There is nothing worse than getting a phone call early in the morning about a family emergency. Okay so I didn't get a phone call, I actually got a text that said, "call me as soon as you wake up, mom is hurt and can't go to work," which is actually worse. Of course I immediately jump to the worst conclusion and freak out. I went from groggy to wide awake in 2.6 seconds, sat straight up, hair all askew, and dialed my sister.
What I can decipher from my sister's very pained and distressed voice is that while showering she experienced an excruciating pain in her back by the spine and along the rib when lifting her arm to wash her hair. After asking several questions I piece together the details and wince in sympathy. It sounds like she has a rib displacement or subluxation.
Now you may be thinking, how on earth do you displace a rib by lifting your arm? It may seem counterintuitive that such an extensive injury as a muscle tear or rib displacement can come from such a minor movement, but this is often the case. So many people go about their day and activities without a care in the world, never realizing that all these things take a toll on your muscles, tendons, joints, and ligaments. It may seem that the body is this incredible, invincible machine when you are young, but as you get older all the minor injustices you do to your body add up and begin to take their toll. When I describe this to my patients, I often liken the body to a car. Going about your daily activities without getting any massage or doing any stretching is like never getting an oil change and then wondering why your car all the sudden breaks down on you one day.
SCIENCE ALERT
As you age, muscles and tendons stiffen and lose some of their ability to regenerate while joints lose cartilage and bone density decreases. Add to this chronic muscle tension as well as wear and tear on the joints and you get an environment ripe for injury. When the body is still relatively young, it can easily repair tissue damaged during daily activities and sports, but as you get older this ability decreases making the joints stiff and less flexible and making the muscles tense. When the muscles become over tight, they lose the ability to contract at full capacity and therefore cannot stabilize the joints as well. It is during these times of tension and weakness that a minor movement can be the final straw and lead to a tear, dislocation, or other major injury.
While I have a lot of bodywork experience and did, once, in a CEU learn how to reset a rib, it was a long time ago and I could definitely use a refresher so I did some research online and found some videos on youtube about how to reset a rib. So instead of doing a pin today I thought I would add one instead so that others could benefit from this knowledge.
Here is the link to the video I used on how to reset a rib using Ortho-Bionomy
As my scope of practice does not include chiropractic adjustments, and at the same time I prefer a gentler approach, I used a technique taken from Ortho-Bionomy. The technique is very simple. You have your patient lie on the uninvolved side and use your hand to palpate along the spine for the displaced rib. This can be felt as either a bump or a sunken area. In the case of my sister she had several ribs in the same general area that appeared to be displaced. One in particular felt sunken in and the other was a definite bump. Once you find one you follow out along the rib to the side of the body. Then you use your hand like a crescent wrench cupping the rib and then torqueing either to the front or back of the body.
After performing the technique her pain was greatly reduced and she said she felt a minor shift in one of the ribs although she was still having problems rotating her torso to one side. The problem was not all the way fixed, but I felt it best to let it rest considering how painful this condition is to manipulation and return again tomorrow to do it again.
Here's to family emergencies and the ability to help out. Wishing you luck in all your endeavors and hoping no one else finds themselves in the midst of a family emergency.
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