Thoughts from the journey… Excerpts from a day in the life of Sherry McLaughlin

A-C Joint Separation

So, I saw this kid today who sprained his right A-C joint when he tackled someone in football in August.

Pain with abduction and flexion (resisted and in end range)
Stands with L shoulder significantly higher. (Remember, it is his R shoulder that hurts).
4- abduction/flexion strength
Trigger points in the L upper trapezius and L quadratus lumborum.

One of the key things to solve in any shoulder injury is: Why is one shoulder higher than the other?

In this case, it could have been the L upper trapezius or L quadratus lumborum that were the culprit.

So, I put it to the test.

I counterstrained his L quadratus lumborum t.p. (90 seconds). Following this, his shoulder height was level. I re-tested his strength and he produced 5/5 pain-free abduction and flexion.

Needless to say, to fix this young guy, I am going to do exercises to elongate the L quadratus lumborum (wall washing, L dumbbell overhead press, triangle pose) in addition to shoulder strengthening.

Hope this helps!

Sherry

About Sherry McLaughlin

Sherry McLaughlin is the President/Founder of the Michigan Institute for Human Performance (www.mihp.net) located in Southeastern Michigan. She is also the author of three inspirational books: Lessons from the Couch, Lessons from the Journey and Lessons from the Loveseat (www.mlpublishing.com)