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Book NowIf you stand up from your chair and feel a pain in your lower back, it could be coming from your sacroiliac (or SI) joint. SI joint pain affects many people, and in some cases the pain can be debilitating.
The ‘sacro’ in sacroiliac refers to your sacrum, which is at the bottom of your spine, above your tailbone. The ‘iliac’ refers to the hips. So your sacroiliac joint is where your spine and hips join together.
The main job your SI joints perform is to take the weight of your upper body when you stand or walk, and transfer that load to your pelvis and legs.
The pain can be a dull or sharp type of pain. It normally starts at your SI joint, but it can transfer to your buttocks, thighs, groin, or even upper back.
It is common to feel the pain on just the one side of your lower back, and sometimes standing up can trigger the pain. Sometimes it will feel worse when you wake up in the morning, and then gets better as you move around during the day.
SI joint pain occurs more frequently than you may expect. It is estimated that 15%-30% of people who have this type of pain have a problem with their SI joint.
Some common symptoms associated with sacroiliac joint problems include:
The pain is caused by damage or inflammation of the joint. This can be from
As with any condition, it is important to determine what has caused the problem, otherwise any back pain treatment may not be effective. Your Brisbane Osteopath will ask you a number of questions and perform an assessment of your alignment and movements. This will allow them to understand how your body is working from a mechanical, functional and postural perspective.
Osteopaths are also able to refer you for X-rays, CT or ultrasound scans if they consider it necessary for your assessment.
If certain activities or sports make the pain worse, avoid those activities. The exception to this is when the pain is caused by arthritis- in this case it is important to keep the joint moving, otherwise it will become worse over time.
Osteopaths place a lot of importance on the structural integrity of the body. When the body is balanced and efficient, just like a well-tuned engine it will function with the minimum amount of wear and tear (leaving more energy for living).
Your osteopath will apply manual methods of treatment which are tailored for each individual client. Some of the techniques they use include soft tissue massage, manipulation, stretching of joints and muscles, articulation, mobilisation of joints, and muscle energy techniques.
They will often also provide simple stretches or exercises to improve your alignment and condition further, and to help prevent the condition recurring in the future.
Osteopathy can be a very effective treatment for many muscle and joint problems, including SI joint pain. They provide a holistic approach, by addressing both the causes and the symptoms, and tailoring the treatment for each individual.
Other therapies that can be used in conjunction with osteopathy include acupuncture and naturopathy.
If you are not sure if osteopathy is the ideal therapy for you, or would like to find out if acupuncture or naturopathy would also be valuable for you, please book in for a free Comprehensive Assessment at our clinic. Otherwise, you can book in for an osteopathy treatment by giving us a call or use the Book Now button at the top of the page.
Be well, and have a great life!
A German study on the effectiveness of osteopathy for lower back pain found that 2-3 osteopathic treatments significantly improved pain levels.
The randomized controlled trial involved 60 participants who suffered between 4 weeks and 6 months with lower back pain. They were split into 2 groups, one who only received physiotherapy and one who received the osteopathy treatments as well as physiotherapy. The first group reported a 30% improvement in their pain, whereas the group receiving osteopathy treatments had a 66% improvement. (Statistically, this meant a 2.5 times improvement for the osteopathy group compared to the physiotherapy only group.)
(It is worth noting that the participants received 6 physiotherapy treatments, compared to only 2 or 3 osteopathy treatments. It would be reasonable to assume that, had the participants received 6 osteopathy treatments instead, the improvement would have been even greater.)
Please click here to read more about the research.
Disclaimer – Please be aware that each person’s body is different, so individual results may vary. If you have an osteopathy appointment at our clinic, your therapist will conduct a detailed assessment of your condition, and they will be able to advise you on how successful your treatments are likely to be. A result is not promised and/or guaranteed from the act of receiving a treatment.
If you have any questions regarding the treatment of lower back pain, please give us a call. Be well, and have a great life!
An extensive study by the University of Helsinki has found that one in four people in Europe use natural therapies (or 'complementary and alternative medicine') for their health issues.
Approximately 40,000 people from over 20 countries participated in the study, and the most popular treatments were massage (12%), homeopathy (6%), osteopathy (5%), and herbal remedies (5%).
The study found that women and those with higher education used natural therapies the most. Germany had the highest proportion of users, with almost 40% saying they used natural therapies.
With any health issue, in order to get results it is crucial to first investigate the cause of the problem. We are currently offering a limited number of free Comprehensive Assessments. (Terms and conditions: the Assessment is a completely free service, with no obligations whatsoever.)
The Assessment helps to identify:
If you would like to book in for an Assessment, please give us a call on 3376 6911, or you can book online using the link at the top of the page.
Be well, and have a great life!
The importance of treating head injuries and concussion is becoming much more well-known lately. While most patients with mild concussions recover in a few days, as many as 15 percent experience longer-term complications.
Two case reports published in The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association document improvements in concussion symptoms after an initial osteopathic treatment.
In the first case report, a 27-year-old man was treated three days after a snowboarding accident, in which the patient fell and wasn't wearing a helmet. He suffered from headache, nausea, dizziness and tinnitus during the days after the fall. After one osteopathic session of sport injury treatment Brisbane, the patient reported the dizziness, tinnitus and nausea had resolved.
The second case involved a 16-year old girl with a history of three head injuries, the most recent involving a head-to-head collision. Three weeks after that injury, she reported headache, fatigue, mood swings as well as memory and concentration problems that limited her ability to participate in school and band practice. After six treatments, she had none of these symptoms and her balance had improved significantly.
"OMT (osteopathic manipulative treatment) has long been an instrumental tool in treating athletes," said Dr Naresh Rao, an osteopathic sports medicine physician who was the doctor for the USA Water Polo team at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics. "With manual techniques including craniosacral therapy, we as osteopathic physicians have the ability to help the body restore the flow of cerebrospinal fluid through the central nervous system to promote healing and get our athletes concussion-related symptoms back to their normal activities."
"These cases are consistent with the clinical experiences of osteopathic physicians who use OMT as part of a multidisciplinary approach to concussion," said Dr. Rao. "While the mechanisms of healing are not well understood with concussion, formal studies measuring OMT's impact on recovery and quality of life are much needed to demonstrate its efficacy as a viable therapy where there are very limited therapies to date."
Please click here to read more about the research.
Disclaimer – Please be aware that each person’s body is different, so individual results may vary. If you have an osteopathy appointment at our clinic, your therapist will conduct a detailed assessment of your condition, and they will be able to advise you on how successful your treatments are likely to be. A result is not promised and/or guaranteed from the act of receiving a treatment.
Centenary Natural Therapies specialise in a wide range of sports injury treatments for Brisbane athletes. If you have any questions regarding the treatment of concussion, please give us a call. Be well, and have a great life!
It has been estimated that around 50 percent of pregnant women suffer from lower back pain during or after their pregnancies. However, German researchers have found that women who received 4 osteopathic treatments at two week intervals reported a massive 73% reduction in their lower back pain. The women in the study had all given birth between 3 and 15 months before beginning their treatment,
"Women who've recently given birth are rarely studied beyond screening for postpartum depression and delivery complications, even though it's well documented that low back pain is a common issue that hinders their quality of life during an already stressful time," said Jennifer Caudle, DO, assistant professor of family medicine at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine. "This study shows that osteopathic manipulative therapy can relieve their pain without medication that could be passed to a breastfeeding infant."
Disclaimer – Please be aware that each person’s body is different, so individual results may vary. If you have an osteopathy appointment at our clinic, your therapist will conduct a detailed assessment of your condition, and they will be able to advise you on how successful your treatments are likely to be. A result is not promised and/or guaranteed from the act of receiving a treatment
If you have any questions regarding the treatment of any form of lower back pain, please give us a call. Be well, and have a great life!
There are a number of causes of back, shoulder, neck and hip problems. One of the more common ones we see is a misalignment between the shoulders and the hips.
In some ways, the trunk or torso can be viewed as a rectangle, with the hips and shoulders forming the corners. If one of these corners has shifted, it will often affect the other 3 corners as well. For example, if the left hip is tilted down the right hip will be tilted up, and the shoulders will also be uneven. So if someone has a shoulder problem, it might be due to a misalignment of one of their hips, or vice-versa.
As well as causing issues with these areas, a ‘4 Corner imbalance’ can have a flow-on affect to other parts of the body as well. If you try raising one hip high, as well as your shoulder raising up you might also feel how your neck will bend to the side to keep your head straight. So over time, this imbalance could also cause neck pain, lower back pain, soreness between the shoulder blades, sciatic pain, and sometimes even knee pain.
Diagnosis
The main method of identifying a 4 Corner imbalance is simply to look at the person’s back when they are standing up, to see if their shoulders and hips are all level. (You can see from the third diagram that the spine can sometimes also be bent to the side,) If the hips and shoulders are uneven, the person then lays face down on the treatment table, and the area between the shoulder blades is checked for any tightness or soreness. The top of the back of the hip bones (just under the iliac crest) is carefully checked as well.
Free Assessment
If you have a lower back, shoulder, neck or hip problem, we offer a free Comprehensive Assessment, which is a detailed look at what is going on in your body, what is causing the problem, and the best way to sort it out. (Terms and conditions- the Assessment is a completely free service, with no obligations whatsoever.) Most people find their Assessment results very insightful and informative.
Be well, and have a great life!
(Images from Clinical Strategies, Vol.1, by K. Matsomoto and D. Euler)
How has your head been feeling? The brain is an incredibly complex, sensitive, and often overworked part of the body. It can be affected by heat, toxins, hormones, lack of fluid, pressure, and many other factors. In fact, headaches are one of the most common health problems, with almost 90% of the population experiencing them occasionally. Symptoms can range from mild discomfort, to feeling like someone is putting an axe through your skull, and having to lock yourself in a dark room all day.
There are over 200 different causes of headaches, however over 85% of the cases that we see at the clinic involve stress and/ or neck problems. Other causes can include dehydration, toxic overload, high blood pressure, sinus, inflammation, medications, and food sensitivities. Most of the time a good massage will get rid of the headache and treat the neck problem or stress that caused it. However, if this doesn't help, if they keep coming back, or if you suspect something else may be causing your headaches, please book in for a free Health Assessment at our clinic.
Some migraines can be completely debilitating. They usually show up as an intense, throbbing or pounding pain around one temple. (Sometimes the pain is located in the forehead, around the eye, or at the back of the head.) Some people experience visual disturbances before an attack, known as an 'aura'. When the migraine occurs, the sufferer may also experience nausea, vomiting, or sensitivity to light and sound, so they may want to lie in a quiet, dark room during an attack. A typical migraine lasts between 4 and 72 hours.
A migraine is caused by the vasodilation (expansion of blood vessels) in the brain. The enlargement of these blood vessels stretches the nerves that coil around them, and causes the nerves to release chemicals. These chemicals cause inflammation, pain, and further enlargement of the artery, making the pain even worse.
Preventing Migraines
As with any condition, it is important to treat what is causing the problem.
Any of these can indicate pressure in the blood vessels inside the head. This can be caused by a) the constriction of the arteries to the head, or b) a build-up inside the walls of the blood vessels.
a) With migraines (and most headaches) there is virtually always a problem with the muscles or alignment of the neck. Usually the top vertebrae in the neck is twisted, which ‘kinks’ the Basilar artery into the back of the head. The compression of the artery increases the pressure in the blood vessels, causing them to expand and press on the nerves in the brain. Because the Basilar artery supplies blood to the vision area of the brain, this can also cause the visual disturbances many people get with a migraine.
(Illustration from ‘Clinical Strategies’ by Kiiko Matsumoto and David Euler.)
b) It is also important to make sure that there is no build-up on the walls of the blood vessels (arteriosclerosis), such as cholesterol or calcium deposits.
Improving the blood flow to and in the head is particularly important for women who get headaches or migraines before their period. There is a natural increase in the volume of blood in a woman’s body prior to her period, which puts extra pressure on any areas in her body where the blood flow is restricted.
Because this circulation disturbance causes less oxygen and nutrients to the brain, and a build-up of toxins in the head, the person may also experience anxiety, depression, or foggy thinking.
(Migraines are caused by pressure in the head, and a common migraine personality type is a very responsible person who put too much pressure on themselves.)
If you suffer from regular headaches or from migraines, we can help. A Comprehensive Assessment will uncover what is causing the problem, and how it can be fixed. (The normal value of an Assessment is $120, but we are offering them free of charge for a limited period.) To find out how good you can really feel, please call us on 3376 6911, and ask for your free 1 hour Comprehensive Assessment soon.
Valued at $120, your Assessment will help to uncover:
All this will be fully explained to you, and you can ask as many questions as you like. That way we can be sure to give you all of the right information, understanding and advice you need. Terms and conditions: This is a free, no obligation offer.