IF you have back pain, you are not alone. According to Georgetown University, nearly 65 million adults have reported a recent episode of back pain and 16 million adults, 8 percent, experience chronic back pain. In fact, Americans spend billions a year seeking neck and back pain relief.
When considering neck and back pain treatment, Dr. Ida Rolf, founder of Structural Integration, advised, “Don’t follow the pain.” Similarly, Eric Dalton, founder of Myoskeletal Alignment Techniques says, “Where you think it (the pain) is, it ain’t.”
Through thousands of bodywork sessions, I have, that back pain can come from any one or a combination of structural misalignments such as: forward head posture, displaced scapulas or misalignments in the feet, legs or pelvis.
In our culture, smart phones cause much of our neck and back pain.
When the head and neck are in alignment, the head weighs 10 lbs. For every 5 degrees the head goes forward, the back muscles get stretched and cranky holding up a head that can easily feel like 20 lbs or more.
Head holding goes unnoticed until the pain comes.
The long back muscles going along the spine from head to tail are the ones who do most of the work holding up the head. As they get stretched they begin compressing nerves which, eventually, send out aggravating and persistent pain sensations that can be difficult to relieve by oneself.
Like the head, feet can also cause back pain.
Compensation patterns caused by misaligned feet go right up the legs, through the pelvis and up into the spine causing pain that can show up in the SI joints and low back.
The Good news is, most chronic back pain is a soft tissue and soft tissue is changeable.
Structural Integration Practitioners are trained to work in the fascial layers that shorten with compensation patterns.
Releasing restrictions in the fascial system allows the muscles to relax, relieves pressure on the neck and back and helps the whole skeletal system come into alignment. It works like magic.
