Cervical Spine and Shoulder Stabilization Exercise
So your best needling/IASTM/soft tissue/manip improved cervical/scapular/shoulder ROM. What next? After manual therapy or a repeated loading strategy, pain and ROM is often rapidly improved.
Repeated passive end range loading often keeps this improvement between visits. However, many times restoration of motion and improvement in pain thresholds does not always improve higher function or tissue resiliency to load.
When motion is realistically symmetrical and threat free in all planes, someone can move their shoulder and head/neck with varying rates of speed, I stabilize the area with eccentric isometric shoulder shrugs.
In this case, cervical/shoulder ROM was restored with light IASTM to the right cervical spine and right upper trap for a minute or so, followed by repeated cervical retraction and end range side bending to the right. Upon 2nd or 3rd follow up, with the above motions cleared and functional pre-post test still being threat free, I would progress to this “stabilization” phase of Eval, Reset, and Stabilize.
Dr. Erson Religioso III, DPT, MS, MTC, CertMDT, CFC, CSCS, FMS, FMT, FAAOMPT, graduated from D’Youville College in 1998 with a dual Bachelor’s of Science and Master’s of Science in Physical Therapy. His interests in Orthopaedics and Manual Therapy lead him to pursue a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from the University of St. Augustine. Studying under Stanley Paris, Ph.D, PT, internationally known for his manual skills and knowledge of the spine as well as his distinguished faculty, Dr. Religioso earned his DPT and Manual Therapy Certification in 2000. He later became credentialed in Mechanical Diagnosis and Treatment of the Spine in 2000. Erson also operates several websites dedicated to Manual Therapy, www.themanualtherapist.com, www.modernmanualtherapy.com as well as www.edgemobilitysystem.com
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