Low Back Pain

Scoliosis Treatment in Ann Arbor MI

Has someone mentioned Scoliosis and immediately you became fearful of movement or any form of exercise causing more problems because of the alignment in your body?

Have you noticed changes in your spine, rib cage, shoulder level, or hip height has changed. And now you are concerned that these asymmetries will continue to worsen or perhaps start causing pain?

If you answered yes to either of these above, you are not alone!

These are common issues with individuals who are dealing with various level of Scoliosis severity.

The good news is asymmetry is NORMAL in the human body and it should not limit your ability to be active, nor does it mean that you destined to be in pain for the rest of your life either!

Internally our body has a few factors that bias the curves in our body. This is EVERYONE has a liver on the right that weighs more than the spleen on your left. So gravity will bias us towards the right side (in addition to other factors). Everyone also has a heart that pushes DOWN on the left diaphragm (your breathing muscle). This leads to EVERYONE having a predisposition for larger/more dome shaped R diaphragm and a LEFT rib flare trying to create more space for air to enter in a restricted left side.

Here are two pictures that will help you see what I am talking about:

thorax.jpeg
left rib flare.jpg

If we take this a step further, a common test you will hear a doctor, physician, surgeon, chiropractor, or physical therapist will talk about is a rib hum on the back while doing a toe touch.

See a client of mine in the image below:

1.1.jpg

What you will notice is the backside of his RIGHT rib cage is more elevated. This is THE MOST common finding in scoliosis and it happens on the RIGHT the majority of the time. The reason for this is the above pictures showing you the difference between right and left lungs and diaphragms…..Ribs forward on the left and ribs back on the right.

So this becomes a internal AIR PRESSURE management of the rib cage to shape the spine and the extremities. Now fair warning, treatment can be more complex than this as the body loves to find ways of compensating to still accomplish a task. But often through some positional breathing exercises we can get visual changes such as what my client demonstrated below:

Before Treatment

Before Treatment

After Treatment

After Treatment

The best example I have for why these changes can happen (and sometimes happen quickly - the pictures above were after 2 sessions) is because of AIR PRESSURE moving structure or stretching areas from the INSIDE OUT.

Imagine you are pumping up a flat tire and how it create a better “more aligned” shape of the car because all 4 tires have equal pressure.

So if you are looking for treatment that helps you STAY active, reduce likelihood of progression of curvature, and even help shape the scoliosis visually in a more appealing way then sign up for a FREE Discovery Session Below!

I also want to re assure you that you can be active and WITHOUT pain if you have scoliosis!

Now I fully realize that the curves are not aesthetically pleasing. So most people like to try to make changes in how the curves or rib flares look if possible (which it often is). But just because someone has scoliosis does not mean they are doomed to a life of pain or inactivity. If you are being treated by a healthcare professional who is constantly feeding you negativity, PLEASE find someone else!

If you want to learn SIMPLE exercises that address position of shoulders, spine, rib cage, pelvis (the entire body) which involve breathing to help give the scoliosis spine more movement options and a more appealing look, such as some of the exercises we used below….Then set up a discovery session below!

Here is what a client of mine had to say about his experience with On Track Physio:

What You Should Know About Sciatica

Sciatica is a common type of pain which impacts the sciatic nerve as it extends down the leg. It's a "catch all" term which describes a particular subset of symptoms which includes:

  • Low back pain

  • Hip pain in the back of the leg which is generally worse during sitting

  • Burning or Tingling down the leg

  • Weakness or numbness in the foot

  • Constant pain in the rear

  • Shooting pain down the leg

The problem with the term sciatica is that it actually encompasses many different reason or causes for these particular set of symptoms.

Which is why it is important to establish an assumption of the root cause from where the symptoms originate from in order to effectively treat it. When considering this presentation, the first thing we need to clear is the lower back. 

This is a where the sciatic nerve originates and as a result it makes sense to start here because if you miss the low back as a pain contributor, any other treatment you provide will have minimal impact.

Low Back

Is there a directional preference of the spine either bending forward or extending backward?

Are the symptoms provoked or alleviated with either compression (rotating + side bend with possible addition of axial compression) or distraction (rotation + side bend in the opposite direction of symptoms)?

What positions are the symptoms worse in - sitting, standing, or walking?

Is there associated muscle testing weakness of the leg that presents asymmetrically? 

What was the mechanism of injury?

These are all important considerations for low back contribution to sciatica symptoms. They also help you understand what movements you currently can perform as well as cannot perform due to pain or symptoms worsening. 

Hip

Many people tend to refer to this one as piriformis syndrome. However, the piriformis takes a lot of unnecessary blame. When we consider the hip as a pain contributor it is because it irritates the sciatic nerve. Nerves like 3 things - blood flow, space, and movement. 

Think about the last time your arm fell asleep when you had it resting over your head. The arm was on stretch overhead, thus restricting space as well as blood flow and it was not moving. Which is why you started to experience tingling in the hand. 

It's no different than sitting on a hardwood chair for a long period of time. At some point you need to shift PRESSURE to the other butt cheek. 

When looking at the hip, we want to see how much range of motion an individual has rotating in all directions at the hip. Before we try to stretch anything, we should consider the total range of motion at the hip. If the client can reach this total range of motion number, then more than likely its not a flexibility issue. More times than not, even though the hip FEELS “tight” you actually have enough joint range of motion.

What you may notice more is that the person has a tendency to utilize one direction of the hip more often (in most cases people will have a lot more external rotation than internal rotation at the hip). If this is the case, then utilizing the muscles which create the opposing direction is often useful to shift PRESSURE somewhere new. 

Finally, there is also a certain subset of people who have excessive hip range of motion. In these instances, it appears that the muscles creates protective tension in order to help the joint feel more stable. As a result, the way to decrease the constant resting tension is to actually strengthen the hip musculature in order to provide an improved perception of control.

Sciatic Nerve

Finally we should discuss the nerve itself. After an injury, or if symptoms are experience for a prolonged period of time, the nerve can become highly sensitive/symptomatic to pressure or tension. 

At this point in time, neural tensioners/sliders can be a useful mechanism to gradually expose the nerve to tension and compression to create an increased buffer zone from symptoms occurring in the first place. 

Summary

Now you understand why it's so important to clear the back FIRST while simultaneously treating the leg further down the chain. Just because you have pain in your leg does not mean that specific area is the culprit.

If you have specific questions about your issue, feel free to email me at: greg@annarbor.physio

or schedule a discovery visit below where we can talk about this more in person 1 on 1.

Back and Shoulder Pain Recovery Story (“More Improvement in 6 Treatments than 30 Session Experienced Elsewhere”)

Matt - Back/Shoulder Pain, Ann Arbor

Injury: Limiting his exercise routine, impacting life at work and home.

Matt initially came to On Track Physio for a lingering shoulder issue which did not resolve with other rehabilitation methods. He had actually accumulated ~30 visits with another provider before finding us!

Looking for an alternative option, Matt found us online and we started with a Free Discovery Session.

We sat down and discussed how his shoulder was limiting him and what life would look like once the shoulder pain resolved. Then we mapped out our plan of attack to get him where he felt fully confident in his shoulder again.

Over the course of 6 treatments Matt noticed significant progress and was kind enough to write us this google review:

Matt p google review.png

Unfortunately, about 3 months later he experienced an unrelated injury. A flare up of a previous low back disc herniation.

Being familiar with our process and having success in the past, Matt set up another appointment with us to address his current low back issue.

After 5 visits his back was feeling much better and no longer dealing with frequent discomfort at work or bending forward. The ability to see us so soon after the injury was very helpful to get him recovered FASTER!

Matt’s story is very similar to many of the clients we treat here at On Track Physio. Starting with Free Discovery Session, then feeling positive and noticeable improvements within 6 session….Even if failing other treatment options (Remember, Matt received 30 visits of treatment prior to starting with On Track Physio).