Why I don’t only look at the painful area.
A high school softball catcher came to see me with severe pain in her throwing shoulder. It had gotten bad enough that she had to miss much of her summer season.
What I found
Rather than focusing only on her shoulder, I performed neurological muscle testing. What I found was that none of the muscles I tested were responding normally — the pattern was widespread rather than limited to the shoulder itself. That led me to look further, and the examination pointed toward her dental retainers: the upper retainer appeared associated with changes in upper-body muscle testing, and the lower retainer with lower-body testing.
What I did
I showed her the muscle-testing changes associated with pressure on the retainers. She discussed this with her orthodontist and ultimately had the wire retainers removed, using removable retainers afterward to protect her orthodontic result. I also performed cranial adjusting as part of her care.
What changed
Her muscle testing improved, and she reported that her shoulder pain changed dramatically and that she was able to return to throwing without pain.
I don’t tell patients to remove their dental retainers — that’s a decision for them and their orthodontist. What I do is show them what I find on muscle testing before and after a contact, and let that information inform their decision. This case is a good example of why I don’t assume the site of pain is the site of the problem.
Related reading
Read about how I assess the cranium, or see more real patient cases.