Case history: what a headache
Colleen, from Ohio, is a 27-year-old customer service agent with an airline. She had pain in the neck and the right shoulder blade. There was no known cause for the pain. The pain radiated down her right arm to her thumb and she had occasional headaches. When she started the McKenzie program, she had had these symptoms for about two months and they had gotten worse for three weeks. Activities that were painful included looking down, writing, being a passenger in a car, and turning her head, especially to the left. Her sleep was disturbed.
Colleen’s neck’s range of motion was limited. With McKenzie postural techniques, including use of a lumbar roll, her sitting posture improved and her neck and shoulder blade pain declined. Head Retraction in Sitting (Neck Exercise 1) reduced her symptoms and they remained better. She used a cervical roll for sleeping.
Four days after beginning the McKenzie program, Colleen had less neck pain and her headaches were less frequent and less intense. The cervical roll had enabled her to sleep without pain. Her range of motion had improved.
Three days later, the headaches were gone. Colleen noticed shoulder blade pain only when she woke up. She still had some pain when returning to a normal head position after looking down.
She began using the “slouch-overcorrect” technique to further improve her posture. Two weeks later Colleen was free of pain and had full range of motion.
