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Thumb Pain
Thumbs up!
I had an interesting thing happen during a session today. I was working on a client’s shoulder. Her pain complaint was her right thumb. She is a long time client, so we know that typically to alleviate the pain in her thumb, her shoulder needs to be worked.
Her right scapula was immobile, with no space between it and the rib cage. I began by using SMRT to work subscapularis and the upper fibers of serratus anterior, as well as the teres muscles, the pecs, and latissimus. I was getting mild improvement in overall shoulder range of motion, with softening of the tissue, but the scapula was still immobile unless moving with the rib cage.
I explored the lateral aspect of her rib cage and found the lower edge of serratus anterior (the digitation coming from the 8th rib), which felt like a rope. I checked the 8th rib position. It was anterior and lateral. The 7th rib was posterior and medial with no space between it and the 8th rib.
No Pain!
I did an SMRT position for the ribs, held it for 45 seconds, and released it. When I re-palpated, there was space between the ribs and both were more in alignment with each other. The tension in the 8th digitation of serratus anterior had lessened significantly and the scapula moved independently. Finally!!
I had her move her thumb, no pain, just tension along the radius in the forearm. Ten minutes of SMRT on the forearm and she had no pain in the forearm either. Fantastic!
We would love to teach you SMRT for the shoulder, axilla, ribcage, & upper back in Kansas City, MO from September 14-16, 2018. Register here.
