The Back Pain - Musculoskeletal Alignment Connection

People who have fallen often end up with lower back pain or sciatic nerve pain that radiates through the pelvis and even down the leg to the foot. If their pain does not resolve despite months of expensive conventional treatment, the cause could be a misaligned sacrum and pelvis.

Misaligned pelvic bones and associated muscle tension can cause:

·         Back pain

·         Sciatica

·         Piriformis Syndrome

·         Buttock, hip, leg, or knee pain

·         Bunions (if only one foot has a bunion, the cause is not your shoes!)

Treating Only the Painful Area is Not the Solution

Many therapies and treatment protocols merely target the location of the pain. For example, if the hip hurts, they treat the hip joint. However, if a femur isn’t seated in its hip socket properly because pelvic bones have been pulled out of symmetry by hypertonic (spasmed) muscles, treating only the hip area will NOT necessarily resolve the dysfunction. Untreated hypertonic muscles in the back, legs and/or pelvis hold those bones in asymmetry indefinitely. The result is pain that may become chronic.

Because Bowen Therapy treats the body’s musculoskeletal structure as a system, rather than simply addressing the painful area, many clients experience pain relief.

Bowen Therapy + Applied Myoskeletal Therapy

The College of Applied Myoskeletal Therapy of Australia offers “post-grad” training to certified Bowen Therapy practitioners. The advanced AMT assessment protocols and additional manual therapy techniques resolve complex skeletal misalignment due to, for example, car accidents, falls, sports injuries, or other physical trauma.

There are more than 2,000 Bowen Therapy practitioners in Canada. In 2019, 39 of them were trained in pelvis and lumbar spine assessment and alignment by instructor John Garfield, bringing the total number of Canadians with the training to 45 so far. They are located in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. These practitioners have been trained to assess and resolve skeletal misalignment such as:

·         Single or double pelvis rotations

·         Elevated iliac crest (and associated elevated shoulder)

·         Locked (non-moving) sacroiliac joints

·         Rotated lumbar vertebrae

·         Scoliosis

·         Functional leg length discrepancies

·         Pelvic upslip

·         Sacrum and coccyx lateral deviation

Clients tell us that Bowen Therapy + AMT pelvis alignment gets lasting results when nothing else they’ve tried has worked.

Snowboarder Testimonial

I had been living with chronic hip pain for five to seven years; as a result last winter I contracted sciatica. I consulted physiotherapists, a chiropractor, osteopath, massage therapist and an acupuncturist, but nothing even came close to the results I received from Madeline. From the first visit, I finally felt the relief I had been searching for, all with the gentleness that Bowen Therapy and Applied Myoskeletal Therapy offers. I'm so grateful she has been able to help my hip and sciatica, and improve my overall quality of life. G.M., 2019

Case: Woman Slipped on Ice

A middle-aged client slipped and fell several times the previous winter. She walked stiffly, with “pain everywhere.” She’d pulled muscles in her back, legs, glutes, neck, and one shoulder. The result was a locked sacroiliac joint and a single (one-side) forward pelvic rotation that caused a functional leg length discrepancy. In one session her sacroiliac joint released, her pelvis realigned, and leg lengths became even. More sessions were needed to treat her upper back, shoulder, and neck muscles.

Case: Skating Accident

A fit, active woman in her 20s broke her right ankle skating and had surgery. Three years later she presented with lower back pain. The pelvis dysfunction was complex. A right-side pelvic rotation caused painful pressure on lumbar nerves and created a functional leg length discrepancy. Her right sartorius and glute medius muscles, and left leg’s hamstrings and gracilis muscles were all hypertonic. As well, there was significant residual muscle tension in the left (unbroken and untreated) ankle and lateral calf from the accident. Stretching would not resolve these issues. Thanks to the combo of Bowen Therapy and AMT, her pelvic rotation corrected which resolved her leg lengths and the pressure on lumbar nerves. She walked out of the clinic pain-free and aligned at the end of her first session. It’s never too late to heal from an accident!

About the Author

Madeline McBride, M.A.Sc., P. Eng., studied civil engineering at Queen’s University and the University of Waterloo. Mechanics and structural design courses underpin her knowledge of biomechanics and tensegrity. Combined with physical therapy training (Bowen Therapy, Applied Myoskeletal Therapy (AMT), Energetic Structural Balance (ESB) and more), she has become a Canadian expert in restoring myoskeletal alignment. She teaches physical therapists to assess the jaw and pelvis, and to restore alignment. Sign up for a workshop or read her blog posts at www.McBridePainClinic.com