Being a Back Pain Specialist and Fitness Professional, I hear from a number of patients who’re suffering from lower back pain, sciatic pain and discomfort, and a multitude of aches and pains… and sadly, these adults are repeatedly misinformed. One thing I’m continually hearing from patients is “I’ve got a bad back” or “just my old tennis elbow acting up”. Truly, this frustrates me as these adults are misled and are generally suffering unnecessarily.
Clearly, my frustration isn’t just with the individual struggling with the issue, but with the Health and Medical Industry as a whole! Many a time, these back pain sufferers are diagnosed with concerns they do not have like Arthritis, Osteoporosis, and a multitude of others. Most of the aches, pains, injuries, back pain and discomfort, sciatica, or protruding disc sufferers endure are a result of muscle imbalances!
Really, the main reason back pain and discomfort sufferers experience these issues are because particular muscles are pulling their body out of correct alignment. Initially, you should be aware of some fundamental human being physiology. Most significantly, how does a muscle operate? Muscles are attached to bones in two places, the insertion and the origin. Therefore, in order for movement to occur the muscles have got to contract or shorten, which pulls on one end or attachment.
Two things can cause a muscle to pull too much when it is not being asked to contract. Essentially the most common source is bad posture or positioning. An example of this would be how the hip flexor muscles (the muscles in the top front of your thigh that bring your leg forward) shorten due to sitting. Further, the longer you spend sitting the more the hip flexor muscles will tighten because of poor positioning. What’s worse is the majority of patients spend scores of time sitting! No matter whether it’s while driving, while at the office, in your own home watching TV, or at home on the pc! This sets you up for a big issue.
Another reason is a corresponding weakness, or not enough use within your opposing muscle groups. As for instance, the hamstring and gluteus muscles do not get worked near as regularly as the hip flexors and quadriceps, unless obviously one walked backwards. The pull of these muscles directly affects the positioning of the pelvis.
Visualize a muscle imbalance as a tug of war. If one side is more powerful it’s going to overwhelm the other muscle group. The contraction of the hip flexors pulls the front of the pelvis downward producing the lower back to arch excessively. Serious condition… This puts unnecessary compression on the discs and also the muscles of the lower back! This is certainly the foremost source of lower back pain and discomfort and injury! Not only do muscle imbalances affect each joint of your body; they also affect your internal organs! For instance, what do you think happens to the space between your internal organs when your low back muscles are pulling you to correct? Your overall physical condition is affected by muscle imbalances!
I’ve worked with multiple back pain and discomfort sufferers who have been diagnosed with so called issues and are pain and discomfort free with in just a handful of weeks! In almost all instances, all I had them do was stretch the muscles that had been pulling too much and strengthen those that weren’t pulling enough.
Have you ever been to a Chiropractor, Physical Therapist, or Orthopedic Surgeon? Did they explain what the source of the issue was? Did they explain to you, which muscles were pulling too much? Did their treatment plan rectify your issue, or did they only combat the sign or symptom? The primary trouble is that the majority of medical specialists never take a look at your body as a whole. They zoom in on your problem spot (symptom), in our case the lower back. To cut a long story short, the source of the concern is nearly always the tightness of the hip flexors and quadriceps muscles that happen to be in the front of the body! Prior to you accepting any diagnosis be sure you have checked out all of the possibilities.
Deciding what exactly is creating the issue (or will cause one ultimately) is somewhat simple. An in depth physical assessment might be completed, which includes testing of muscular strength, mobility, and function. Also, gait (walking) and biomechanics should be assessed to note any deviations which are the outcome of current muscle imbalances and ones that can instigate future conditions. Finally, once you know which muscles are too tight and which are too weak you then can go about rectifying those muscle imbalances. All it takes is some stretching and strengthening in the correct places, which can take just a few minutes per day!
Jesse is the co-founder and visionary CEO of The Healthy Back Institute®, the world-leading source of natural back pain solutions. His mission as a former back pain sufferer is to help others live pain free without surgery and pharmaceuticals.
