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Low Back Pain

What Happens When Your Back Goes Out?

By Health, Medicine, OsteopathyNo Comments

Imagine you are about to pick up something really heavy. You take a deep breath in and hold it, bend down, grasp the object, and bare down. You grunt as you try to lift the object. Suddenly you feel this sharp excruciating pain in your lower back and even down to your hip that takes your breath away. The pain is so severe that you cannot straighten up. Walking and moving are excruciatingly painful. In the mirror, you look so twisted that you feel like a pretzel. What happened? What happened in this case was that would by trying to…

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Is Your Neck Pain Affecting Your Life?

By Osteopathy, Physical Health2 Comments

Do you carry stress in your shoulders? When you squeeze the fleshy area between your neck and your shoulder, do you find achy, “crunchy” knots? Do you get tension headaches, have tenderness at the base of your skull, neck, between your shoulder blades, and down to the middle of your back? Do you find yourself constantly searching for a corner to press up against or massaging your neck? If you answered ‘yes,’ you may be suffering from an extremely tight trapezius muscle. How often are people suffering with tension in their necks and shoulders trying to get at least temporary relief…

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Are You Considering The Iliacus In Low Back Pain?

By Osteopathic Techniques, Osteopathy4 Comments

Most manual practitioners view the iliacus muscle and the psoas major muscle as one muscle. These two muscles do share something in common and that is they both insert into the same tendon. In many books you’ll see them referred to as the ‘iliopsoas’ and are described as hip flexors. The ‘iliopsoas’ or even more often the psoas is blamed for a lot of back pain problems, especially when one has a difficult time straightening out.  The psoas is implicated for a lot of back pain issues. The iliacus, on the other hand, is difficult to reach as it is located…

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Osteopathic Approach To A Dysfunctional Iliacus Muscle

By Osteopathic Techniques, Osteopathy, Physical Health7 Comments

The iliacus muscle lies on the inside of the pelvic bones. Although it can be a big factor in low back pain, is seldom evaluated or treated. I have previously written that often times when we treat a dysfunctional psoas major, we assume that we are also treating a dysfunctional iliacus muscle. However, I rarely find that a treatment for psoas major truly does help resolve a dysfunctional iliacus. Although these two muscles share a tendon, they are two separate muscles with separate innervation. It has been my experience that to treat iliacus dysfunction requires a different approach than treating a…

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Osteopathy For Natural Pain Relief During Pregnancy

By OsteopathyNo Comments

  Pregnancy can be a very exciting time for an expecting couple. During pregnancy, a woman’s body goes through many necessary structural and physiological changes. Often times pain is commonly associated with these changes and can linger for many months after delivery. Fortunately, the vast majority of low back pain related to pregnancy resolves within 3 months of delivery. This poses a challenge for pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. Many medications that would commonly be used to mange these problems are not considered safe during pregnancy or during breastfeeding. In addition the pregnant woman or mothers may not be willing to…

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Osteopathic Considerations: The Knee Cap

By Osteopathic Techniques, Osteopathy, Self-HelpNo Comments

I went hiking about 5 months ago. Several days later, I started to have diffuse knee pain. I stopped being able to bend my knee completely. Shortly afterwards it became swollen and inflamed. I had joint line tenderness, which can indicate a meniscal tear. My knee felt very unstable and there was a lot of “popping” with moving it. It went through some periods of getting better and then I would make a wrong move and was back to pain and swelling. During all this time, kneeling was out of the question. I was convinced I was dealing with a…

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