Lower Back, Pelvic and Leg Pain
Lower Back, Pelvic and Leg Pain
In the many conversations I hold with individuals who wish to know whether I could help them personally, I encounter quite a few who do not understand how the pain they feel in the pelvis or leg (the hip and hip joints, the knees, the calves or feet) actually originates in the back.
Radiated Pain; Consequences
Instead of explaining to those asking that it is either a referred pain (direct effect, ascertained according to well-established maps) or is a form of radiating pain (secondary effect due to mechanical loads caused by a back problem), I examine, together
with them, the intensity of pain felt at rest or in motion and its alteration, following exercises specifically designed for upper back relief performed on the upper back. In 97% of the conversations I conduct on the matter, my partners to the discussion report experiencing relief from pain in their lower back, pelvic area and legs and are rather surprised by the result.
“It Works!”
I smile as I recall a conversation with a dear student, who had wondered aloud if her foot pains were really related to her back, as I claim in almost every discussion on the matter. She described pains appearing only during and after long walks, which made it difficult to test my theories while conducting a phone conversation with her. After I had equipped her with exercises specifically designed for upper back release, I then asked her to conduct them in the evening before she goes for a walk, then during the walk and at its end, if necessary, and I stressed that she should report to me later that evening as to how it went.
The surprised and excited response was not long in coming: “It works!” She wrote me. “I practiced just like you had instructed me on the phone and the pain simply didn’t show up! I’m stunned!” 😊
The Gate of a Geisha
I remember having a conversation many years ago, in which a dear student had informed me that if she does not walk “like a geisha,” using small steps, she would start feeling a growing pain in her hip joints.
In addition, in that conversation with her I had approached, with primordial enthusiasm, an inquiry designed to ascertain the connection between the pain she’d described and her back problems, as if it were a complex word puzzle which I’d be solving for the first time. Here, too, this student’s reaction to an exercise, designed to release her upper back, was not long in coming, as it allowed that precious woman, following a short but precise practice, to
“open up her step,” as she now commenced walking without a resident fear of a lurking pain. I remember her surprise with satisfaction, as well.
The Pain’s Location and the Source of the Problem
My students often converse with me about their leg pains. I respond by telling them about their back problems. It is amusing, since both sides actually address the same issue: The student is referring to where the pain is felt, while I relate to the source of the problem.
Leg pain does not originate in the back in every case, however, in almost every instance such pain is related to a back problem and can be lessened, even eliminated, by relieving stiffness that occurs in the upper back.
Remember the curled shape, in the form of the letter “S”, which a side cross-section of vertebral column should display. (Arches in the lower back and neck, and an upper back’s curvature.) This structure is designed to produce springiness, intended to absorb shocks generated by vertical motion (as in the case of bi-pedals’ locomotion), including sitting up-right, walking, descending stairs, etc. the S-shaped curvature allows alternating contracting and expanding movements of the spine with each vertical move (sitting, standing, walking, running).
The Parasite and the ‘Chumps’ Syndrome
When the upper back becomes a kind of a ‘parasite’, it becomes stiff and inelastic and its springiness decreases to the point of disappearing. As a result, the lower back and / or neck are forced to take on the role of ‘chumps’ and bear most if not all the loads generated by body movement, since these parts of our anatomy are required to be compressed and elongated, alternately. The load exerted on them in such occurrences is unbearable. The joints are simply not made to carry such a burden and they become eroded under such pressure.
The Collapse
Such a collapse affects the hip, hip joints, knees, calves and feet. Relieving upper back
stiffness immediately lowers some of those loads and can therefore produce immediate pain relief.
If, such pain can be treated effortlessly and without tension or pain, even prevented from recurring, what are we waiting for? For a peek at a set from the Softness, the Strength of Physiotherapy and Feldenkrais Combined program, which is also germane to individuals suffering from fibromyalgia and / or chronic pain, click here.
Most of the important studies on the effect of Feldenkrais practice (which, along with physiotherapy, is the basis of the Softness Method I have developed) have been done on elderly population (65 and older). The positive experiences of my students are also recognized by the best researchers in the field and are documented in research papers found in the library U.S. National Studies, The Med Pub. One of the abstracts on these can be reviewed at the link below.
Individuals suffering from chronic back pain have reported improvements in managing and understanding the source of their pain and thus in bring about its prevention due to increased awareness of their bodies while moving.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24722612
Lower Back, Pelvic and Leg Pain
In the many conversations I hold with individuals who wish to know whether I could help them personally, I encounter quite a few who do not understand how the pain they feel in the pelvis or leg (the hip and hip joints, the knees, the calves or feet) actually originates in the back.
Radiated Pain; Consequences
Instead of explaining to those asking that it is either a referred pain (direct effect, ascertained according to well-established maps) or is a form of radiating pain (secondary effect due to mechanical loads caused by a back problem), I examine, together
with them, the intensity of pain felt at rest or in motion and its alteration, following exercises specifically designed for upper back relief performed on the upper back. In 97% of the conversations I conduct on the matter, my partners to the discussion report experiencing relief from pain in their lower back, pelvic area and legs and are rather surprised by the result.
“It Works!”
I smile as I recall a conversation with a dear student, who had wondered aloud if her foot pains were really related to her back, as I claim in almost every discussion on the matter. She described pains appearing only during and after long walks, which made it difficult to test my theories while conducting a phone conversation with her. After I had equipped her with exercises specifically designed for upper back release, I then asked her to conduct them in the evening before she goes for a walk, then during the walk and at its end, if necessary, and I stressed that she should report to me later that evening as to how it went.
The surprised and excited response was not long in coming: “It works!” She wrote me. “I practiced just like you had instructed me on the phone and the pain simply didn’t show up! I’m stunned!” 😊
The Gate of a Geisha
I remember having a conversation many years ago, in which a dear student had informed me that if she does not walk “like a geisha,” using small steps, she would start feeling a growing pain in her hip joints.
In addition, in that conversation with her I had approached, with primordial enthusiasm, an inquiry designed to ascertain the connection between the pain she’d described and her back problems, as if it were a complex word puzzle which I’d be solving for the first time. Here, too, this student’s reaction to an exercise, designed to release her upper back, was not long in coming, as it allowed that precious woman, following a short but precise practice, to
“open up her step,” as she now commenced walking without a resident fear of a lurking pain. I remember her surprise with satisfaction, as well.
The Pain’s Location and the Source of the Problem
My students often converse with me about their leg pains. I respond by telling them about their back problems. It is amusing, since both sides actually address the same issue: The student is referring to where the pain is felt, while I relate to the source of the problem.
Leg pain does not originate in the back in every case, however, in almost every instance such pain is related to a back problem and can be lessened, even eliminated, by relieving stiffness that occurs in the upper back.
Remember the curled shape, in the form of the letter “S”, which a side cross-section of vertebral column should display. (Arches in the lower back and neck, and an upper back’s curvature.) This structure is designed to produce springiness, intended to absorb shocks generated by vertical motion (as in the case of bi-pedals’ locomotion), including sitting up-right, walking, descending stairs, etc. the S-shaped curvature allows alternating contracting and expanding movements of the spine with each vertical move (sitting, standing, walking, running).
The Parasite and the ‘Chumps’ Syndrome
When the upper back becomes a kind of a ‘parasite’, it becomes stiff and inelastic and its springiness decreases to the point of disappearing. As a result, the lower back and / or neck are forced to take on the role of ‘chumps’ and bear most if not all the loads generated by body movement, since these parts of our anatomy are required to be compressed and elongated, alternately. The load exerted on them in such occurrences is unbearable. The joints are simply not made to carry such a burden and they become eroded under such pressure.
The Collapse
Such a collapse affects the hip, hip joints, knees, calves and feet. Relieving upper back
stiffness immediately lowers some of those loads and can therefore produce immediate pain relief.
If, such pain can be treated effortlessly and without tension or pain, even prevented from recurring, what are we waiting for? For a peek at a set from the Softness, the Strength of Physiotherapy and Feldenkrais Combined program, which is also germane to individuals suffering from fibromyalgia and / or chronic pain, click here.
Most of the important studies on the effect of Feldenkrais practice (which, along with physiotherapy, is the basis of the Softness Method I have developed) have been done on elderly population (65 and older). The positive experiences of my students are also recognized by the best researchers in the field and are documented in research papers found in the library U.S. National Studies, The Med Pub. One of the abstracts on these can be reviewed at the link below.
Individuals suffering from chronic back pain have reported improvements in managing and understanding the source of their pain and thus in bring about its prevention due to increased awareness of their bodies while moving.