Case Study by physiotherapist Emma Gray B.Phty – May 2010

Sharon presented to me on the 28^th April for physiotherapy after reading our website. She was quite interested in the chronic pain treatments that we offer at Lifestyle Therapies.

Sharon had a car accident in 2000 in which she fractured her left ankle. Since then she has developed lower back and upper back pain and her ankle was still very painful and limited in range.

Sharon has been in pain for 10years and has also been through multiple therapists and therapies and has depression.

During the first treatment, issues arising due to chronic pain and depression were evident straight away – including:

• emotionally upset just talking about her pain
• Worried that she was wasting time (having been to many therapists before)
• Hypersensitive areas of pain (Sharon was very nervous of me even doing massage).
• Limited ankle range
• Limited and apprehensive lower back and upper back range of movement.

I had determined that Sharon’s back pain had developed due to her asymmetrical gait and other issues arising due to this included a rotated pelvis.

Therefore, in treating this kind of presentation I would hope to improve ankle range and equalise some muscle tone and mobility around the spine for pain relief in the initial stage of treatment. However due to the hypersensitivity and apprehension Sharon was feeling this was quite impossible. So what could I do within the first session to decrease pain and apprehension?

Choices which most physiotherapists have on offer which would be suitable included TENs and muscle releases (gentle soft tissue release to bearable depth). After doing these Sharon had minimal improvement in range and pain scores.

Other treatments which I used since learning them at Lifestyle Therapies included psoas releases (using proprioceptive neuromuscular release, cold spray and trigger point releases) and Q magnet placement. After releasing the psoas’ Sharon felt looser in her back and had decreased tone around the spine. However pain levels were much the same.

I then placed Q magnets on Sharon’s spine and ankle – one at L4 centrally, one on the Right PSIS and one on the Left ankle.

The next time I saw Sharon she had no pain in her back or ankle. I found this unbelievable but sure enough in the first 2 weeks I have been able to successfully increase treatment pressure and retrain TA (which is usually inhibited by pain). We have also been able to gradually add some exercise into her daily routine without any ill effects and improve Sharon’s walking pattern.

The use of Q magnets in this chronic and complicated case has definitely sped up the treatment pathway and improved Sharon’s quality of life almost immediately.

Since this case I will be using Q magnets more frequently in the future for treatment of chronic pain and motor control retraining.