Sciatic nerve relief comes only when the cause is identified and is corrected. It normally does not go away on its own. The pain associated with sciatica can vary dramatically from person to person depending on the degree of the condition that exists. A slightly pinched sciatic nerve may cause only a slight radiating pain down the back side of the top part of the leg while a more severely pinched nerve may send a radiating pain clear down to the foot and even to the toes.

Sciatica also sometimes causes weakness, numbness or tingling in the legs which may or may not increase with different activity such as when a person sits down in a chair.

Sciatic nerve relief can only come once you understand what sciatica is and what causes the pain in the first place. The symptoms only occur when some event takes place that puts pressure on or pinches the sciatic nerve itself or one of the nerve roots that leads to the sciatic nerve itself.

The most common condition that causes sciatica is a herniated disc in the lower back but other conditions such as spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis and piriformis syndrome can also cause this sciatic pain.

When a herniated disc occurs, excess pressure is placed on the disc to cause the discs gel-like substance to protrude outside of the discs normal shape. This disc bulge pushes against or pinches the sciatic nerve causing sciatic pain.

Spinal stenosis is when inflammation or other condition occurs in the spinal canal causing a narrowing in this canal cavity. This is another way that the sciatic nerve or the nerve roots can become pinched as well.

Spondylolisthesis is when a vertebra slips out of place and typically moves forward across another vertebra which is another way that the spinal canal can become constricted and pinch the sciatic nerve as well.

Piriformis Syndrome is a lesser known cause of sciatica and occurs when the sciatic nerve passes through the piriformis muscle instead of going around it.  Sciatic nerve pain in this situation occurs when the piriformis muscle tightens and puts pressure against the sciatic nerve.

Traditional treatments typically employed for immediate sciatic nerve relief include anti-inflammatory drugs, injections, ultrasound, electric stimulation and the like.  These treatments, while possibly effective in the short-term, are just that…short-term.  They don’t treat the underlying problem that caused your sciatic pain in the first place.  With any of these methods, you may get temporary sciatic nerve relief but the pain will most likely come back again at some point.

Permanent sciatic nerve relief is possible by addressing the root cause. Once you identify your condition, inversion therapy, muscle balance therapy or trigger point therapy may be used to get long lasting sciatic nerve relief. 

Inversion therapy is an excellent method for decompressing the spine. Over time, the weight of the upper body puts a lot of pressure on the lower spine and can cause the discs to compress. With daily use of an inversion table, you can counteract this daily pressure by inverting your body and allowing gravity to gently pull your spine in the opposite direction allowing the discs to regain their normal shape again.

Muscle balance therapy can bring permanent sciatic nerve relief by addressing muscle imbalances present in your body and alleviating the uneven pulling that is most likely occurring on your spine whether you realize it or not.

Trigger point therapy is used to relieve the pain from small fibrous contraction knots or trigger points that develop in your muscles. Trigger points are tricky in that they exist in one location while “referring” their pain to another location in your body. Trigger point therapy can identify those tricky knots and break them down to relive this type of pain.

If, by chance, the pain associated with sciatica just disappears one day, don’t be fooled into thinking that the problem is gone.  Rest assured it will be back the next time you turn the wrong way, bend awkwardly or lift that heavy object. It is important that you find the underlying cause and target your treatment to that cause.

Read more about how to get permanent sciatic nerve relief.

Click here to learn more about how inversion therapy can permanently rid you of all lower back pain whether you are experiencing sciatica or not.

Right back side pain can be either acute or chronic.  Acute pain is the sudden sharp pain that occurs in a certain location and typically does not last long.  Chronic pain, on the other hand, is the dull aching pain that settles in and lasts for a long period of time with varying degrees of pain.

It is important to know what makes up the lower spine area. The lumbar spine sits on top of the sacrum, which is a v-shaped bone that is formed by many bones fusing together during infancy. The sacrum then has two wings off to each side called the pelvis.  The pelvis is attached to the sacrum via a joint called the Sacroiliac Joint or SI Joint. Unlike the spine, these bones are not separated by a soft, cushioned disc. The Sacroiliac Joint is a flat bone joint so if even the smallest problem occurs here, pain may soon follow.

Muscle function in this area is extremely important.  All of the muscles in this area must be in balance and work in perfect harmony to keep the spine, sacrum and pelvis all in proper alignment. The muscles commonly talked about here are the gluteus maximus, piriformis and quadratus lumborum with the latter commonly developing trigger points.

The Quadratus Lumborum muscle, which connects the bottom rib to the top of the pelvis, allows us to move laterally and often tightens in the lower back. This muscle can also form trigger points.  Trigger points are tight knotted muscle fibers that can refer pain away from the spine and are candidates for Trigger Point Therapy.

The Gluteals and the Piriformis are the muscles around the buttocks which give strength to lower back and thigh movement.  These muscles, along with the hamstrings, must be in perfect balance to properly support the spine.  Otherwise an imbalance occurs and the muscles will pull the spine out of its proper alignment.

Right back side pain may also be caused by some type of sacroiliac joint dysfunction as well.  Since the sacroiliac joint has no disc cushions, when this joint tightens, it causes the supporting muscles in your buttocks to tighten as well. This tightening can cause trigger points to develop which will radiate the pain elsewhere. These trigger points become irritated when you move and the pain can become difficult to follow as it may radiate up into the low back or it may radiate down the lower extremities.

Muscle imbalances can have a negative effect on a multitude of things including, but not limited to, your posture, abnormal alignment of the pelvis with the sacroiliac joint and abnormal curvature of the spine.

The most important thing to understand about any lower back pain is that it usually doesn’t happen overnight. You may become symptomatic very quickly, but it takes a long time for the condition to get to the point where your back finally gives way and becomes painful.

Typically lower back pain is not serious but as with many thing, if left untreated there is a very good chance that it will only get worse and develop into a chronic condition.

Traditional treatments for right back side pain are NSAIDS (or Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs), cortisone injections, electronic stimulation, ultrasound and chiropractic manipulation are commonly used by many health care professionals. These methods are questionable as they only provide temporary relief by masking the pain.

To get permanent right back side pain relief you must dive in deeper than the medical profession does and not only determine and treat the symptoms but you must go deeper and find the root cause. You must first assess your individual condition and determine which imbalances are present before you can put together a corrective action plan. You might begin by trying to find quick temporary relief using such techniques as ice/heat, trigger point therapy, stretching and anti-inflammatory medications.

Through self assessments, your individual imbalances, whatever they may be, can be identified and a targeted corrective program can be developed to stretch and strengthen your muscles to get you back into proper alignment again.

Click here to learn more about what may be causing your right back side pain and about muscle imbalances and how to keep your body pain free.

Muscle strain is usually the result of either overuse or maintaining poor posture or positioning for an extended period of time.  It can be caused by things such as falling asleep on your stomach with your head turned to one side, turning the neck too quickly and overstretching the muscles, watching TV or reading in a bad position, etc.

If you are experiencing any arm pain or any weakness or tingling in your arms, there is a chance that you may have a herniated neck disc or as the medical community calls it, a herniated cervical disc. For the purposes of this article I will refer to it as a herniated neck disc as this is what the general population tends to call it.

Herniated neck discs are very common injuries which most often occur in people between 30 and 50 years old.  Pain in the extremities from a herniated neck disc occurs because the disc bulges and puts pressure on or pinches the cervical nerve causing pain to shoot across the shoulder and down into the arm.  Just like with the herniated back disc, you may also experience muscle weakness or numbness or tingling with the herniated neck disc.

It is important to note how the spine is laid out and identified.  The uppermost part of the spine is called the cervical spine and consists of 7 vertebrae labeled C1-C7 with C1 at the very top.  Below that are 12 vertebrae that make up the thoracic portion of the spine and are labeled T1-T12.  Finally, the lower back is usually made up of 5 vertebrae (although some people have 6) called the lumbar spine and are labeled L1-L5.  

The two most common neck herniations occur at the bottom of the cervical spine at the C5-C6 and C6-C7 levels.  The reason both vertebrae are mentioned when discussing disc herniations is because it is the disc that sits between the two different named vertebrae that is herniated.  I’ll discuss the three most common herniated neck disc conditions next and the pain you may experience.  As is always the case, every individual is different and reacts differently to certain conditions. What we’ll describe next is the norm but it is not absolute. Some rare cases could present with different symptoms from what we discuss next.

The most common herniated neck disc is at C6-C7.  With this herniation you will most likely experience either weakness in the triceps muscle or pain, numbness or tingling radiating down the triceps muscle into the middle finger. 

The next most common herniated neck disc occurs at C5-C6. This one can cause weakness in the bicep muscle and the muscles of the wrist.  You can also experience pain, numbness or tingling along the upper side (or thumb side) of the hand.

If you experience a C4-C5 herniated neck disc, you will most likely feel pain in the shoulder or deltoid muscle of the upper arm.  Numbness and tingling are typically not experienced with this one.

So, aside from trauma to the neck, how does a herniated neck disc occur?  When the neck muscles either become weak and stretched out or strong and very tight, the muscles will pull on the bones abnormally and place added stress on the discs and joints in our neck, back, and shoulders. This is a result of muscle imbalances and if it occurs for a long period of time, our joints can become inflamed and the discs may bulge.

The bad news is that often doctors cannot tell you the underlying causes why this happened to you because they focus too much on the immediate problem and not what caused the problem in the first place. The good news here is that simple changes to your daily routine can dramatically improve these issues or can prevent them from occurring in the first place if they are caught in time.  You just need to know what to look for.

The only way to identify your imbalances is to go through a physical assessment designed to look specifically for muscle imbalances. Once you know your imbalances, it is very easy to correct your imbalances with very targeted corrective stretches and exercises tailored to you and your condition. Whether you are in pain at the moment or not, there is a better than average chance that you have imbalances and those imbalances need to be addressed.

To learn more about what may have caused your herniated neck disc and about muscle imbalances and how to keep your body pain free… click here

The spine is made up of bony vertebrae stacked upon each other with a spongy cushion in between to keep the bones from rubbing against each other.  These spongy cushions are your spinal discs.  A herniated back disc happens when some event causes the vertebrae to exert more than normal pressure on the disc causing it to push outside of its normal shape.  This in itself is not a problem as the disc has no nerves in it. The problem is when the herniated back disc comes in contact with and pinches the spinal nerves close to it. 

There are two ways for a herniated back disc to occur.  It can occur either suddenly in some type of traumatic event like a car accident or it may occur gradually over a long period of time as a result of muscle imbalances.   These muscle imbalances pull the spine out of its normal alignment which forces your body into a conditional that is commonly referred to as postural dysfunction. Everybody develops these dysfunctions over time and eventually they cause enough damage to create pain.

So what kind of pain do you feel with a herniated back disc? Before we talk about the pain, let’s explore the most common symptom of the herniated disc. It is known as “sciatica”. Sciatica is a sharp pain that begins in the back side or buttocks and goes down the back of one leg. Sciatica is caused by a pinching or increasing pressure on the sciatic nerve.

Now let’s see if we can help you identify the pain that is most often associated with sciatica as a result of a herniated back disc.  Undoubtedly the most common pain or symptom is a shooting pain down the back of one leg.  Others often experience weakness in one or both legs, numbness or tingling in the leg, and sometimes a burning pain right in the middle of the low back.

More serious symptoms of sciatica are a loss of bladder control and numbness or weakness in both legs at the same time.  If you experience either of these two symptoms, you should seek medical attention.

So how do you treat a herniated back disc?  Well, there are actually many traditional options that are used by the medical community such as ice/heat, ultrasound, electrical stimulation, cortisone injections, anti-inflammatory medications or in the worst cases even surgery. The good news to these is that they may provide quick, temporary relief.  The bad news is that if you do happen to get some pain relief, it is usually only temporary.

The reason that many of these treatments can only provide temporary relief is that they do not fix the problem which is the underlying circumstance that caused the disc to herniate in the first place. You may get surgery on a herniated back disc which may bring you pain relief for awhile but eventually you’ll end up in the same situation again because the surgery only fixed the ruptured disc and not the situation that caused the disc to rupture. Your muscle imbalance will continue to put uneven pressure on your spine and will continue to pull it out of alignment.

You need to undergo a proper assessment of your body to determine which dysfunctions may be present. Until you can properly identify and rectify your muscle imbalances, it is likely that you will continue to suffer with pain and anguish for years to come.

It doesn’t matter if you have actually been diagnosed with a herniated disc or are simply wondering if your back pain may be caused by a herniated disc.  Either way you must identify and address the physical dysfunctions that are causing your pain as part of your recovery.

The bad news is that most physicians simply focus on the quick fix to get you the quickest pain relief.  I’m willing to bet that they haven’t spent adequate time with you asking the tough questions about lifestyle and diet that most likely led to your current situation.

The good news is that even though the medical community may not focus on your muscle imbalances, there is a way that you can learn how to do this yourself and save time and money.

Just remember, you’re not alone.  It is estimated that 80% of the human population will experience some kind of lower back pain during their lifetime.

To learn more about what may have caused your herniated back disc and about muscle imbalances and how to keep your body pain free… click here

If you would simply like to get your hands on a simple sciatica stretching video to relieve the pain from sciatica, click here.

Some possible causes of left lower back side pain

If you pay very careful attention to your body you can sometimes self-diagnose one of the fairly common problems that cause left lower back side pain. By doing this you may be able to save yourself a lot of time and money from going through the numerous tests that are often ordered to try to diagnose internal problems. A couple of the more common problems are:

Kidney Stones – A kidney stone is a hard mass that actually looks like a small stone that develops from tiny crystals that separate from the urine within the urinary tract. Usually the urine contains chemicals that prevent these tiny crystals from forming and growing larger. Unfortunately this is not the case for everyone as some people are plagued by these kidney stones. If the kidney stones do grow so large that they are not able to be passed through the urinary tract then pain will set in.  This kind of left lower back side pain is usually pretty easy to diagnose as other symptoms will normally be present as well.  The pain in the back will occur in the lower part of the back but will be higher than where most lower back pain occurs.  Some accompanying symptoms may also be blood in the urine, pain or a burning sensation while urinating or a feeling of needing to urinate more often.  More severe symptoms could include nausea or vomiting, pain in the groin area and even fever or chills if an infection has set in.  Doctors should be looking for these additional symptoms and it should be easily diagnosed.

 Irritable Bowel Syndrome – Irritable bowel syndrome is a condition that is most commonly characterized by cramping, abdominal pain, pains in the side, bloating, constipation or diarrhea.  This condition isn’t normally associated with back pain although the pain that is usually present in the abdomen or side is usually thought to be more in the lower back area than it really is. It will usually cause much discomfort but there have been no findings thus far that it harms the intestines and does not lead to any further problems or conditions like cancer. As is the case with many other ailments in the human body, irritable bowl syndrome can be controlled by a change in diet, reducing stress and prescribed medications. There are some cases, though, where it can completely disable a person until the proper treatment is found.  If you experience left lower back side pain, think back to what you ate previously and see if you can find a pattern.  It could be that certain foods are not easily digested by your body and that it could be causing your body undo stress.

Lower Back Problems – This is a very general topic that can encompass a multitude of things, but generally speaking, barring a car accident, sports injury or other trauma, the most common cause of left lower back side pain is either a direct  or indirect result of muscle imbalances.

Muscle imbalances can have a negative effect on your posture, leading to what are called “postural dysfunctions.” These dysfunctions include abnormal alignment of the pelvis and abnormal curvature of the spine. This misalignment causes increased wear and tear on the joints, muscles, and ligaments—even the discs.

If you are experiencing left lower back side pain there is a good chance that you have no idea what is causing your pain. You are not alone.  There are many times when even medical professionals cannot correctly identify the root cause of the problem. Doctors often order additional testing to be done that may or may not find an abnormality. 

The most important thing to understand about any lower back pain is that it usually doesn’t happen overnight. You may become symptomatic very quickly, but it takes a long time for the condition to get to the point where your back finally gives way and becomes painful.

It is important to remember that the muscles in our body do not just work individually. They all work together in a delicate balance to keep our bodies upright, properly aligned and moving fluidly. Working one muscle group, such as the abdominal muscles, more than another, like the muscles of the lower back, will cause those muscles to pull on the spine harder and will begin to take the body out of that perfect balance. This will set you up for back problems not too far down the road.

Click here to learn more about what may be causing your left lower back side pain and about muscle imbalances and how to keep your body pain free.

Unfortunately, those wonderful thoughts begin to slowly wane as your pregnancy progresses and that new life gets heavier and heavier and begins to put additional stress on your own body. Your quality of life begins to suffer and day to day activities become more challenging as lower back pain quickly becomes a daily occurrence.

Pregnancy and lower back pain often go hand in hand. It isn’t hard to figure out why pregnant women experience low back pain.  As the baby grows and gets heavier, the weight begins to pull the mother’s body forward forcing her to continually pull her upper body backwards to compensate. This means that as long as she is standing in this upright position, the muscles of the lower back are continually engaged. This puts tremendous strain on the lower back and pelvis.

Logically it would sound like that is the single reason for the pregnancy lower back pain. However, there is also a hidden cause for this new found back pain.  Muscle imbalances are a common cause for pregnancy lower back pain. Not only that, it is also the cause of lower back pain in the majority of the people that experience this pain.

The problem is that muscle imbalances are rarely discussed by the medical community that usually attempts to treat the lower back pain.  Health care professionals tend to zero in on the specifics of the pain and not what caused the pain in the first place.  Here is a common story. A person begins to experience low back pain and visits their doctor. The doctor may order an MRI. The MRI reveals a herniated disc. The doctor prescribes pain killers to mask the pain until the problem can be resolved.  They will usually then send you to physical therapy or possibly a steroidal injection.  In extreme cases they may even suggest surgery. But what caused the herniated disc in the first place. More often than not, the doctor will not ask the difficult questions as to what may have cause it and the patient doesn’t know enough about what to ask so they go along for the ride.  If they are lucky, the physical therapy may eventually provide some relief but chances are that it is only a matter of time until the low back pain comes back again and it could be worse this time around.

Muscles work together in a delicate balance to allow the body to move fluidly.  One muscle stretches while another shortens. Each muscle needs to be of equal size and strength. When a pregnant woman moves in any way, she will do so in an unbalanced manner or in a way that is different than she used to in order to compensate for her additional body weight.  She will sit, stand and lay in different positions in order to find comfort. Each of these new, awkward movements will create muscle imbalances which will pull the low back and pelvis out of proper alignment.  Unfortunately the pain will only become worse as the pregnancy progresses if the imbalances are not addressed.

You need to gain a better understanding of what muscle imbalances you have that may be causing your pain.  At that point you can begin structuring the right combination of stretching, exercise and treatments to get you back into proper alignment again. You can learn more about how to identify and address your muscle imbalances by visiting LoseTheBackPain.com.

Back side pain can often be attributed to a condition known as Piriformis Syndrome. Piriformis Syndrome is one of four conditions that can cause Sciatica. Sciatica is the pain you may feel originating in your back side and running down your leg.

Piriformis syndrome is a condition that occurs when the sciatic nerve is compressed or irritated by the piriformis muscle causing pain, tingling and/or numbness in the buttocks and along the path of the sciatic nerve as it travels down the leg. The piriformis muscle may become tight or inflamed and compress the sciatic nerve or the pelvis may move out of alignment. When the pelvis becomes misaligned, it can cause the muscles and nerves to shift which could also cause the sciatic nerve to be irritated. When either of these things occur, you will no doubt experience some back side pain.

The problem is that both of these conditions could exist at the same time and the frustration lies in the fact that you could be focusing on fixing the one problem, not knowing the other exists so you would only be doing part of what is necessary to get relief. Failure to identify all causes will undoubtedly lead to unnecessary and prolonged suffering.

This is when you need to really sit down and think about what has changed in your life in the past couple of years. Have you changed jobs that do the same repetitive motions through the day? Has your posture changed at all? Do you bend over more than you used to? Is there any routine where you have to lift your leg in the air maybe to step over something? Has there been any kind of trauma to the back side? What you need to look for is any changes in your lifestyle or day to day activities that have changed and could be causing the piriformis muscle to tighten or your pelvis to change its alignment.

Do a quick little test. I’m guessing you are sitting on a chair right now to read this. Look down at the position of your feet. Are they pointed inward, straight ahead, or outward? If they are pointed outward, chances are your piriformis muscle is tight.

If your piriformis muscle is not tight, the second factor that could be causing your back side pain may be the position of your pelvis. A misaligned pelvis is much harder to identify on yourself but consider these motions. Every day you do certain motions that will rotate your hips the same way. One is getting in and out of your car. Another is getting in and out of bed. Another could be the way you sit at work and your posture. A woman specific one is holding a baby on your hip. You will do these things the exact same way each and every time and if done wrong, could lead to problems.

Each time you do one of these activities it causes the muscles on one side of the body to be worked harder than the other side. When this occurs, these muscles become stronger and shorter while the muscles on the other side become weaker and elongated. These muscle imbalances over time will pull on your spine and pelvis causing numerous problems which will all lead to problems with posture and could also lead to piriformis syndrome and eventually to sciatica.

Have you already been to some type of health care professional about your back side pain? I’m willing to bet that they didn’t spend ample time with you exploring your daily life and activities and didn’t dig deep enough to get to the root of the problem. Sure, they may have diagnosed you with piriformis syndrome and sciatica but that’s usually as far as they’ll go. You need to address any muscle imbalances and develop a plan to get you lasting relief.

So what do you need to do next? Again, spend some time in deep thought revisiting and assessing your daily activities for things that you are doing now that you didn’t used to do that may be causing your back side pain.

Once identified, think of ways to reverse engineer the problem. An example of this is if you use an elliptical machine for your cardio workout each day, try doing it backwards to start strengthening the complimentary muscles. Or how about someone who always does a targeted exercise like the bench press? This person should consider either stopping the bench press and starting a complimentary exercise that strengthens the upper back. I’m not suggesting that you do either one of these but they serve as examples of how to change your routine so you can stop strengthening one set of muscles while starting to strengthen another. The purpose is to address the muscle imbalances and get the muscles working in perfect harmony again.

You should develop a healing plan that incorporates a whole body assessment and looks for postural dysfunctions and muscle imbalances. It is imperative that you stop what you are currently doing, get assessed, then develop a new stretching and exercise routine based on this assessment.

Other things you can begin with are stress reduction, change in diet, drink more water, inversion therapy and possibly even trigger point therapy.

In the meantime, click here  for a simple but very effective sciatica stretch video that may bring you quick relief from your sciatica pain.

You’re about to learn some inside information about sciatica that you very likely have never heard before.  I’m also going to give you some very effective exercises for sciatica to give you some quick back pain relief.

Many people suffering from sciatic pain will go through today’s conventional sciatic treatments and get temporary sciatic pain relief only to be struck down with sciatic pain again sometime in the future.  Why?  Because the medical community so often focuses in on pain relief that they rarely take the time to zero in on what actually caused the problem in the first place.  I want you to become more educated about your body and what actually causes sciatic pain.  The more you know, the faster your lasting back pain relief will be.

Let’s start with the 4 primary conditions that cause sciatica. This is where the medical community usually starts and ends.  Once we know what our condition is, we need to dig down to the next level to find the root cause so we can attack it once and for all.  And this is where the magic lies.

Piriformis Syndrome is the most common cause of sciatic pain. This is when the piriformis muscle contracts in such a way as to put pressure on the sciatic nerve.  Your doctor may have diagnosed this condition in you but did he tell you how it happened?  Did you ask? 

It’s muscle imbalances. Muscle imbalances pull the hips, lower back and pelvis out of place causing the piriformis muscle to change its position which can then lead to it impinging the sciatic nerve causing your sciatic pain.  We’ll go into muscle imbalances more in a minute but for now let’s look at the remaining three conditions that can cause sciatica.

Herniated Discs are the second leading cause of sciatic pain.

A herniated or bulging disc occurs whenever the vertebrae impinge upon the spongy discs and cause them to protrude out from between the vertebrae kind of like a water balloon when you squeeze it a little. This herniation may or may not cause sciatica. When the disc protrudes and puts pressure on the sciatic nerve is when the sciatica occurs. Quite often though, a herniation can occur where the disc protrudes in the opposite direction from the sciatic nerve presenting a different kind of problem.  Herniated discs can be caused by some quick, traumatic event such as a sports injury or other accident but often times they occur over long periods of time as a result of uneven pulling on the spine due to muscle imbalances.

Spinal Stenosis is a narrowing of the spinal canal which can also put undue pressure on the sciatic nerve causing sciatic pain.  If you have spinal stenosis, there is a good chance that muscle imbalances have been at work pulling your spine into an abnormal position.

Spondylolisthesis is another condition that can cause sciatic pain. This occurs when a vertebrae slips a little out of alignment.  This condition does not normally cause sciatic pain but if the vertebrae slips just enough that it pinches the sciatic nerve then you will experience sciatic pain here as well.  Once again, there is a good chance that muscle imbalances were at play here and they were not working together to hold the spine in place.

So you’ve undoubtedly picked up on a common theme with all 4 of these conditions, right?  Yes, there is a very good chance that all of these conditions were caused by muscle imbalances.  So what are these muscle imbalances and how do I correct this problem?

Your body is a very complex machine with all of the muscles working together in a delicate balance to keep you standing upright and properly aligned.  When we work one muscle group too much and don’t work another one at all, the muscles become imbalanced and they start pulling on your spine, hips and joints unevenly causing multiple problems.

This can be caused by having to sit or stand in one position for a long period of time day after day.  Or maybe it’s a cyclist who rides long distances, crouched over in cyclist form for an extended period of time and doesn’t stretch those muscles when finished or who doesn’t work the opposite, complimentary muscles.

Can you see how this could cause a problem?

Fortunately, there is almost always an answer.  You just need to be given the tools to find it.  Play the percentages and start by identifying and correcting your muscle imbalances.  You should start to see improvement very quickly and could get relief from your sciatic pain in a few weeks or even a few days.

Learn as much as you can about your condition so you can focus your efforts on correcting it for good.

In the meantime, you may be experiencing some serious sciatic pain right now so click here for a simple but very effective sciatica stretch video that may bring you quick relief from your sciatica pain.

You often here the phrase “targeted exercise”. But what does that mean exactly? Well, many body builders will use this to describe a series of exercises aimed specifically at strengthening and growing a single muscle group such as the pectorals, biceps or triceps.

Unfortunately, many bodybuilders jump in head first without properly educating themselves on proper lifting techniques or how to properly develop certain muscle groups without making other muscle groups weaker. Because of this, many body builders are plagued with certain “malformations” such as the “turtle back syndrome” without even knowing it.

The turtle back is a condition that develops in weight lifters who focus solely on developing their chest and lats (those bat wings under the arm pits) while completely ignoring the upper back. While this may make the chest bigger and stronger, it decreases flexibility, gives you a hump back and sets you up for upper back, neck and shoulder problems down the road.

When we talk about targeted exercises, this body building definition could not be farther from the truth. When we talk about targeted exercises, we are aiming at increasing back health, flexibility and muscle balance. We are not as interested in size increases and how the muscle looks as we are about flexibility, function and performance to support the body in the way it was intended to. We work toward eliminating the muscle imbalances that have developed over a period of time as a result of improper lifting and just plain bad body posture. The result will be better health, better muscle performance and function, less sick days and fewer days spent in pain and discomfort.

So now we know what we should not be doing. What SHOULD we be doing?

Before this question can be answered, we need to find out exactly what the problem is so you can focus on the stretches and exercises that you actually need to be doing. The only way to do this is to perform a self evaluation and assessment to pinpoint the tight muscles that need to be stretched out and the weak muscles that need to be strengthened.

The good news is that you can do this completely on your own and do not need to visit a physician, physical therapist or other health care professional. A series of simple assessments has been developed to self assess your muscle imbalances. Even if you are not currently suffering from low back pain, you should learn this technique as it will most likely come in very handy at some point down the road.

Click here  to learn how.

Most people who suffer from back pain receive conventional treatments from medical professionals, chiropractors, physical therapists and others.  The problem with these conventional treatments is that they focus solely on relieving the pain and not on what caused the pain in the first place.  So while they may be able to provide quick pain relief, it is usually only temporary and you find yourself going back to see them in short order.  To find complete, long lasting back pain relief, you have to dig deeper to figure out what is actually causing the problem.

Let’s say you go to your physician and they send you for an MRI which reveals a herniated disc.  The physician will then typically send you on a journey to relieve the pain from that herniated disc. You may go through physical therapy, massage therapy or even surgery to fix the herniated disc. 

But why does it always stop here?  How often do people really question the diagnosis and ask the tougher question like what caused the herniated disc in the first place? It could have happened from an automobile accident or from a sports injury or even from improper lifting but most back pain is not the result of an injury or other trauma. The majority of back pain develops over time but you have only now become aware of it because now there is also pain.

Did you ever hear your doctor or physical therapist talk about muscle imbalances?  I bet not. That’s because their focus is to relieve the immediate pain from your back and not to dig deeper and find out what caused the pain.

The body is a very balanced, complex system with many muscle groups working together.  Over time these muscle groups get out of balance as the more used muscles become stronger and the less used muscles become weaker.  These imbalances begin to adversely pull on the spine causing it to become misaligned. It is such a gradual change that we learn to adjust and adapt to these imbalances until some small event occurs that brings on the pain.  We blame the pain on that single event but it is usually the result of a long period and series of events.

Your car is a great example. When your steering is out of alignment your car begins to pull to one side.  It is a gradual change that may go unnoticed for awhile. If it continues for a long time, your tires will begin to wear unevenly until they become so thin that running over the smallest item could cause the tire to rupture.  You may blame the rupture on the fact that you ran over this item but the truth is, a healthy tire would have had no problem running over that same item.

The key to eliminating your back pain is to begin focusing on how the different muscle groups all work together to support your spine and find out what muscle imbalances could be causing your back pain.  Once you identify these imbalances you will be able to begin focusing on corrective measures to get your back and body back into proper alignment once again.

You will find that this approach is highly effective at relieving and even eliminating back pain although it is not a well known approach and you will probably struggle to find a health care professional that is trained in this approach.

The good news is that there are self tests that can be performed to help identify your particular condition and the underlying muscle imbalances that have created your pain.

To find out how you can avoid back surgery and to learn more about this highly effective new approach to back pain relief, click here to visit my friends at the Healthy Back Institute and you’ll be on your way to complete and long lasting back pain relief.