The Ever Adaptable Human Body … Until It Can’t

His day started out like most other Tuesdays. But on that winter morning, Ben, disciplined and prompt to a fault, was running late, and as he pulled up to the Mamaroneck train station,he saw his 7:17a.m. to Grand Central pulling in. He grabbed his attaché case and ran across the parking lot, up the stairs, and onto the platformas the doors closed. In his haste, he slipped on black ice and went crashing onto the pavement. Benshattered his right ankle.

The break was so severe that the surgeon had to fuse the ankle. The “attaché incident” occurred in 1963. Ben came to see us for initial BodyFix Method session 52 years later. Ben had continued to walk, run, and play on a fused ankle for all of those years. In fact, he had adapted remarkably well. The story of Ben’s body demonstrates the amazing power of the adaptability of the human body. Our bodies will do anything necessary to achieve the movement goal that we desire. But, in Ben’s case, the lack of mobility in his right ankle caused a compensatory movement pattern that lead to dysfunction and pain elsewhere in his body.

Ben is a lawyer, but he isextremely active and prides himself on keeping fit. For most of his adult life, Ben has beenan avid tennis player. He has also continued to enjoy jogging and swimming to stay in shape. When Ben came for in his initial consultation last April at the age of 82, his primary complaint was that his left shoulder and left side are weaker than his right. He felt this imbalance was having an impact on his overall strength in swimming. In addition, he didn’t like the appearance of the imbalance in his shoulders, his left shoulder looking noticeably smaller.

Despite lifting weights religiously every day, his left side never gained any strength. He did have occasional spasms in his left upper trapezius muscle, but his primary motivation for coming to BodyFix Method was his concern about the atrophy and weakness in his left shoulder and how it was affecting his swimming. Ben loves to swim and during the summer does so every chance he gets – “42 laps in 35 glorious minutes,” he says. He did not want this summer to the first summer of his life he was unable to enjoy this experience.

He came to see us in early April. As we always do with new clients, we started with an in depth-intake injury history and alignment analysis that revealed some interesting things about how Ben’s body had adapted over the years. Ben is right handed, and like most right handed individuals, he is right dominant. This becomes especially meaningful from an alignment perspective in a sport like tennis where having power in one’s serving arm is of the utmost importance. In an effort to find the power for his right side without the support of his right foot and ankle, Ben’s lower back suffered. Within 10 years of the “attaché incident”, Ben had a slipped disc at L4/L5 and had a laminectomy to fuse the two vertebrae.

Both as a result of the right ankle’s inabilty to push off and the fusion in his lower back, Ben’s ability to rotate his upper back was now compromised. Without equal ability to turn to the left, Ben essentially stopped using his left shoulder and arm for everyday tasks and in sports. As a result, it began to atrophy. Over the years, his right-side upper back and pelvic rotation became so stuck that his left side stopped being a team player. What’s amazing is how well Ben was able to play tennis and the sports he loves despite having no movement in his right ankle and little rotation in his thoracic spine. For better or worse, we adapt.

ShoulderThe program we created for Ben included exercises to decrease the rotation between his pelvis and shoulders. We focused on increasing his ability to rotate to the left. We worked on mobilizing his right ankle. Before Ben could effectively strengthen his left shoulder, we worked hard on getting it back in place. This was accomplished through manual therapy (to release tight muscles and connective tissue) and muscle activation technique (to strengthen his brain’s connection to his left shoulder). Over the course of the next few months, Ben’s left shoulder began to work better and by the 4th of July he was back to swimming his 42 laps, although giving himself a little extra time to do so. By Labor Day, he was happily doing the 42 laps in 35 minutes again. And for the first time in years, his left shoulder was starting to work as team player with his right.

The human body is remarkably adaptable. This is how we survive. However, sometimes compensations that help us in the short term can harm us in the long term. Any injury that we endure will have a ripple affect through the entire system if we do not take action to bring the body back into optimal alignment. BodyFix Method™ Alignment Therapy can mitigate the effects of future injuries from current injuries. Don’t let your small problem today become a bigger problem tomorrow…. Call today to schedule an initial evaluation with one of our highly trained Alignment Therapists.