(Wrist and Hand Pain Continued)

minute breaks and half an hour for lunch. Otherwise for eight hours a day, Monday through Friday that’s what she did. So my first question to her was whether or not she felt pain on the weekends. She said she did. The next question I asked really raised her eyebrows. I wanted to know if all of her co-workers had been diagnosed with tendonitis. As soon as the words got out of my mouth she froze and then with a bewildered look on her face she asked, “What do you mean?” I clarified by asking, “If your coworkers have the same duties as you why aren’t they experiencing wrist and hand pain?”

Tammy was instinctually defensive. Realizing that I may sound slightly confrontational, I let her know that I was just trying to make a point that there were other possible factors at play besides just overuse. After going over the basics of body mechanics with her, I went on to explain that misalignments of her shoulder and mid-back can actually cause the hand and wrist to function improperly. Listening intently, she soon opened up and became more receptive to the idea that her shoulder may be an underlying culprit causing her hand and wrist pain.

From performing a postural evaluation, I noted deviations throughout her body that were compounding the issue. For starters, Tammy’s right shoulder was about half an inch higher than her left shoulder. In addition, the same shoulder was pulled forward and rotated inward. Basically, it was as if her entire right side from her shoulder blade to the tip of her fingers was folding in toward her chest. This of course creates abnormal tension in the associated muscles that over time can have many adverse effects like those Tammy was experiencing.