IF you're not assessing your guessing! TRUE OR FALSE??

IF you're not assessing your guessing! TRUE OR FALSE??

This week another great article popped into my mind as I was working on a client last Saturday. There are a lot of assessments and testing out there but how many are accurate and reliable. As a health professional, I rely on many assessments and a lot revolve around the shoulders. One of the most popular one I can think of is the fist to fist test. This assessment is great to find out if there is a lack of mobility in the internal rotation or external rotation. You can even access if the problem in the shoulder is caused by the scapula or the T-spine.

In the process of learning how to reposition a diaphragm, we are taught that the body is lateralized to the right causing a protraction of the right shoulder and also and downward rotation of the left shoulder. I'm sure you know where I'm going with this! Of course the left shoulder will have a poor fist to fist result compared to the right one. So what would you do at this point? Probably stretch the pect minor and the triceps brachii on the right shoulder. then you would probably follow up with the mobilization of the scapula itself. Finally if all this fails, check if the spine needs to be foam rolled to increase range of motion in the shoulder girdle.

Although when I started working with the client and I repositioned his diaphragm correctly, I actually got perfect symmetry by creating the opposite effect. The right shoulder blade ended up in a downward rotation and the left shoulder had regain protraction. My client from this moment on felt relief in the shoulder and had regain perfect mobility on both shoulders. When I retested the fist to fist test, you guessed it ... he had a great improvement on the left side and was now more tight on the right side.

So the moral of the story tonight is always be critical and skeptical and don't be fooled by the results of an assessment. Assessments are great tools for finding clues on how to fix the problem but don't take the results literally!