A Common Cause of Back, Neck & Shoulder Problems

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.