Mr C is a 42 year old technician who presented with a 1 year history of L ankle pain, stiffness, a feeling of swelling and difficulty wearing his work boots. He was in good general health and a CT scan of his ankle had been clear.
Mr C was quite distressed about his left ankle and his right ankle had also recently been painful. He feared he may not be able to continue working and support his family, as his work involved him being on his feet most of the day.
A comprehensive assessment revealed the following main findings:
- Reduced ankle lunge- knee to wall test(dorsiflexion) 2cm vs 6cm on right.
- Reduced left shoulder internal/external rotation.
- Altered neural movement tests in the legs.
- Shortened hamstrings on the left.
- Trigger points(muscle tension) within the muscles of the left shoulder(infraspinatous and subscapularis especially).
- Stiffness of the lumbar segments L3 and L4 from the front(palpating through the stomach).
Using the lunge test as an indicator, we did treatment trials on some of the problem areas while Mr C was performing the lunge. We found that release of the left infraspinatous improved his lunge the most in the one session, from 2cm to 5cm. Mr C was amazed, and also reassured that this problem could be fixed and that he won’t have to give up his job.
By treating this area and other dysfunctions, Mr. C’s lunge progressed to 10cm!(his left lunge also improved concurrently to 12cm!). His symptoms of pain, stiffness and swelling had also improved significantly within 4 sessions.
This is an example of how dysfunctions in some parts of the body can cause symptoms in other areas, and the problem is not necessarily where the pain is. To understand why Mr C felt the pain in his ankle when the problem was originating from elsewhere, click here.
