So you’ve tried everything else and you still have low back pain and pain into the hip and leg. What’s wrong?

Had a case like this just this week. X-rays were “normal.” Nothing found on the MRI. Medications, acupuncture, and physical therapy did not create a lasting benefit.

Upon examination, I found a left sacroiliac problem (left part of the pelvis). It wasn’t moving much at all, especially when compared to the right. It was also very tender if you touched it.

The patients leg muscles, near the pelvis, were all very tight. She, like most of our patients, has a job where she has to sit in front of a computer all day. These are the same muscles that will get tight when doing the same activity for the 40+ hours per week that we do them (not including just sitting at home, driving, eating, etc).

Not every patient that shows up to our office has this ideal of a scenario. Fact is, she’s been trying things for over six months for the diagnosis to arrive so “easily.” I have the benefit of being the doctor that sees that patient after all of these other remedies haven’t worked out. Of course, knowing what didn’t work is a huge help in figuring out what will.

I’m glad that she didn’t give up on her own treatment. So many people start a treatment, and when it doesn’t work, they assume they’ll just have to live with it. They find themselves medicating each and every week, with no end in sight.

Instead, this patient received a specific adjustment to her lower back and pelvis. Some stretching and some additional therapies to help with the inflammation later, and she’s already feeling better. The process is just beginning, but I’ve seen these types of cases so often that I know it’s just a matter of time before she’s back to feeling great again.