Trigger point · Neck

Sternocleidomastoid — clavicular division

The point that makes people dizzy. The clavicular division is the deeper head of the sternocleidomastoid, running from the collarbone up to behind the ear, and it does something almost nothing else in this file does: as well as referring pain — to the forehead, and to the ear and behind it — it produces disturbances of balance. Clients report dizziness, unsteadiness, a swimming feeling on turning the head, sometimes nausea. This muscle carries a dense supply of the receptors the body uses to know where the head is, and points in it appear to disorder that signal. It is the reason a balance complaint deserves a neck examination, and it is a genuinely useful thing for a massage therapist to know: the client has usually been told it is their inner ear.