What Does Back Pain Mean and How to Get Back Pain Relief

Low back pain or lumbar pain as with any pain is your body communicating with you.  The question is are you listening to it?  You may have a condition including a herniated disc, bulging discs, arthritis, spondylolisthesis, spondylosis, or scoliosis. The opposite could be x-rays or an MRI that reports no significant findings and still having pain.   Either way, muscular balance is likely at the root of the problem. Of course, it is important to rule out any other causes of back pain such as UTI, kidney infection, kidney stones, or cancer.  The structural changes are caused by misalignment and muscular imbalance.

“Pain anywhere in your body is one obvious indicator, but pain is usually the last manifestation,  before pain sets in, the signs of imbalance are numerous and easily identified” - David Smith, Posture Alignment Specialist prior Egoscue Clinic Owner and Instructor.  

Instinctively you might know there is something off with your posture or alignment.  You may not know what to do about it.  Signs to look out for include: one or both feet turned out, a shoulder lower, the trunk feeling off to the side, slouched and rounded shoulders, knees turned out or in, each knee turned a bit different, or other postural deviations.

People often blame back pain on age, an activity, shoes or equipment, or even bad luck.  I have been studying and working with patients with back pain for over 25 years.  The truth is muscle imbalance plays a significant role.  You can walk around with many postural deviations: hip elevation, rotation, shoulder elevation, and have no pain but the forces in the body are happening, and eventually, pain sets in. It is natural to believe it was all caused by picking up a heavy box. Or thinking it was a result of the body doing some other movement or waking up from sleep. 

As a physical therapist, I worked in mostly outpatient settings. I experienced and observed the rehab and progression of wonderful results with shoulder rotator cuff repair, ACL repairs, total knee replacements, and total hip replacements.  In addition, amazing results with trauma surgeons putting bones back together and rehabilitation with physical therapy and occupational therapy giving people their lives back. However, for patients suffering from back pain, sciatica, herniations, muscle spasms, and even neck pain the outcomes were not as good. It was more likely to see patients returning with similar symptoms or turning to other options.

After about 15 years as a physical therapist, I started looking for other answers to improve the specific skills to help a patient with chronic back pain or chronic spine conditions.  I discovered a technique called the Egoscue Method created by Pete Egoscue.  As I became trained and certified by the Egoscue Institute, this technique is what some call posture therapy, posture alignment, or realignment.  It is a technique using exercises, stretches, and positions to help balance muscles considering that all the muscles in the body are connected by fascia.  The choice of which exercises consider the whole body, what sequence, and when to use them has been what I would call a “game changer” in watching people recover and deal with back pain. This method addresses the body as a whole and will likely help more than one symptom. 

The concept of using posture alignment to help with back pain is important to consider before other more invasive choices.  The alternatives have significant downsides.   A person might choose surgery with considerable risks, prolonged use of opioids that are addicting and lose their effectiveness over time,  frequent use of NSAIDS or steroids that wreak havoc on the GI system, or invasive injections with possible complications.  Surgery at times is absolutely necessary - in other cases with some effort and listening to your body there are alternatives to try.

Below is a video of a routine that was created to help address some of the common muscle imbalances that those suffering from low back pain experience. This particular routine was created by Pete Egoscue for his revised version of the book, “Pain-Free: A Revolutionary Method for Stopping Chronic Pain.”  It is instructed by Randee Engelhard, MPT, PAS, and AET, and certified by Egoscue Institute at the advanced level.  Check out the video 

**Please consult a physician before trying this out - this is not a substitute for medical advice