I have so far had some success with treatment by a Osteopathic Neuromuscular Medicine specialist today. He manipulates muscles and maybe nerves. He did not “pop” the joints like chiropractors do - I don’t like that feeling very much. His manipulation is much gentler. My pain has improved since that treatment. He wants to see me again in 4-6 weeks. Maybe others are interested in seeking this kind of specialist for management of pain.
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We’ve had a number of members comment that osteopathic treatments were helpful for pain reduction so I’m glad you’ve also found this to be true. I saw an osteopath for 10 weekly sessions several years ago that definitely helped reduce pain in my body, some of which was residual from ES & some from other things so I am also an osteopath fan.
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As long as they’re gentle then that’s okay, and I’m glad it helped you…be very wary of anyone who does want to ‘pop’ the joints as this can be dangerous with ES!
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Thank you. Before I heard possible ES, I was seeing chiropractor. I decided to stop until we found more answers as I became scared of possible complications.
I was impressed that the osteopath stated that he had to be very careful not to damage the styloid/stylohyoid ligament.
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It sounds like you’re seeing an ES knowledgeable osteopath, @cooky! 
I think mine was too as we had several discussions about ES even though I was a number of years post op. It’s rare to find someone who’s not in the proper medical field who knows about ES unless that medical practitioner has had ES him/herself.
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It does seem odd. He is pretty young, but he said I am his second ES patient. He also had two medical students with him, so good that they are getting exposed to it and can help those patients.
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That’s good to hear, raising awareness! 
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Gentle seems to be the way to go. I unfortunately had a physiotherapist palpate my C1 quite firmly and since I have a huge increase in intracranial hypertension symptoms. My neurosurgeon said this is common, although they cannot say exactly why. At the time I felt it was wrong, but made the mistake of hoping it may help. Now I need surgery asap as my optic nerves are under pressure. So as all wise posts above have said, gentle all the way. Even though sometimes we just want someone to get in there and release the pain.
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@Harry - Thank you for the warning & your unfortunate experience as an example. I hope you’re able to get surgery ASAP. Please let us know when you have a surgery date as @Jules & I like to pray for our members especially on surgery day.
I have to say I had a similar situation but after hip replacement surgery. I had a PT who was too aggressive in stretching my left quadriceps muscle. Thinking “no pain, no gain” I grimaced my way through the appointment but ended up w/ severe nerve pain from groin to knee for months afterward. I couldn’t blame the PT entirely because I kept my mouth shut, but he should have known better so early in my recovery. Sigh…a hard learned lesson!
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