Surgery should only be a last resort after all other options have - TopicsExpress

Surgery should only be a last resort after all other options have been exhausted. I have seen so many cases where surgery has made little or no difference. Certain operations are performed due the results from an MRI without conclusively knowing if the structure found is the causing the pain. We had a wonderful session with a gentleman who wanted to see if our methods could help him avoid neck surgery..........NECK SURGERY. He believed he had exhausted all other options and was due to see the consultant prior to being introduced to me. His symptoms were neck and shoulder pain with pins and needles down and pain down his arms and hand on left hand side. We spent 30-45minutes taking a comprehensive injury history and then spent the next 45 minutes assessing his posture, his gait and his muscle patterning. We began to try and piece his injury history over what we were seeing. It all came back to a concussion injury 16 years previous. His neck had locked down in left lateral flexion and left rotation causing compression on the left side of his neck. During walking, his neck never left this position to experience the right side movement of his neck. Muscle testing showed his system was completely solid when in left side flexion and rotation but weak/inhibited when he was taken out of this position. Once again, this was the most FUNCTIONAL version of himself at this point in time, but clearly not optimal as having his head locked in that position was causing all of his symptoms. We tried putting him into the gait phases to achieve right side flexion and right rotation but his body completely freaked out in this position as he hadnt experienced it fully for 16 years. So we regressed the exercises to show his brain it was safe to turn and bend his neck to the right. 35 minutes later and we had him 90% free of symptoms. He has been given very simple exercises for the next 3 weeks to continue showing his brain safety and stability in his right side before we will get him back to put him through the full gait phases. For now, hes been given the glimmer of hope that surgery can be avoided and the smile on his face at end of session was the best thing I got out of it :):) Simon [email protected]