A client came in one day complaining about right hip pain. This lovely woman is very active in her aging, quite connected to her body, and was genuinely trying to get her pain under control. Her story involves a few types of alternative therapies such as Massage, Physiotherapy and Chiropractic to address her discomfort; some of which were very helpful to alleviate some of her symptoms but not long term. The first day she walked into my office, her daughter had to assist her through the door and her pain was identified as a 8/10 according to her numerical pain scale (0 being no pain, 10 being, “Take me to the hospital, I’m dying!”). What I found that was different than the other practitioners had identified, was a left up-slip of her PSIS (which is fancy for saying her left hip moved with her bending over when it’s not supposed to) telling me the left side is the first place I needed to start. Within 1-2 treatments of her left hip, her right hip and mobility had improved significantly without even addressing the pain in the right side!! Her treatment plan left her pain free after 7 treatment sessions and her rehabilitative home program in between.
What I would like to have as a take-away from this blog is that when observing the body, pain is a symptom, but sometimes the picture is much larger than we realize which can make the osteopathic manual therapy perspective seem somewhat unorthodox at times for some clients. So, a note to the reader is to know, pain is not normal and it is a sign from your body that it needs help but you might be surprised where it leads you. Contact us today to find out how we can help you be pain free!