SI joint pain

I had the bad fortune of sleeping on a terrible mattress lately, and it through my hips out. So, I ended up with SI joint pain and had the "opportunity" to figure out what I needed to do to ease it.

While the SI joint was definitely out of alignment, I found that it was actually being caused by the very top of my quadriceps muscles, on both legs, and I needed to so the stretch to rotate my pelvis back. It's still a bit sore, but it's so much better that I wanted to remind people to not just look at the site of pain, but to consider the muscles that are the potential source of the pain.

You are always welcome to come onto my forum (http://www.julstro.com) and let me know what you are experiencing. I'll be happy to help you figure out what muscles need to be treated and stretched. Most of the time it's successful, even if it does sometimes take a few days of self-treatment to get it to work out completely.

Wishing you well,
Julie

Flying Caused His Low Back Pain

I just took a business trip to Tucson, AZ, and sat next to a man who was having low back pain that was extremely uncomfortable. We talked about find the source of this pain and why sitting for hours is actually the cause of his problem.

I explained to him that when a muscle called the iliopsoas contracts it allows him to go from standing to sitting, however when you then sit for a long time the muscle stays in that shortened position and it won't stretch when you stand up. The muscle is now putting pressure on the lumbar vertebrae and you feel pain in your low back. This is explained on my website (www.julstro.com) in the section titled "Muscles and Pain". Tension in the iliopsoas muscle also causes the thigh muscles to contract and pull down of the pelvis, furthering the low back problem. I showed him how to use his elbow to press on his thigh muscles to lengthen them.

All you need to do is push your elbow into your thigh at the very top of your leg, press down and slide to your knee. This will help your pelvis to rotate back where it belongs and take some of the pressure off the low back. Then by just doing the stretch that is demonstrated in my website, the iliopsoas is lengthened and the pressure is now off the lumbar vertebrae. The stretch is really easy, and he just stood up right there in the aisle and did it. He was thrilled, immediately his low back felt so much better.

Give it a try, you don't need to suffer!

Tight thigh muscles can cause back pain

The thigh muscles originate on the front of your pelvis and insert just below your knee joint. As these muscles get tight they shorten, causing both knee pain and pulling down on the pelvis. As the pelvis is rotated it causes your lumbar spine to pull forward and down. This will cause an aching pain in your low back.

To rotate your pelvis back where it belongs you need to release the tension in your thighs. You can do this by pressing deeply into the thigh muscles with your elbow, and then deeply sliding down from the very top of your thigh (where it meets with your trunk) all the way to just above your knee. You'll find a bump just about 1/2 of the way down your thigh. This is the spasm that is causing your low back pain, and knee pain.

Press deeply on that bump for about 60 seconds, and then continue sliding down your leg. If you do that 3-4 times the spasm will release, and you'll be pleased to feel your low back pain easing.

For more information on your low back, go to www.julstro.com. There are great posts in the "Archives" forum.

Wishing you well,
Julie

The Stretch that Doesn't Work

Have you ever had back pain that was really sharp when you tried to stand up after sitting for a while? You bend over, rub your back, and it feels better for a minute - until you try to stand up again! You are rubbing in the wrong place.

As I mentioned in the last message, the main muscle that causes low back pain will enable you to bend at your hip (ie: taking a step &/or sitting down folds you where your trunk meets with your upper leg, at your hip). As that muscle gets tight, you can't stand up without pulling hard on your lumbar vertebre. When you lean over to release the pain, what you are actually doing is again bringing "point A closer to point B" and you are again shortening the muscle, just as it was when you were sitting down. Rubbing your low back doesn't help at all, it just feels good for the minute.

The only time rubbing your low back will help is when a muscle called "quadratus lumborum" is contracted. Also called the "QL," this muscle is responsible for lifting your hip when you take a step or sit down. If it goes into a spasm it holds your hip in the lifted position. But, in order for you to stand up straight, your hip needs to come down, so the muscle is pulling on the bone.

There are good pictures that explain this in The Pain-Free Triathlete but unfortunately I can't get those pictures into this blog. I only wish I could understands computers as clearly as I understand why muscles are causing pain....oh well, thank heaven for "techie's" :-)

Wishing you well,
Julie

The Muscles that Cause Low Back Pain

After working for 18 years with individuals who have been injured in automobile and work-related accidents, and also with athletes from beginner up through amazing endurance levels, I've seen every type of injury imaginable. However, one injury stands out above all other - low back pain!

It has been my experience that people are often looking in the wrong place to find the source of low back pain, and yet working on two muscles alleviates the pain quickly.

The two muscles are the "iliopsoas" and the "quadriceps." The iliopsoas muscle originates on the front side of your lumbar vertebre, and when they contract they enable you to bend over, lift your leg, or sit down. However, when they are shortened due to repetitive strain injury, they pull your lumbar vertebre forward and down, and you have pain in your low back. The second muscle group is the quadriceps, the muscles that form the front of your thigh. It's a bit complicated to explain in a short message here on this blog, however you can read the details in Muscles - A Logical Cause of Back Pain.

The important thing is, you frequently can reverse low back pain, without surgery or potentially harmful drugs. This blog has been designed to help people help themselves. Within the restrictions of time and space, I look forward to working with you, the reader, to find and eliminate pain.