Pain Free Pec Minor Release | Modern Manual Therapy Blog - Manual Therapy, Videos, Neurodynamics, Podcasts, Research Reviews

Pain Free Pec Minor Release

As promised after Monday's post on Cadavers and Manual Therapy, here is my updated, pain free version of the Pec Minor Release.

People who don't bother reading my blog regularly, or are just too high and mighty for their own good, stick to their bickering forums, etc... don't realize that I preach modern manual therapy. - Thanks for the extra traffic!

Yes... absolutely like most manual therapists, I have caused a fair share of pain and discomfort at my hands in the name of tissue deformation. I have not believed in that for about 3 years now. Here is my updated Pec Minor Release.

Patient: Supine

PT: standing on the involved shoulder side

Test-retest: posteriorly tip the scapula to assess for loss of shoulder IR, make sure you push the scapula into a set position as the involved side is often anteriorly tipped.

Technique:
  • lightly place your fist or a ball into the pec major under the coracoid
    • no you don't need to go underneath it or anything ridiculously painful
  • have the patient move actively into elevation until extra tension or discomfort is felt, then have them resist into elevation to activate the scapular stabilizers
  • this will reciprocally inhibit the pec minor and they (or you) should be able to elevate the shoulder into the next barrier
  • continue until the shoulder is at full elevation if possible
  • re-test shoulder IR, if they are a rapid responder, this should change after 4-5 reps
  • if done correctly, this should not hurt at all, unlike most other passive or movement based "releases"


Give the repeated shoulder extension reset for HEP


Keeping it Eclectic...

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