Pushing through the pain? Stop! Now!
“Pain is a medical condition and a medical issue”, says Brett Jones.” It’s a warning sign. The pain is there to tell you something’s wrong.”
Pelvic misalignment is very common and can be the cause of some major pains that we experience from day to day. These may range from lower back pain, hip pain, knee pain and ankle pain. Last week we wrote on shoes wearing out unevenly. Did you know that pelvis imbalance can have a connection with your feet having a problem?
Identify and correct pelvic tilt and you could very well end your lower back pain forever. The constant stress added to your low back joints, lumbar discs and lower back and pelvis muscles can often be associated with a tilted pelvis.
What Is a Tilted Pelvis?
Normally, the pelvis should be balanced with no abnormal anterior (forward), posterior (backward) or side tilting. If a horizontal line is drawn at the top of the pelvis it should be parallel with the floor. If it does not a pelvis tilt exists with one side being lower than the other.
This tilting will result in abnormal sacroiliac joint alignment, lumbar misalignment, muscular imbalance, abnormal posture, subsequent wear and tear, degeneration and lower back pain. A diagnosis given to you as disc herniation or degenerative disc disease may be as a result of pelvic tilt.
What Causes Pelvic Tilt?
- Sitting on a wallet for men
- Leg shortening
- Flat feet
- Pronation (stepping on the outer side of the foot)
- Muscular imbalance
- Sacroiliac joint subluxations (misalignment at the joint where the pelvis meets the spine) caused by work postures or a fall
- Weakness of hip extensor muscles
- Tightness of psoas muscle (deep stomach muscle)
- Shortening of hamstring especially from prolonged sitting
- Antalgic posture (painful gait) mostly in response to acute pain and swelling of the lower spinal joints.
Why Is Pelvic Tilt Bad?
When your pelvis tilts to one side it creates joint misalignments throughout your spine. These joints can no longer function in the proper planes of motion that they were designed to do. This now creates abnormal joint stresses resulting in wear and tear, joint disruption and eventually pain. If allowed to go uncorrected the outcome is recurrent lower back pain, disc degeneration, disc herniation or disc bulge, sacroiliac joint pain, muscle strain, pain in hip, and facet syndrome and other conditions that may cause spinal pain.
Along with the abnormal stresses to the joints, the lumbar muscles are also unable to work in their proper manner as one side will be elongated and the corresponding opposite muscles become shortened. This will create recurrent muscle strain, chronic muscle spasm, contribute to improper lumbar spine function, and-you guessed it- more lower back pain.
How To Correct Pelvic Tilt
- Identify what is causing the pelvic tilt and take corrective action. Some of which may be:
- Foot problems
- Short leg
- Lack of strength, poor flexibility and low muscular endurance
- Abnormal or poor posture
- Poor shoes or worn footwear
- Other possible aggravating or contributing habits e.g. sitting on a wallet.
- Engage in a regular strength, endurance and flexibility program with emphasis on your core muscles.
- Seek the services of a competent physiotherapist and chiropractor that do more than just adjust your spine. They should be able to recognize the importance of foot structure, short leg, trigger points, exercise, and daily habits. You ought to be coached on overall health improvement that will correct all the important issues. The physiotherapist will also correct muscle imbalances and give proper exercises to strengthen specific muscles.
Make life a moving experience.
Nature strives for motion- your health and well-being are dependent on it. Sitting for long hours creates destructive forces and should be discouraged as much as possible.
Walk….. Walk…. Walk.
Do have a “moving” day.
