Injury and Upper Back Pain

Check out the three images as we go through.

 

PRE

– My client came in to clinic with an 8-9/10 high level stabbing and constant pain in their upper back (left side).

– They could only lift their arm up to the side (abduct) to about 80degrees.

– They’d been doing DIY on the weekend. A lot of sawing wood, left handed.

INTERVENTION

 

– Our aim is not to chase the pain.

– Our aim is to assess and identify the ‘Primary Structural Stressor’ driving the pain response.

– So we assess the CNS (Central Nervous System). We are looking for the irritation that is creating muscular/soft tissue spasm/tension.

– Of course it may be where the pain is………. but it’s usually elsewhere.

– We assess the dura mater, which is the sleeve around the CNS. We can do this with a relatively simple leg length assessment.

– This client’s right leg was significantly shorter.

– Now – it get’s interesting.

– On turning their head the leg length completely levels out!!

– This tells us that the primary driver and priority level to address and correct is an ‘upper’ issue. This means that the tissues we need to release are around the neck, head and jaw.

– Next we palpate the tissues. First we notice that there is a lot of rigidity and tension in the left upper back and the right lower back. That’s quite interesting because of this diagonal or ‘sling’ pattern that is used when sawing with your left arm.

– Interesting yet not compelling – This is not the primary driver that we need to address.

– As we assessed around the neck we found that the Scalene muscles at the side and front of the neck were rigid and tense. As these muscles/tissues connect directly to the dura mater and the CNS we wanted to target and release these first.

POST

– As soon as we released these tissues the structural integrity of the body returned.

– The assessment showed a return to symmetry. The leg length assessment is now balanced.

– We then reassessed to identify some more layers as each one comes to the surface and moves into pole position.

– Following the intervention their Shoulder abduction returns to 175 degrees.

– Upper back pain reduces to 0-1/10.

Instead of chasing pain, we prefer to assess the functions and mechanisms of the body. We don’t really want to label or name it this or that.

 

We work with individuals who have individual responses to pain, so we look to learn from the body itself to see how best to facilitate a return to function.

 

It’s a fascinating process!! Please share with anyone who may find this useful.

 

Jack