16/01/2015
As a Physiotherapist or Sports Therapist here in Brighton we are so often asked “So why does my knee hurt?”, “What is the problem with my What is going on with my shoulder?” But the question is really what is the cause of the pain. For more recent injuries it’s easier to see how pains in joints or muscles started – there was a definite damage to a specific area and it started hurting then. But most of the problems we see here do not have a specific start point – there is no history of damage yet people report pain – why is that? For those people who do have a specific injury, thousands of years of evolution means that the body should be suitably adapted to cope with healing. In fact the body in all but the most severe of injuries heals itself in six week. So why then does the injury still hurt months or years later?
The truth of the matter is it’s all to do with how we hold ourselves. Our posture is so vital to everything we do. It’s even possible, by the skilled eye, to determine personality traits from people’s posture. It’s much like trying to read body language but in the world of physiotherapy we equate that into which muscles will be affected by such a posture and then use that to determine how such a posture is affecting the symptoms we see in front of us.
An example we frequently use is the grumpy teenager! Consider how the head is drooped forwards, the mouth is permanently fixed in a half scowl the stomach sits forward and the legs drag behind. A very severe case of how the mood affects our posture. It’s happens to the best of us too. When we’re under pressure ourselves or head drops – we feel the weight of the world on our shoulders and our posture reflects this. This will put certain muscles into a short position to pull ourselves into the head forward posture. If they stay like for a length of time then the muscles will stay short (a principle known in the physio world as adaptive shortening) and so pull us further into this poor posture. It then means when we want to lengthen the muscles to come out of the posture (when we’re feeling less tired and grumpy) we struggle to do so. This then puts pressure on our joints and other muscles which are merely scape goats.
To better understand this idea try the following example. Stand up straight with as good a posture as possible. Take your arms out in front of you and upwards so your biceps end up by your ears. Note how everything feels. Now relax the arms back down to their normal position. Now, whilst standing, adopt a slouched posture with the tummy forwards – think grumpy teenager for inspiration! Now perform the same arm movement out in front. You will certainly have a much reduced range of movement – and quite possibly some stiffness or pain in shoulder joint. Nothing has changed in the shoulder joint of course. All that has changed is some muscles around our midriff but it has massively affected range of movement and sensation in the shoulder. It is possible to apply this principle throughout the body in order to help people with their symptoms – that’s what we are able to do for you here at Brighton Sports Therapy.
If you’re interested in seeing how this principle can help save you a lot of pain then give us a call to see how we can help
