3 Ways in which EXPOSS saves you time, money and suffering

What is EXPOSS, you ask? This is the abbreviated name given to a research study from Canada based on the McKenzie assessment which showed surprising results in recovery from pain in an arm or a leg. “Extremity Pain Of Spinal Source” or plainly put, when your spine pretends that all is well but simultaneously takes you on a wild goose chase as it raises a complaint somewhere in your arm or leg.

The 2019 publication of Rosedale R, et al. in the Journal of Manual Therapy details how 43.5% of the 369 patients seen during the 16-month study period, had their arm or leg symptoms eradicated through spinal exercises/treatments alone, while they had no spinal symptoms suggesting the need to check the spine.

Each time any joint’s pain responded positively to the tested spinal movements, the data was added to the overall numbers (totalling 43.5%) but also to the data for that particular joint, which provides us with a guide on how often certain joints tend to pretend on behalf of the spine like this (see image above). Perhaps the most remarkable is that when more than 1 of these areas in the arm complained at once, they found that 83% responded positively to the spinal treatments, and in the leg, 72%. Knowing this makes me cringe whenever I see someone post operatively, who has had symptoms in multiple areas in their arm or leg all along. I always wonder if that surgery was ever in the patient’s interest, and the reality is that we’ll likely never know.

The value I take from this study, which I extend to my patients is this:

• Knowing which area to treat means we cut down on symptom-masking around the painful area while getting down to the cause and its symptoms at the same time.
• If a patient dreads a joint replacement or other surgical repair (especially following failed conservative treatments), we have a big chance of still getting good results and avoiding the operation completely when double checking the spine.
• Surgical results will improve if only joints and their surrounding tissues which truly need to be operated on, make it to radiology, a surgical consultation and into theatre.

As seen in the image above, the distribution of joint likelihood identified in this study is not quite linear and perhaps studies digging deeper into this phenomenon will shed further light and value for us all.

Your health and physical wellbeing should be a priority deserving of quality care. Make sure to discuss any concerns you may have directly with your preferred physiotherapist, so that you can receive the appropriate guidance for your unique situation.