The amazing thing about posture therapy… is that many of my clients and many have fantastic results. Today’s story about my client Korey, is unique because she was able to go from chronic pain to running a 5K in less than 5 weeks FLAT.
In some cases, it can take some time before the body adjusts to a new postural positioning… working on your posture is not a quick fix like taking a pill! But in Korey’s situation, It was a fast and effective process and took very little time to identify her postural deviation and how to fix it.
Korey is a 29 year old nurse and a married mother of two daughters. She came to me with some current pain issues that have been progressively been getting worse as she ages. Her primary problem was lower back pain, with pain more often on her left side, as well as hip pain primarily on the left side. At the time of our appointment she was also experiencing a slight ache in her inner left thigh and right shin/ankle. The magnitude of pain was highly connected her physical activity. If she stands for long periods, exercises intensely, or sits for long periods, the pain is triggered. In the past she had seen a Physical Therapist and chiropractor, and had been given some exercises to help “strengthen” her hips such as clams, squats, and bridges. She said these exercises did help a little. The chiropractor had given her a shoe lift, which didn’t help at all.
At her first appointment with me, she was unable to run more than a mile without pain. So we made it our joint goal to help her get through a 5K race that she had signed up for… only a month later.
Her pictures immediately told a very obvious story to me, and the number one postural deviation that stood out was her pelvic disparity. I checked by palpitating with my hands and confirmed that her left side was in a posterior position (tucked under) and her right side in a slight anterior position (arched forward). I also identified an elevated left hip and an elevated left shoulder.
She presented with valgus knee strain on both sides (knock knees). Her right foot is pronated (flat) and everted (turned out), while her left foot actually showed as supinated (high arch). Her left femur looked internally rotated (turned in).
Both shoulders were rounded and she had a slight forward head. She also presented with some rotation in her spine with both the shoulders and the hips swaying forward on the left side.
Korey’s first menu consisted of exercises such as gravity drop, arm circles, static back, static back pullovers, abductor presses, hip flexors lifts, extended lateral, airbench, and 3 position toe raises. All of these exercises are designed to attack 3 major deviations: the posterior pelvis, the internally rotated femurs, and the scapula position.
She took this menu home for 2 weeks and did it about 5 times per week. She wasn’t perfect, but she reported feeling results with this compliance level. She came back for a review 2 weeks later where we adjusted her menu. We took out a few exercises that didn’t seem very effective (mainly stretching… since she is hypermobile and needs more strengthening than stretching). We added more core and hip strengthening work on her second menu.
I’m happy to report that Korey completed her 5K 3 weeks later and ran the entire race! She was very proud of herself, and definitely attributed her success to the e-cise menu. She said she was “sore” the next day, but that it felt more like muscle soreness versus the pain she had been experiencing before. We were both so pleased with her progress in a short 5 weeks- from a painful mile… to a pain-free 3 miles in just over a month!
Do you have pain that you know is related to your posture and alignment? If so, I would love to hear about it below and I’ll see how I can help. You can find out more about VerticAlign’s Posture Therapy programs here.
