Philippa came to see me with pain at base of her neck, which started 2 weeks ago. Pain then spread to her left shoulder and arm and down to her hand. She also had pins and needles in the back of her hand.
When I took her full history I found she had been reaching into a cupboard at an awkward angle a few days before the pain started. Her job involves a lot of standing with her arms being used all the time and she had suffered from a sore neck and shoulders before but never into her arm. On examining her I found her neck and shoulder muscles on her left side were very tight and she had pain on bending her head down. She also found it difficult to move her left arm, she could only lift it as high as her shoulder and it was very painful. She had reduced movement in the joints at the base of her neck. I explained to her we had to work on her muscles to make them less tight and I also got her to put an ice pack at the base of her neck to reduce inflammation.
Philippa had 3 treatments and with the pain in her arm reduced by the 2nd treatment. By the last treatment she was fine with no pain in her arm, no numbness in her hand and full movement of her neck and arm.
George came to see me after falling playing football 2 weeks ago and hurting his low back. Every time he played football this made his back worse. He had had a similar problem a year ago again after playing football and it had eased after a couple of days, this time his back pain was not easing.
When I examined him he had very tight muscles at the bottom of his back and around his hips. He could bend forward but it was painful coming back up and painful bending backwards. He had reduced movement in the joints at the base of his back and it was quite inflamed. He had no other health problems. I explained to George that I needed to work on his back to reduce the tightness in his muscles and improve the movement in the joints. He put an ice pack on his back to reduce the inflammation.
He came to see me 3 times after which his back was fine and he was able to play football with no problems.
Daisy came to see me with pain in her right knee, front and back which could travel up to her hip. She found it painful to squat and straighten up, and it was affecting her dancing and walking. When I took her full history she told me that she had an X ray of her left knee after some discomfort and they had found mild degenerative changes, but since that got better her right knee started and became a lot more painful. This had been going on for about a year.
When I examined her I found the muscles of her right hip were much tighter than her left, also tightness and tenderness of the inside and back of her thigh. Apart from some evidence of degeneration in both knees, there didn't seem to be any evidence of an internal problem with the ligaments or menisci. I told Daisy I thought that due to her left knee being sore she had been protecting it and walking awkwardly which had caused a muscle imbalance of her right knee and hip which began to give her pain in her right knee and hip.
I worked on her muscles around her hip and thigh and after 4 treatments her knee was much easier, apart from some stiffness and she had no hip pain. Obviously I cannot treat or improve degenerative changes and arthritis in joints, but by working on the muscles around the area this can greatly improve range of movement of the joint, enables people to do more exercise/movement of the joint and this can improve the amount of pain it gives them. Also it can help limit imbalance elsewhere caused by protecting the affected joint.