I first met Lori in my offices where she looked at me with
distress in her eyes and then began to tell her story. She recalled that the pain in her right foot
suddenly came upon her while she was “power walking” just a few days prior. She apparently was a fair bit of a distance
from her home and that by the time she struggled back there she had a distinct
limp in her gait so as to protect the foot from further discomfort. She had made an appointment with her M.D. but
a friend had intervened and had recommended that she first have a chiropractor
examine her so as to get to the cause of her dilemma.
Lori presented as a forty-four year old solid
individual. She regularly practiced yoga
and assured me of her caution with her lifestyle and diet. She appeared to be living well enough so that
she did not show signs of failing to thrive. (The hunched back posture of
chronic adrenal challenges) But still in
her early mid life years she shouldn’t have pulled up lame when she put a
fairly small load upon herself by wishing to get up and out for a “power walk.”
She continued to tell her story and
while doing so I conducted a cursory exam of her feet, ankles and
calves. All appeared OK with the
extremities so I asked her about her history of lower back pain. “Doc.”
She replied, “I have pain in my lower back when I sit for more than ten
minutes. It causes me to get up and walk about for a bit then sit for another
ten minutes, then get up and do it again.” I asked her how long this had gone
on for and she replied “since I was about ten years old and fell on my
tailbone.”
Without beating about the bush I felt confident that she was
presenting a most common ailment, “sciatica.”
Sciatica is usually an impediment problem of the lower back’s largest
nerve which arises from the lower spinal nerves and pelvis coursing its way
down the leg to the foot. And many times
the brain will pick up on the pain emitted from the most sensitive nerve cells
at the end of the nerve. Hence Lori’s
brain was feeling the foot pain.
So now all I had to do was find the source of the nerve
system compromise which had the sciatic nerve shouting out in pain and then fix
it.
As a chiropractor, practicing Applied Kinesiology, which
includes muscle testing, acupuncture, nutritional diagnosis and manual
manipulation, like chiropractic, the challenge of finding and fixing or at
least diagnosing the source of the nerve impediment is procedural. I found the weakened lower back and leg
muscles by manually challenging their ability to perform work against
resistance. I then used a very nice
system of diagnosis through a map of the nerves of the face which pointed to
the subluxation or misalignment of Lori’s L 5 vertebrae, the lowest of the
spinal vertebrae, the one which sits upon the sacrum at the back of the pelvic
ring.
I kept Lori abreast of my thinking and findings. Then when we were assured of the diagnosis I
had her turn upon her side and adjusted L5, which had rotated posterior on the
right, into a more appropriate position, further to the anterior on that
side. The vertebrae moved forward
correctly.
I then checked her strengths and found only some of the
weakened muscles responding to challenge. This took us back to the drawing
board. Back to the map and it showed
abnormal electromagnetic current phase this time indicating the subluxation
signs from the pelvis. I challenge the
pelvic joints and using chiropractic methods adjusted the two sacro-iliac joints
into a more normally functioning composition.
The muscles then challenged out correctly and Lori was finished for the
day.
“Can I go power walking?” she asked. “Sure” I replied, “in fact it would be a good
idea to go and walk, and further to see if the problem of sitting will also get better following your chiropractic pelvic adjustments and changes.”
A few days later Lori returned for her check up. Pleasant smiles greeted me, she was
better. How much better? Well she hugged me and said not only did she
walk without the ankle and foot pain but her painful sitting had greatly
improved too. But the bonus for her and
a problem unknown to me is that she didn’t have to get up in the night some
four or five times to go to the bathroom.
Winner!
Lori is still getting better as her adjustments hold her
frame in a more appropriate manner and her pelvis is re-schooled into a level
and correctly working place.
This small story about sciatica is true. But any implications about sciatica’s
simplicity as a disease are unrealistic. Sciatica and lower back pain have been
proven to be best helped through chiropractic manipulation.
The referral from Lori’s friend was like a candle lighting
another candle, it cost nothing but enlightened another’s life immensely. If you know someone that is dimmed in their
ability to have an active life from a health problem such as sciatica, send
them this story. If you need more
information or disagree then send it to me.
Help us save billions in healthcare on an ongoing basis by
referring others for safe and effective cost efficient chiropractic diagnosis
and treatment.
About the author:
Dr. Brian Blower has been a licensed
chiropractor for over 40 years
practicing Applied Kinesiology and has been in private practice on
Grand Bahama Island for the past
15 years. He is a founding member of Applied Kinesiology Canada and was
educated at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College. He is a founding
member of the Bahamas Association of Chiropractic. He has treated
many celebrities and also specializes in sports medicine. He can be
reached at 242-351-5424/ 727-2454. You
can also find Dr. Blower on Facebook HERE
Feel free to contact Dr. Blower with any of your questions or comments at BodyByBlower@yahoo.com
Read more articles by Dr. Blower