, neck, and TMJ muscles but we won't be able to get to everything. This therapy is slow and detailed, so we may get to different muscles during different sessions. As treatment progresses, more areas will "open up" and treatment can become "deeper."As we work together, we also address muscles such as the psoas, the QL, and the diaphr

Tara Lee Clasen

Oct 23, 20233 min read

Three smiling women with their arms around each other at the beach.

Need Relief From TMJ Pain, Neck Pain, Headaches, Migraines, Pelvic Floor Pain and Dysfunction? Find Out What Women Are Saying About the Manual Therapy Offered by Tara Lee Clasen.

Need relief from TMJ Pain, Neck Pain, and Pelvic Floor Pain? Find out what women say about the manual therapy offered by Tara Lee Clasen.

Tara Lee Clasen

Sep 18, 202227 min read