Success Story
Body Part: Low back
Diagnosis: Lumbar hyper-mobility
This morning I was working with a young ice-skater whose primary complaint was not being able to maintain proper spinal alignment during her figure skating jumps and turns. Patient performed a double axel as a pre/post test. At pretest patient demonstrated increased lumbar lordosis and an increase in elevated sternum during her second loop turn, and moderate hip adduction and pelvic rotation upon landing. After working superficial fascia of abdomen and Functional Mobilization I sequence from the Institute of Physical Art while performing functional movement patterns of hip internal/external rotation to replicate lower extremity motion during turns. I progressed to lumbar anterior to posterior joint mobilizations and neuromuscular re-education for L3-S1 flexion stabilization in order for her to keep core engaged into a flexed position. Her exercises and further neuromuscular re-education included sport cord weight acceptance during upper trunk rotation using prolonged holds today to improve muscle endurance. At end of session, patient performed double axel and was noticeably impressed on what changes we made in a single session. During post-testing she was able to maintain mid-range position of lumbar spine during entire jump, spin, and landing, and demonstrated minimal hip adduction during eccentric phase of landing on right lower extremity. She was also happy that during the post-test she did not slip and fall upon landing as she did during pre-test!