The Scalenes muscles are located on the side of the neck and interact with the Brachial Plexus which is a bundle of nerves and vasculature that are responsible for the entire arm and hands. If your mouse hand at work is slightly elevated, then the scalenes muscles may be unecessarily engaged and may cause them to enter a dysfunction with symptoms such as neck and arm pain or numbness in the fingers. The counterstrain technique applies pressure to the Scalenes muscles while approximating (or folding) the neck to encourage the tissues to lessen their tension. You may feel referral pain into the back (to that ever-persistent top part of your shoulder blade), chest, shoulder and/or even tingling and heat all the way down to your fingers during this technique. The aim of this technique is to encourage regular, healthy nerve conduction and blood flow to the hands by decreasing the tension of the Scalenes muscles which may be compressing the Brachial Plexus.
Scalenes Muscles and Counterstrain Technique – Jonathan Paez, RMT
