The Unique Noble Method: Offering Healing Help for a Patient With a Degenerative Shoulder

The Challenge: A Painful Degenerated Shoulder

As a complex and highly mobile joint, the shoulder is crucial in various movements and functions. From helping to lift objects to allowing us to engage in athletic activities such as swimming, we need our shoulders to have a good range of motion and stability.

One of our patients, a 64-year-old man, struggled with severe degeneration in his right shoulder. His pain level was a whopping 8 out of 10 when he began his treatment here at Noble Chiropractic. The patient also had a severely limited range of motion, and his shoulder was sore and tender to the touch.

Remarkable Results With the Noble Method

Dr. Steve Noble implemented his unique Noble Method to alleviate the patient’s condition before his impending shoulder reconstructive surgery. This method aims at fine-tuning the nervous system to improve overall body functionality. After four weeks of care, the patient experienced a remarkable improvement in muscle recruitment, strength, and range of motion. He also reported a significant decrease in pain levels down to 3/10.

Supplements were also given to the patient. Dr. Noble provided him with Nutriwest’s Total FLM as an anti-inflammatory and gave him Omega 3 oil (Innate Choice Fish Oil). “At this point, the patient considered forgoing surgery, but we decided it was best to get some repair done,” said Dr. Noble.

What is Muscle Recruitment?

Muscle recruitment is when your brain tells certain muscles to start working together to do things like moving your arms or legs. It’s your body’s way of deciding which muscles to use for different actions. We want 100% of those muscle fibers to respond immediately.

Swift Gains Post-Surgery

Two weeks post-surgery, the patient returned for care. He was recommended not to start physical therapy by the doctor who performed the surgery on his shoulder for at least 6 weeks. The Noble Method allowed for subtle adjustments, which immediately started to improve strength by way of improving muscle recruitment.

Over the course of 6 weeks, the man’s range of motion and strength increased, and pain was down significantly to 3/10 from the time of surgery, where it had gone back to 8/10. Six weeks post-surgery, the patient returned to his orthopedic doctor, who again recommended against starting PT for another 6 weeks.

The patient returned to Noble Chiropractic for continued care where over the next 6 weeks, pain dropped to 1/10 and range of motion was 160/180 degrees in abduction, meaning he achieved close to full lateral movement.

His strength was 5/5 throughout, other than external, where strength was 4/5. Upon returning to his orthopedic doctor with the gains we made the patient’s surgeon now didn’t see a reason to go to PT.
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