News Letter

Monday, November 12, 2007

Shoulder belt injury in car accedent

Thank You for the detailed description of the accident. In 13 years working for a chiropractor I have seen a lot of these. I also measure the X-ray film so I have seen the damage at T11/12 and have it myself. This area is typically injured by the twist around the shoulder belt in a whiplash incident. The resulting muscle imbalance is the psoas minor which is both attached and enervated at this point. The resulting postural distortion is the pelvis. The reciprocal of the pelvis is the mastoids thus the need for cranial work. The Lovett's reciprocal reaction to T11/12 is C6/7 thus the cervical distortion and referred pain. The most effective treatment protocol I have developed uses a body ball under the heels with the client supine. The ball should be sized so that the femur is at right angle to spine and tibia at right angle to femur. The client can move the ball in small circles to stimulate the posture reflexes in a non threatening environment. Watch for a substitute posture train traveling up the iliacus to an abdominal oblique then up the intercoastals to substitute for one or more of the psoas minor attachments. With your fingers resting on the anterior of C6/7 during the motion study you may dicern the positional release for the scalene distortion. With the finger tips on the inferior edge of the mastoid listen for the movement reflecting the movement of the corresponding ilium on the same side. Think about the posture trains that may be engaged; for example from the adductor to the pubic to the psoas minor on one side and the IT band to the piiformas on the other. My clients develop an awareness of the compromise patterns this way and therefor the the repetitive motion stress pain becomes comprehensible and they can make sensible choices in how to deal with it. One of the first things they want is their own ball for self care.

3 comments:

  1. I love this, I realize I need a lot more sizes of therapy balls in my treatment room and to utilize them better. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love this, I need more of a variety of therapy balls and to utilize them much more. Thank you hans. I have a client I can't wait to use this on

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love this, I realize I need a lot more sizes of therapy balls in my treatment room and to utilize them better. Thanks

    ReplyDelete

Share your experience or ask a question.