Are we symmetric?
The regular textbooks in anatomy and orthopaedics are based on Cartesian symmetry, although in this last decennium a number of pioneers stated to the contrary. Is it logical to find - in our basic physical examination – that next to acute pain patterns, more than 90% of our patients are asymmetric in function and form?
Did we also examine healthy people as a control group?
We relate asymmetry to pain and denominate it as a dysfunction, which has to be treated one way or another. Is asymmetry original present or acquired?
Family pictures or earlier medically filed asymmetry can sometimes justify such hypotheses.
But if asymmetry is regular, we can create - through tests - a golden standard for a global examination of individual asymmetrical mobility.
We can apply such knowledge to diagnostics, to understand preferred mobility in sport, working postures, pain-patterns etc. and to choose more precise therapeutic solutions.

In neurophysiology, some lateralization functions are related to movement asymmetries, also referred to as preferred functions. In manual medicine these lateralization tests, proven to be reliable, are related to particular functions of the spine.

The interesting question is, whether we can - via such lateralization tests - create a prognosis about the normal asymmetrical mobility of the individual. We are researching this correlation on de level of the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine in several studies.

Is this view special enough for you?
We give courses in this field of Manual/Musculoskeletal Medicine based on laterality and physics (mass-mechanics).