A lovely patient of mine, one of my regulars, turned up recently with pain in her right elbow.
She’s a fighting fit and healthy 65 and she wasn’t happy that she wasn’t able to play her usual tennis matches because of the degree of pain she was feeling.
It had all started when she was playing a particular stroke in a match a couple of weeks previously. She missed the ball completely and the pain kicked in.
I went into sleuthing mode. Deerstalker on, metaphorically, anyway (as you know, I prefer a trilby – much nattier…) I pondered the problem.
‘Tennis elbow’ normally takes its time to appear – over weeks, generally speaking; it’s not an instant thing. But the lateral epicondyle was clearly being impacted somehow.
Hmm. If I was a pipe-smoker, this would have been a two-pipe problem.
But because I know that in the incredible creation that is the human body, everything connects, I worked it out.
I did my thing. And I noticed that her pelvis was tilted forwards on her right side.
This had impacted her latissimus dorsi. (You know where your lats are, right? They’re the largest muscle in your upper body.)
That, in turn, had caused the arm to rotate inwards, putting tension on her forearm’s extensor muscles.
When I mobilised her pelvis backwards, to where it should be, the tension in her forearm muscles reduced.
A little massage, a little ultrasound from me; at home, from her, some ice and some stretches, and she’s ready for Centre Court.
Remember to add my new phone number to your address book, if you haven’t already: I’m on 0161 881 6482.
And because I’m now much more teched up than ever before, you can also book and pay online.
Find me in my bright new space at 341 Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton, M21 7QH.
Osteopaths. For the win. Love All Sport? #LoveOsteopathy.