For some people even the warm up can be too much!
One of my clients does Karate, to quite a high level. At their club they occasionally have a guest sensei who takes the session. On this occasion it seemed they were determined to break the clubs members before even getting to the mat.
After a gruelling upper body set, the sensei asked the class to perform 10 press ups followed by a 30 second plank, which repeated in a ‘last man standing’ manner.
In this instance my client pushed themselves a little further than they perhaps should. The following day lots of things ached, but they also had trouble catching a full breath, and their chest felt shedded.
In clinic we found dysfunction in the costosternal joints (where the ribs join the sternum). The right side was overactive whilst the left was under active. This in turn was causing issues with their latissimus dorsi and portions of their intrinsic core. Their serratus anterior (a scapular stabiliser) and pectoral muscles were also dysfunctional, but secondary to the primary movement dysfunction.
We did some very gentle work on the costostenal joints, activated the relevant structures, and bingo. Breathing was easier, muscle soreness dropped from ‘there’s something wrong’ levels back down to ‘that was a hard workout’ level, and RoM improved as well.
There’s a little homework to do to reinforce the corrected movement pattern, but this should resolve quickly as it was treated so soon after the initial event.
In future they’ll be listening to their own body, rather than muscling through in an attempt to impress 😉
Image credit Mayo Foundation
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