“all my injuries are on 1 side…”

This week, I had an evaluation with someone who mentioned her injuries are “all on my left side” when she was telling me about her pain and her history. She currently has low back pain that has been ongoing for a couple of years. The pain also involves her left hip.

 

When discussing her history of injuries she mentioned her left shoulder was the first thing, she had surgery, did therapy, and all was good. Later, her left knee became a problem, so she did therapy for that and all was good. Now for 2 years she has dealt with some low back pain and tightness that grabs at her left hip. “It’s all on my left side.”

 

I can’t tell you how frequently I hear this, “it’s all on my [x] side.”

 

Why do you think that is? I would bet you can’t pick a moment in time that you hurt your right knee and then your right low back and then your right shoulder.

 

It likely happened over time, right? Gradually building into more and more of an issue.

 

You get therapy for your knee and everything seems to be working out fine and then you randomly start to have right hip pain. You get therapy for your right hip and then years later your right shoulder bothers you. OR your right shoulder and then your right low back. The order doesn’t matter- the point is that clearly something is going on and you’re constantly playing catch up.

 

So, why do you think that is?

 

It’s likely that the root of the problem hasn’t been thoroughly investigated. You’re certainly allowed to have more than one problem and more than one root cause, but if any or all are missed then you’re never really changing anything for a long term solution.

 

More often than not these are the things I see as root issues for people:

1) The ribcage doesn’t change shape when breathing

2) The pelvis doesn’t move

3) The feet don’t change shape when moving

 

I’m not saying that this is ALWAYS the case, but honestly it is more frequently the case than not.

 

I’m not going to go into detail on those 3 things here because, let’s be real, no one would read it. I also don’t expect you to believe me just because I’m saying it, so I encourage you to check out the instagram posts below to get a visual of what addressing the root can look like (click on the pictures for the post).

SO… you may have stuff that’s all on one side, but you may not yet have gotten to the root of it.

 

If you get anything from this blog I would love for it to be hope that you can still find a solution to your problem- you just need someone who investigates deep enough to get to the root of it so that you can solve it for good.