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How to Treat Belayer’s Neck

How many times have you seen someone whose posture looks like this while belaying? Neck pain is a common in rock climbers. Although climbing itself can lead to neck pain, the most common cause is spending prolonged periods belaying. We refer to this as “belayer’s neck”. Belayer’s neck is a colloquial term to describe a...

Our current understanding of posture has changed dramatically over the past 20 years due to the influx of scientific literature on posture and muscle and joint pain. Previously, posture was thought to be strongly associated with muscles imbalances including tightness or weakness. For example, forward shoulders were thought to be associated with shortened pectoral muscles....

Posture has a controversial and complex role in musculoskeletal pain.  Some research studies have found zero to weak correlations between posture and pain while other studies have shown it can both impact pain and function.  One area of the body where posture may have a larger role is with shoulder function.  Individuals with limited mid...

Shoulder pain is the 2nd most common orthopedic reason patients seek out medical care behind low back pain.  Shoulder pain has many causes including lack of mobility, shoulder blade and rotator cuff weakness, but posture is often criticized as a risk factor for shoulder pain.  Clinicians and patients believe a poor posture places structures such...

In the examination of healthy or injured runners it is tempting to focus on an individual’s leg alignment and posture.  The hope of these tests and measures is it will help a clinician identify the source of client’s symptoms or a risk factor for injury.  The limitation of these examination items is their inability to...

After hearing a patient’s history, Physical Therapists decide on known tests and measures to assess for impairments such as a loss of joint range of motion or muscle weakness which either precipitated or perpetuated a patient’s symptoms or injury.  The foot and ankle are commonly assessed as a contributing factor to lower quarter injuries and...