Essential Function of the Pelvis

 Our pelvis, commonly called the “pelvic girdle,” is the bio-mechanical foundation for our whole body. Everything above and below depends on the stability of the pelvis.

     If your pelvis becomes distorted, due to a fall, a sudden twist or jolt, or just due to accumulated stresses, then it becomes unlevel. An unlevel foundation is an unstable foundation. This can reverberate downward and affect your lower extremities, or upward and affect your chest and neck. 

     As an Activator Chiropractor, I specialize in full-body balancing, including careful attention to the pelvis. This helps my patients’ adjustments to be more effective and more long-lasting.

Chiropractic: How Long, How Often?

 

Patients commonly want to know:  "How often do I have to come in, and for how long?" In my chiropractic practice, each patient's Treatment Plan is tailored to the individual. Some patients come in for their initial treatment and one follow-up, and they're done. Some people need more. It depends on the person's problem, their general health, whether they've been injured, whether they follow Home Care Instructions, etc. As soon as each patient is sufficiently improved and able to continue healing on their own, I release them. I am always available to support them, should they need me again.

Hinge Joints

   Our knees, the joints in our fingers, & our elbows are “hinge” joints—-similar to door, window, etc. hinges---meant to move in one geometric plane.

Introducing a rotating force in these joints causes injury, sometimes mild with a relatively easy recovery, but sometimes serious sprains that are not only difficult to recover from, but may leave lasting damage to the joint tissues.

Another force these joints are not meant to tolerate is hyperextension. Taking a hinge joint  past its end point of tolerance for extension will cause injury. I often see this in patients who have propped their heel on a stool or ottoman, causing hyperextension of the knee.

       Lateral forces such as sometimes happen in football to players’ knees, often also injure & can permanently damage a hinge joint. 

Distant or Local?

Tingling or numbness in the hand or arm is a sign of nerve impingement, and finding a solution requires differentiating between a local origin, i. e. in the arm, wrist, or hand, or an impingement happening further away, perhaps in the neck or shoulder region.  

The patient’s presentation, orthopedic tests, and careful assessment of the neck and involved upper extremity will reveal the source of the the problem.

In some instances, there is more than one site of impingement, e.g., symptoms in the hand may be due to a “double crush”—-impingement in both the new and the wrist. 

Twist & Lift---A Bad Combination

  Lifting when the body is twisted to the side—either left or right—is a recipe for back pain, often in the thoracic region. 

An example is lifting a child into or out of a carseat. The lift + twist action often necessary to do this can torque the rib cage, stress and misalign vertebrae, & set off muscle spasms, 

As soon as the child is able to climb in and out of the carseat on their own, give your body a break and let them do it.

In the interim, take care to twist as little as possible when getting them in / out, and try to keep your body as close to them as possible while doing it. This creates shorter-lever stresses on the back and spine, helping to make it less likely that you will injure yourself.