25/03/19
Open Clinic- First session
1 Hour

What happened during the session:
During this session, I massaged a client who was suffering from lower back pain. This pain started 6 days ago and is a constant aching pain throughout the day, after observing the client I noticed that they had increased lordosis of the lumbar spine which could be causing them pain. By participating in team sports such as volleyball, American football and water polo 5 out of 7 days a week and working 3 days in a shop at the till and stacking shelves, this client has not increased work during the period of injury, however, has noticed the pain in all situations since it started. to start this session I performed a lumbar spine assessment where the client had no pain during side flexion left or right and a FROM, however, did have pain in extension (leaning backward) and flexion (bending forward) but still completing this motion. I proceeded to ask the client to tell me some aggravating factors for this injury and highlighted that when lifting boxes it hurts their back. I continued to ask the client to demonstrate the technique they would use to lift a box by which they showed a poor lifting technique bending forward to pick up the item and not using their legs at all. I stated to the client that their technique was not good and showed them how they could improve this. due to the technique that the client used I would suggest that the lower back pain starting after a shift stacking shelves 6 days ago could be due to excess strain and tension placed onto the back due to the poor technique and continued to massage the client to help relieve some of this tension. I also during observation noticed that there is more muscle bulk on the right-hand side and therefore this suggest that the left (less dominant side) is weaker. I proceeded to test the clients abdominals starting with an easy sit up with their knees bent and arms out straight which they completed perfectly, progressing to a sit up with their arms across their waist once again completed with ease to finally moving to a sit up where the client put their arms across their chest which proved to be more difficult and therefore, this pain could be due to a weakness in the abdominals. finishing the session by mobilizing the joint by performing rotation of the joint with the client in prone lying.

Areas for improvement:

My knowledge of potential injuries this client could have was a weakness and for next session, I would aim to use the information that I have gathered from my further reading to help assess this client further and get to the bottom of why they could be experiencing this pain and around things to aid the lordosis.

Further reading to do:
This session left me wondering what other injuries could be a result of pain during extension and flexion of the lumbar spine and therefore I began to research around the topic.