Today I had a client attend clinic with a very sore neck, and very restricted RoM when looking to the left / over their left shoulder. Onset was shortly after their horse barged them unexpectedly from behind after a little altercation with another horse. The result > whiplash.
Upon testing we found the muscles of the left back, the transverse abdominal (arguably the most important muscle in the body), internal and external obliques not working = their core was dysfunctional. The same with the neck, we couldn’t find a single muscle working correctly.
What we did find was an over active left medial rectus, and an under active left lateral rectus. Eye dysfunctions can have a massive effect on global movement patterns, in this case the neck and core regions.
The eyes in our head are a lot like a spherical compass or 8 ball. The eyeball however is tethered to the head by 6 primary extraocular muscles each. When you turn the outer housing of the compass with a sharp thrust, the inner portion stays in the same place. The same with the 8 ball. Now imagine tiny muscles in there tethering the 8 ball inner to it’s black exterior. Depending on the direction of the forces applied to the outer, and the inner stays still, even if momentarily, those tiny muscles will become strained in one plain (the direction of the force applied). In order to try and protect these structures the brain will decrease neurological control thereby allowing them to rest and recover. When the activity level stays decreased, even after recovery, compensations can set in, and issues with gross or global movement patterns result.
In our case, after correcting the dysfunctional muscles, not only did the levels of pain decrease substantially, the RoM was back to normal, and the neck felt more stable.
With a little rest and doing their HW twice a day, they should be riding again in no time. 🤩🐎👍🏻
Image credit Free images
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2018 09 28