[Physioguy]

I am finding that it's unusual NOT to find some sort of sacro-iliac dysfunction in most clients with low back pain, among other problems (eg. hip flexor tightness). The culprit seems to be a lack of movement. Today's fast-paced, ultra convenience lifestyle has made most activities automated and sedentary, and, people don't make the time to devote to a regular exercise routine. We tend to sit too much, which causes the SI joint to stiffen up, as well as promote tightness in the hip and thigh musculature, particularly the hip flexors. The whole core tends to "gum" up and weaken (I recently treated a 27 year old construction worker. You would not believe how stiff his spine had gotten. He almost moved exclusively at the shoulder and hip joints, and not much in between).

Vickie has posted extensively to some of the imbalances that develop in the body, which affect our posture and movement (sit at a bench sometime, and simply watch people walk. Even without any training in biomechanics, you should be able to pick up some obvious deviations and assymetries in walking/gait). All of this puts abnormal or excessive stresses on the tissues of the body, which WILL eventually lead to tissue breakdown, such as a disc herniation. As we should all know by now, back pain tends to be cumulative. Of course, my clients always say, I never had a bad back, to which I say, "until you had a bad back!" Meaning the damage started long before the pain was actually felt.

What this all means, is that this tightness and movement restrictions at one or more joints, will demand that the movement occur elsewhere. The low back, unfortunately, often takes the hit. Many people are literally wearing out their backs day by day. Even the sacro-iliac, which has a very liimited amount of movement, can harm the low back if that little movement isn't there to feed into the system.

Hamtrings stretches and lunges are a good start, but because the SI joint has such jagged articulations, and huge, thick honkers of ligaments, the joint may have to be mobilized manually first. Following, exercises such as lunges may help keep things moving.

(An aside - it will be interesting to see how the current generation does with musculoskeletal problems. The current rates of childhood obesity, and the onset of adult diabetes in kids is alarming. Due to computers and video games, todays kids seem to be more sedentary than ever, which could mean big problems down the line)

Sorry for the length of the post, and the possibly scattered ideas. I could post pages about this subject!