11/10/2025
Working with the body can sometimes seem like auditioning for a role as a sleuth in a detective series. And it was very much the case with one fabulous client coming in with sciatic pain that was shifting from left to right and shin splints in the right leg.
After assessment and a few treatments, the shin splint pain had gone and 90% of the sciatic pain had abated, and whilst the client was over the moon with how things were progressing, I still felt the root cause lay elsewhere… and “indeed my Dr. Watson’s it did!”.
Despite showing balance on the therapy table and in muscle tonicity, there was still a small deficit in functional movement.
Moving back to the right foot and the ankle, for the second time, the imbalance had started to show itself, as the body had started to sort itself out with cues being initiated from the prior treatments.
After addressing the ankle and forefoot for a second time it was possible to feel the dysfunction at a much deeper level, as the tissues had become much softer. Using a slightly differing approach to treat, both the remainder of the sciatic pain and tightness in the quads in the right leg completely eased. All functional movement was restored and the client felt much freer, not only in both legs but also in her pelvis.
It is a wonderful and timely reminder, that the body will often make the changes it deems the most important and in order of necessity, after months if not years of compensatory patterns. Before some root causes may show themselves.
Sometimes recovery is about progress and not perfection… the rest is how to look good in a deer stalker hat, choosing the right pipe while wielding a magnifying glass
