Weight-bearing palpation upgrade, upcoming MFB shoulder and arms course
Earlier this year, I made a breakthrough in evaluation that was exciting for me: I realized that it was much easier to evaluate the front-to-back balance of the pelvis on the femoral heads if I did it unilaterally. For the last couple of months, my protocol has been to stabilize the upper leg with one hand and glide the ipsilateral ilium back and forth with my other hand. This change has really enhanced my clarity of assessment in a critical part of the body.
This past weekend, as we taught an MFB Spine and Ribcage class, I suddenly realized that I could make exactly the same improvement when evaluating the front-to-back balance of the shoulder girdle on the ribcage! Now, I'm stabilizing the side of the ribcage with one hand, and gliding the ipsilateral shoulder girdle with the other. It's a similarly huge improvement for me.
I know that in the next few weeks, I'll be gathering a lot of data about the implications of this change. Luckily for me, we're teaching an MFB class about the Shoulder Girdle and Arms in November (11/7-8), and I'll get to share this improvement with some students.
hey richard,james nybo here.so this sounds interesting ive been working with the bilateral front to back assessment with everyone i see and have been incorporating an awareness of femoral head relationship to pelvis in my aikido classes with various results i.e. can people feel it can they maintain the feeling when they initiate movement,also trying different language to communicate this concept/awareness.when you stabilize the leg where are you holding exactly. thanks richard i appreciate your generous and scholarly nature.