An interesting case in clinic yesterday. A lady was suffering with back pain on extension in her yoga practice, she also had a history of a now resolved frozen shoulder on her right. It was a bit of a head scratcher at first, so we went back. Why the frozen shoulder?
“I don’t suppose the ankle sprain might be important on my right ankle?” she asked.
Indeed it was. As the shoulder flexes during walking gait the same side back foot must resupinate. If it does not want to re-enter this perceived danger space after the sprain, the arm swing can be cut short and the back of the shoulder cuff can become tighter and tighter until bingo restricted movement and pain.
So why the back pain on the right. Well if you cut short the phase of walking where the left foot is forward and the right foot is back, the right hip never extends fully and those pesky hip flexors get shorter and shorter. Now imagine arching backward with a right hip that will not extend. The job gets passed to the next joint in the body which is….yup you guessed it the lower back.
Now its home work time. It pays to assess globally even when smoke starts to appear from your ears as the cogs work over time – that’s what makes it so much fun though!