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Picture

What Is Wrong With this Movement?

9/29/2015

2 Comments

 
Picture
I have been treating the individual in the picture to the left for 4 visits following a forward bending injury. After 4 visits he has reported 90% improvements in pain and function. His treatment sessions have focused on neutral core posture with hip strengthening & retraining his squat, deadlift, and reaching patterns. On the date of this photo, he is no longer having low back pain, but complains of lower thoracic spine pain.

What do we see from the picture?
First, he is lacking forward flexion active range of motion. He should be able to touch his hands to the floor when bending forward. Second, he does not have a uniform spinal curve. Almost all of his movement is coming from his thoracic spine. The large hump in the middle back is a good indication that the lumbar spine is not flexing! In addition the location of his pain is at the transitional zone from the thoracic spine to the lumbar spine (TL Junction). Finally, this individual does not translate his hips posteriorly at the proper time. In the photo, some posterior hip translation is noted; however, this movement only occurs after the thoracic spine has ran out of room to move. Normally, an individual should lead the movement from their hips.

The Treatment
1) Due to the location of pain, my first intervention was a middle and lower thoracic manipulation in supine (see video on the right).
2) Next, I performed a prone lower trap + thoracic extension exercise to promote thoracic extension while engaging the scapular muscles. One can imagine this individual lacks scapular stability based on the position of his thoracic spine. If he was lifting from this position, something has to give. In this case, it was his low back. 
3)Third, prone T's exercise with abdominal activation were prescribed to promote more scapular activation from a neutral spine.
4) Fourth, I gave supine bridges + mini march while keeping the core in a neutral position. This exercise was a progression of his bridges from a previous session.
5) Fifth, I had him perform theraband lat pull downs from a partial squat position. With this exercise, the individual continually needed cueing not to flex from the thoracic spine. With manual and tactile cues, he could control the movement. 
6) Finally, I worked on retraining his hip hinge pattern using a stick along his spine.
​Conclusion
​How our patient's move gives us so much information about their pain. At the end of the treatment, he could bend forward about 50% further with an improved uniform spinal curve. A key point to note: I did not directly work on his lumbar AROM, but by providing stability and motor control to the thoracic spine, his lumbar range of motion improved. This treatment session is a great example of the necessity to treat the area of dysfunction not pain!

​Jim 
Picture

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2 Comments
Adam
10/12/2015 11:00:19 am

Thanks for the great post.
When you do that manip, do you have the patient flex their knees to lock out lumbar, or is not necessary?

Reply
Jim
10/12/2015 06:48:03 pm

Thanks Adam. Generally I do not have the patients flex their knees, but I am definitely not opposed to it. With any manipulation, I am looking to take up a relative amount of tension to maximize the effect of my intervention. Taking up the tension could be something as simple as having the patient cross their legs, cervical sidebending, or flexing their knees (as you mentioned). If the patient does not feel "locked out" I will try any variation of these tensioning strategies to take up more slack in the system.

Thanks for the comment!

Jim

Reply



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  • Home
  • About Us
  • Insider Access
    • About Insider Access
  • Online Courses
    • Hooper's Knee
    • Physical Therapist Entrepreneur Course
    • Physical Therapist Consultant Course
    • Orthopedic Management of the Cervical Spine
    • Return to Sport Essentials Course
  • Resources
    • Newsletter
    • Business Minded Sports Physio Podcast
    • Day in the Life of a Sports PT
    • Residency Corner
    • Special Tests >
      • Cervical Spine >
        • Alar Ligament Test
        • Bakody's Sign
        • Cervical Distraction Test
        • Cervical Rotation Lateral Flexion Test
        • Craniocervical Flexion Test (CCFT)
        • Deep Neck Flexor Endurance Test
        • Posterior-Anterior Segmental Mobility
        • Segmental Mobility
        • Sharp-Purser Test
        • Spurling's Maneuver
        • Transverse Ligament Test
        • ULNT - Median
        • ULNT - Radial
        • ULNT - Ulnar
        • Vertebral Artery Test
      • Thoracic Spine >
        • Adam's Forward Bend Test
        • Passive Neck Flexion Test
        • Thoracic Compression Test
        • Thoracic Distraction Test
        • Thoracic Foraminal Closure Test
      • Lumbar Spine/Sacroiliac Joint >
        • Active Sit-Up Test
        • Alternate Gillet Test
        • Crossed Straight Leg Raise Test
        • Extensor Endurance Test
        • FABER Test
        • Fortin's Sign
        • Gaenslen Test
        • Gillet Test
        • Gower's Sign
        • Lumbar Quadrant Test
        • POSH Test
        • Posteroanterior Mobility
        • Prone Knee Bend Test
        • Prone Instability Test
        • Resisted Abduction Test
        • Sacral Clearing Test
        • Seated Forward Flexion Test
        • SIJ Compression/Distraction Test
        • Slump Test
        • Sphinx Test
        • Spine Rotators & Multifidus Test
        • Squish Test
        • Standing Forward Flexion Test
        • Straight Leg Raise Test
        • Supine to Long Sit Test
      • Shoulder >
        • Active Compression Test
        • Anterior Apprehension
        • Biceps Load Test II
        • Drop Arm Sign
        • External Rotation Lag Sign
        • Hawkins-Kennedy Impingement Sign
        • Horizontal Adduction Test
        • Internal Rotation Lag Sign
        • Jobe Test
        • Ludington's Test
        • Neer Test
        • Painful Arc Sign
        • Pronated Load Test
        • Resisted Supination External Rotation Test
        • Speed's Test
        • Posterior Apprehension
        • Sulcus Sign
        • Thoracic Outlet Tests >
          • Adson's Test
          • Costoclavicular Brace
          • Hyperabduction Test
          • Roos (EAST)
        • Yergason's Test
      • Elbow >
        • Biceps Squeeze Test
        • Chair Sign
        • Cozen's Test
        • Elbow Extension Test
        • Medial Epicondylalgia Test
        • Mill's Test
        • Moving Valgus Stress Test
        • Push-up Sign
        • Ulnar Nerve Compression Test
        • Valgus Stress Test
        • Varus Stress Test
      • Wrist/Hand >
        • Allen's Test
        • Carpal Compression Test
        • Finkelstein Test
        • Phalen's Test
        • Reverse Phalen's Test
      • Hip >
        • Craig's Test
        • Dial Test
        • FABER Test
        • FAIR Test
        • Fitzgerald's Test
        • Hip Quadrant Test
        • Hop Test
        • Labral Anterior Impingement Test
        • Labral Posterior Impingement Test
        • Long-Axis Femoral Distraction Test
        • Noble Compression Test
        • Percussion Test
        • Sign of the Buttock
        • Trendelenburg Test
      • Knee >
        • Anterior Drawer Test
        • Dial Test (Tibial Rotation Test)
        • Joint Line Tenderness
        • Lachman Test
        • McMurray Test
        • Noble Compression Test
        • Pivot-Shift Test
        • Posterior Drawer Test
        • Posterior Sag Sign
        • Quad Active Test
        • Thessaly Test
        • Valgus Stress Test
        • Varus Stress Test
      • Foot/Ankle >
        • Anterior Drawer
        • Calf Squeeze Test
        • External Rotation Test
        • Fracture Screening Tests
        • Impingement Sign
        • Navicular Drop Test
        • Squeeze Test
        • Talar Tilt
        • Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome Test
        • Test for Interdigital Neuroma
        • Windlass Test