Central Key Point

Whilst on neuro prac, one of my patients, who presented with a stoke had a complicating kyphosis, which meant that her ‘normal’ O2 sats were around 86%, it was also hard to correct her postural alignment, as ‘normal’ for her was obviously different to true ‘normal’. One technique we learned during the prac was central key point - a facilitation technique to enhance posture. We tried this technique on our patient to see if we could change the posture, or if it were fixed. After a few days, with two sessions a day we thought a noticeable change in posture was evident; however we were looking for it and decided an objective measure would be in order. The patient also reported a decrease in breathlessness. After checking her O2 sats again we came up with a reading of 96%!!! We were unable to believe it, however sure enough, after several readings it was clarified that her sats had were at a raised level. We couldn’t be certain that it was only to do with the central key point, however we believe it did have at least something to do with it. Which just goes to show that there is a cross over in all areas of physio!

This technique also proved to be very useful for most stoke patients in enhancing posture (forward and contralaterally), it is a fantastic technique which i highly recommend for use across the spectrum.