Back Stiffness & Massage
Cathy was referred by a local chiropractor in Parramatta. She had a curvature of the spine, which was causing her considerable pain. The chiropractor was hoping that regular treatment would help with her manipulations.
Cathy was of slight build, but reasonably tall, approximately 5ft 7in. She works in an office from 9 to 5, unfortunately, sitting under air conditioning, so she gets lots of cold air directly at her body. She enjoys ultimate frizby and a good lunch.
Her range of movement was limited in her lower back, but much worse in her neck. Lateral movement left to right was not good. Cathy’s shoulders were set high, showing tight traps/pecs.
My aim with the chiropractor was to release tension in her lower back and shoulders, using palpation to find trigger points to release.
Cathy was in prone position, slanting lower back identifying trigger points for release and then stretching, this is repeated several times. We then moved on to quadratus lumborum, which she felt was where most of the pain was, highlighting trigger points on both sides, repeating the same sequence.
We then moved up to trapezius, working levator scapulae again identifying and releasing trigger areas. We turned Cathy over into supine position and palpated Sternocleidomastoid, of which we found trigger points on her right, we found this was the reason she looked over to her left at her desk, whilst sitting under the air conditioning. Again, palpation/trigger release was used with some flexion/extension stretching. I advised Cathy to use a foam roller to release latissimus dorsi and itb’s
Cathy is happy with her progress from both chiropractic and massage. I advised Cathy as to what stretches would best suit her:
- Quadratus lumborum
- Rhomboids
- Neck stretching
and also to move seats at work.