Your Low Back Pain Might Not Be Coming From Your Spine…

Low back pain is something we see a lot of as acupuncturists, and equally as common is the patients belief that their pain is coming from their spine. Patients may have gotten an X-ray or MRI and the results showed that they have some degeneration of this or that vertebra, or a bulging disc and therefore that is the reason they are in excruciating pain.

Now, I’m not saying that the spine is never involved in low back pain, it’s just that there are many people out there walking around with degeneration to one degree or another, as well as bulging discs, with no pain whatsoever. So what else might be going on…

One of the possible causes of low back pain (especially when it is one sided) is a weakness in a muscle called the “Gluteus Medius” This is one of three glute muscles which make up your buttocks. Everyone thinks of the Gluteus Maximus because that is the biggest of the glute muscles and accounts for the majority of the real estate of the buttocks. The job of the Gluteus Maximus is to extend the hip/leg backward. The Gluteus Medius is deeper to the Gluteus Maximus, connecting the head of the Femur to the side of your Pelvic Crest, and is responsible for stabilizing your hips/pelvis when you are walking or standing, but especially when taking a stride.

(1) Gluteus Medius Muscle

As an example, when you step forward with your left leg, the job of your right side Gluteus Medius is to stabilize the pelvis and keep everything level as the left leg comes off the ground. Staying with this example, If you have a weakness in your right Gluteus Medius, your right hip will tend to not support a leveling of the hips and the left side of your pelvis/hips will dip down as you walk.

(2) Trendelenburg Gait

Now the body likes balance, and is not happy with this sort of imbalance so it seeks to compensate for the right Gluteus Medius weakness by lifting up and stabilizing your left side pelvis. It does this by contracting your Quadratus Lumborum muscle (also known as the “hip hiker” muscle) on the side opposite of the weak Gluteus Medius. Thus re-establishing a level balance of the hips. The problem is that this is not the job of the Quadratus muscle and it soon becomes strained and painful. Muscle testing can be done during your visit to determine if there is a weakness in the glute medius. If a weakness is found, In addition to acupuncture, I often recommend a simple exercise to strengthen the muscle going forward.

Regardless if your back pain is coming from a weak Gluteus Medius or from some other source, Acupuncture is extremely effective at treating all types of pain. Acupuncture can help restore proper energy flow to the channels and muscles affected, as well as add beneficial Qi/energy where it is deficient.

If your pain is keeping you from doing the things you love to do, don’t hesitate to call, email or book an appointment. I am here to help and I love helping people out of pain so they can get back to living!

Click here to download our FREE Guide “My 3 favorite Acupressure Points to Help Ease Acute Low Back Pain”

Many Blessings,

Stephen Longo LAc. Dipl. Ac.
Humanity Acupuncture
Stony Brook, NY
631-686-4001
stephen@humanityacupuncture.com
www.humanityacupuncture.com

(1) "Dundee - Drawing Abduction of the hip: muscles and tendons seen from posterior - English labels" by Shereen Kadir, © University of Dundee School of Medicine, license: CC BY-NC-ND

(2) "File:Trendelenburg gait.jpg" by S. Bhimji is licensed under CC BY 4.0.