Patient Case Study: How Susan Is Back To Playing Pickleball Competitively Again…

Gray Method™ Patient Case Study | 2021 | Back In Motion Physical Therapy & Performance

South Florida, and specifically Southwest Florida, is an area known for its active residents. Whether it is walking, weight lifting, tennis, golf, pickleball, or anything in between, the presence of a higher functioning population is felt.

Sometimes, the “catch 22” of increased activity level is that aches and pains arise for one reason or another, which can sideline you from staying involved in activities that you love.

What we provide at Back in Motion is finding the best option on how to fix the cause of said aches and pains, or modify any movement in ways to avoid or prevent said aches and pains.

The Start of Susan’s Journey…

This is a snapshot of Susan’s journey at Back In Motion and how we got her back to playing pickleball and participating in her High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) classes just as she was before her shoulder started getting in the way of what she enjoys.

Susan is no stranger to the pickleball court, making opponents run back and forth, mis-hit, and put the ball right into the net. With the level that she plays at and the amount of time she spends playing, she asks a lot out of her arm, just as any avid pickleball player does.

The repetitive and quick motion that the arm must endure while playing means that any shoulder issue would get in the way of enjoying the game.

Why Susan Chose Back In Motion For Physical Therapy…

Susan came to Back In Motion with shoulder issues such as pain, weakness, instability, and decreased range of motion and endurance.

She came to us in search for an all natural and holistic method to avoid getting injections into her shoulder.

Of course, like many of our patients, she was skeptical at first that our method would work but that quickly changed after her first evaluation with us.

The Initial Evaluation & Diagnosis

During the evaluation, the Gray Method™ was applied in order to find the root causes of why her shoulder was presenting in the way it was.

Shoulder impairments may be caused by a multitude of conditions such as tight and/or weak muscles, a hypermobile shoulder or thoracic spine, impaired movement of the shoulder blade and/or thoracic spine, etc., to name a few.

There is an almost endless list as to why shoulder issues come about, to which the Gray Method™ is used to uncover, and is where the providers at Back In Motion come into play to use the knowledge and expertise needed to head in the right direction.

During the initial examination, it was uncovered that in Susan’s case, shoulder joint capsule hypomobility was the main cause of her symptoms, to which the capsule completely surrounds the joint to help with safe and stable shoulder movement, and as you may imagine, hypomobility of this tissue can limit the functionality of the shoulder and present in a painful way.

Treatment Of Susan’s Shoulder

Once the root cause of Susan’s shoulder issues was uncovered, treatment began with an emphasis on a range of motion, specifically improving the integrity and mobility of her joint capsules.

In order to work on the hypomobility of the joints, manual therapy techniques were used to move the ball of the arm bone in the socket of the joint in specific directions. “Motion is lotion!” as you may hear some providers say.

In addition to this, it was important to reintroduce load into the tissues and muscles of the shoulders, which starts at a certain repetition range and a certain amount of resistance to promote blood flow and tissue healing in the affected areas.

The Results

Once Susan’s range of motion was back to the way it was before her shoulders started feeling the way they were, her shoulder exercises were systematically progressed with new exercises introduced in order to improve the strength, stability, and overall health of her shoulders.

The condition of Susan’s shoulders was a doozy to treat, but after about 3 months of targeted care, she is back to playing pickleball at a competitive level, and has the independence to maintain what she gained!

Do you want to be like Susan?

Speak to one of our Doctors for FREE to see if we can help you get back to doing what you love most again, pain-free with our renowned Gray Method™.