14 year old girl, has had bad headaches and dizziness for over 6 months combined with what she describes as severe stomach pains. She presses the liver on the right rather than the stomach! The first complaint produced pain killers from her GP –these made her sick. Her mother requested a consultant appointment and the consultant did not know what to make of the symptoms but ordered an MRI scan which revealed nothing unusual. Blood tests revealed nothing abnormal. The second consultant had no other ideas and suggested a review in 3 months. The third consultant visit produced much the same and the mother was now quite agitated . During that appointment she asked for another opinion and a paediatrician was called in and declared that the problem would go away in 2-3 weeks. This was several weeks before the girl almost crawled up the stairs in the clinic.

Spinal examination revealed massive contracture of the erector spinae and trapezius along with substantial immobility of most of the spinal vertebrae. Attempts to soften the hard muscle were met, predictably, with severe pain. Two sessions of spinal mobilisation and deep tissue work to soften the contracture resulted in a 40% reduction in symptoms and a complete loss of dizziness and headaches.

The question, of course, is how did such a young girl come to be in such a bad state—no-one had asked if she had ever suffered an accident. Her mother remembered a car accident when the girl was 7 years of age but because the child had not suffered at the time, she had not linked the child's symptoms to events of 7 years before. In the light of the level of contracture, more in keeping with what a 30 year old car accident victim would feel like, there was no doubt in my mind as to the origin.

Treatment continues and she is now starting to play basketball at school. Something she could not do since Christmas.