How aware are you of your body (part 2)

Are you aware of how far you can move your limbs, how flexible you are and whether you are actually limited in your movements?

For some of the treatments I provide, I check your “Range of Movements”

For the example of this blog I am going to refer to a client I had who had a stiff neck, before I started the massage and after checking for neck injuries or reasons why these tests my not be appropriate, we tested various movements

• rotating the head, how far can you turn to each shoulder
• looking ahead, tilting  left ear to left shoulder, then right ear to right shoulder
• tilting the head to the chest, then tilting backwards

Approximate measurements in degrees are taken and this is compared against a set of average figures.

This client reported a pain in his neck, but whilst he was stiff he said he could still turn his head from side to side.  I palpated (felt) the muscles in and around his neck and the muscles were tight.  I was surprised he felt his mobility was good, so when I asked him if he could “turn his head” to look over his shoulder, we realised he was turning using his back and not his neck.  When I placed my hands on his shoulders and asked him to do it, the movement was extremely limited.

He was completely unaware of how stiff his muscles had become until they started to cause him pain.

Another example – I have had a couple of amateur footballers who were unable to raise their legs more than 45 degrees off the ground, most clients can get to 80 or more.  Again, until these tests were performed they were unaware of their limited range of movement

The point of this blog is,  we assume we have a good range of movement, but sometimes it takes a therapist to make you aware that you MAY not.

~ by Marian Child on August 6, 2010.