Hello！
My name is Ikuko Murata, I'm a physical therapist and personal trainer (Tokyo).
Today's report is the sequel to "Customers suffering from stiff shoulder" introduced last time.
Ms. S had lower back pain in addition to stiff shoulder.
So today, I will explain about her lower back pain.
(I divide the report into several times because it would be long.)
Today's information would be useful for those who have lower back pain especially only one side.
Additionally this may be useful for those who are worried about "left-right difference" in the body such as one side of knee pain.
<table of contents>
1. Symptoms of Ms. S
Ms. S's lower back pain was not so serious.
About 15 years ago, she had a strained back when she tried to pick up a syringe that fell to the floor (she is a nurse). After that event, she feels a lower back pain when she works too hard such as a weeding. But it's not so serious.
"It's so embarrassing to get a strained back trying to pick up such a light thing!" she said with laugh in first session.
But from my point of view, the state of her lumbar spine was not good.
And I thought she should prevent before pain come.
2. Lumbar spine alignment of Ms. S
Ms. S's lumbar spine was curved to the right.
Right bending, like this↓
3. What kind of stress is there on her lumbar spine?
Her lumbar spine is bent to the right,
so the right side of lumbar is crashed and left side is opened.
This means there is a "compression stress" in the right side of lumbar joint,
"stretching stress" in the left side joint.
In other word, in the right side there is a risk of pain by the pressure,
and in the left side there is a risk of pain by the stretching.
If the lumbar spine is not straight, both side have a risk for pain in the future.
(Additionally if she had a neurological symptoms in right leg, it means the possibility of stenosis of the right intervertebral foramen. If she had a neurological symptoms in left leg, it means the possibility of slipped disc. I will explain this in detail at another article since she doesn't have a neurological symptoms :))
4. What is the reason why her lumbar spine is bent to the right?
So, why is her lumbar spine bent to the right?
The answer was very simple.
Her pelvis was tilting to the left.
If the right side of pelvis is higher than left,
it's clear that the lumber spine will be bent to the right.
Otherwise she would be the "tilting person" if her lumbar is not bent to the right.
It means flexible lumbar spine bend to accommodate.
For example, there is a wooden chair which has a shorter leg in the left.
This wood is hard material, so this chair tilt to the left.
But human's spine is flexible, it's not like a wood, so she can avoid the "tilting person" by bending the spine.
The lumbar spine is a typical part that responds in like this way, because of this lower back can be heart easily.
5. What is the reason why her pelvis tilt?
So, what cause her pelvis tilting?
There is a lot of reason pelvis tilting,
but the most typical is the "right & left leg length difference".
If right leg is longer than left, right side of pelvis get higher than left.
It's so simple.
Are you surprised to hear that there is a difference of leg length?
Actually it's true.
The length of the legs is not always same.
Looking at it in millimeters, some people have leg length difference.
Ms. S has also.
Her right leg is longer than left about 3mm.
In other word left leg is shorter than right about 3mm.
That's why the pelvis on the right side is higher.
（I will explain in another article about the question why the leg lengths are different. I won't talk today because it gets confusing!)
So far, her lower back, which is bent to the right, seems to hurt, isn't it?
Especially right side seems to hurt, because it's clashed.
But she didn't feel pain so much.
Why?
In addition, about two months later she started exercising, her right back pain appeared...
In next blog I will explain
・The reason why Ms. S's lower back pain was not so serious
・The reason why her lower back pain appeared after starting the exercise
Summary
・Ms. S's lumbar spine is bent to the right
・There is a compression stress in her right lower back
・The reason why the right curb of her lumbar spine was pelvis tilting to the left
・The reason why the pelvis tilting to the left is the difference of leg length
・But her lower back pain was not so serious
To be continued!
Thank you for reading.
I hope this article will be a helpful information to improve your body!
・For those who want to solve the problem and prevent the problem in the future
・Small member of group session
・You can take a session from all over the world! Remote group session ＠zoom
・You can achieve your body goal effectively by knowing your body type