A 15 year old male presents with chronic neck, shoulder and back pains which he has had for the last 7 years. Because of this, he does very little physical activity.
Exam found that his Lats inhibit due to foot pronation when standing. Stringy and tight upper thoracic and cervical erectors. Rectus Abdominus is inhibited by overly tight lumbar erectors.
Postural analysis reveals head is over 3” anterior and pelvis is tucked.
Adjusted the pelvis and thoracic spine. ART to Lumbar Erectors and Rapid Release tool to Thoracic erectors.
Reviewed postural exercises including Foundation exercises to engage the posterior chain, wall windowpane squats and hinging exercises to correct these crucial movements.
By the third visit in 3 weeks, he reports he’s out of pain and that he’s now going on 8-10 mile hikes. His only complaint is sore feet! He reports being much more aware of his posture overall. A postural evaluation using an App shows that his head is now 2” forward vs 3”. We released deep muscles of the anterior, lateral and posterior neck with ART, adjusted the neck with an electronic instrument and the Thoracic spine manually.
Plan to follow up in 2 weeks and then probably see him on an as-needed basis.
Small muscles of the cervical spine can become chronically shortened and fibrotic from poor posture over time. ART is remarkable in that it can release these patterns so quickly. The key is specificity- knowing exactly what fibers to release. And kids respond so quickly to this kind of care! Much faster than adults.