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Working SMRT on the Elbow
Elbow Pain
A client yesterday presented with elbow pain and loss of grip strength. Typically, in my experience, loss of grip strength signals a bony misalignment. The pain at the elbow was on the lateral condyle of the humerus. The issue was most likely an extensor muscle. I began by working with his hand, using SMRT to address the intercarpal joint ligments. His scaphoid was dorsal while the trapezoid was somewhat palmar. Neither moved. His second metacarpal was dorsal, rotated, and immobile.
SMRT Results
As a therapist, I love SMRT for the carpal bones and intercarpal joints because it allows the client’s body to quickly change the existing pattern. It took about 3 minutes for his scaphoid and trapezoid to realign and regain mobility. Next I focused on the second metacarpal. My guess was that his main issue was in extensor carpi radialis longus, which inserts on the second metacarpal and originates from the pain point at his elbow.
I positioned the second metacarpal and, 30 seconds later, felt it shift. Upon repalpation, his second metacarpal had movement and was no longer positioned toward the back of his hand or rotated. I worked for a while on his forearm and then asked him to grip my wrist. His grip began strong, then the medial aspect (little finger side) of his hand weakened. He pointed to the medial carpal bones as being the issue.
Pain is GONE!
I spent 3 minutes using SMRT to work with the position and mobility of the lunate and triquetrum before asking him to grip my wrist again. This time his grip was strong. We were 35 minutes into our session and, with his elbow pain gone and his grip restored, we moved to his knee.
I would love to teach you to use SMRT and get fast, painless, easy results. Please join me for SMRT: shoulder, axilla, ribcage, & upper back from March 9-11, 2018 in Fort Worth, TX. The 10% discount for this class ends February 9, 2018. Register here.
