This is for those of you with back pain that crops up now and then. Maybe it happens once a year or once every few years, but why does it keep coming back? The answer often has to do with an old injury that never received correct treatment in the first place.
You may later have received a diagnosis of scoliosis. It’s very important to note “what kind of scoliosis?” There are two types: fixed and flexible.
Fixed scoliosis is diagnosed in childhood and braced to decrease the twist with growth. In flexible scoliosis, your spine is twisted, but there’s nothing wrong with the bones. An example would be when you wake up with a stiff neck. The same thing happens in your back.
Flexible scoliosis is a twist that you did to your spine once upon a time. It could have been a slip-and-fall, car accident, lifting something heavy, moving furniture or pushing a heavy box with your leg. Sometimes you can even create a create it by habitually sitting in a twisted posture or sitting twisted once, but for a really long time.
Once your vertebrae and/or tailbone are out of alignment, you have pain that goes away as your muscles and ligaments adapt to the position. Because your spine/sacro-iliac joint (SI) is misaligned, intermittently your pain comes slamming back. The goal of chiropractors or physical therapists is the same — to undo that scoliosis. Chiropractors usually divide your spine into three segments and use high velocity manipulations.
Some people get results. An alternative method I like (because it is more detailed) is an osteopathic technique called Muscle Energy Technique (M.E.T). It differs in that the physical therapist looks at each vertebra, tailbone and SI joint and analyzes. They do a specific motion to correct it and look again to ensure it is corrected. It takes longer than three quick cracks, but may yield better and lasting results.
If your back pain is recent, you may need one visit. If you’ve been living with episodic pain for years, it may take months to get everything corrected. By the end, you will understand what’s happening and know when you need to handle it before you end up flat on your back. Not all physical therapists provide M.E.T., but if you’re interested, shop around. You will find it in manual physical therapy clinics, not the ones that only do exercise. I hope this article ends your suffering from cyclic back pain.
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