Nagging Sacroiliac Pain and Abnormal Posture Helped with Chiropractic

The Annals of Vertebral Subluxation Research published the results of a case study on June 17, 2024, documenting the improvement is postural irregularities and nagging sacroiliac pain with chiropractic care. The sacroiliac joints, often called the "SI" joints, are the joints where the two hip bones (ilium) come together with the base bone of the spine (sacrum).

This study begins by noting that, "Low back pain problems are one of the most prevalent health care challenges in the United States. For working adults, low back pain is the most common ailment causing disability for men and women less than 45 years old."

In this case, a 54-year-old man went to the chiropractor to see if he could get help for his chronic low back pain. The man reported that he was having long-standing nagging pain in his right sacroiliac joint that did not run down his leg. The man was a TSA officer and his job required that he stand on his feet all day, which made the problem worse.

The first part of the man's chiropractic examination involved a postural analysis. This showed that the man's head was in a more forward position than is normal. It was also noticed that his spine showed a deviation curvature in the middle back area when viewed from behind. Leg length analysis showed that the legs were not even in length, even though they were both the same anatomical length. Spinal x-rays documented the lower back curvature issues and postural abnormalities.

Based on the information from the examination, specific forms of chiropractic care were started and continued over a 16-week period. The care was focused on correcting subluxations and making changes to the postural irregularities found during the examination and confirmed on x-rays. The man was seen twice a week for the first four weeks followed by weekly visits for the next eleven weeks.

The study recorded that after the man's fifth chiropractic visit, he was no longer having any pain, even when standing for more than four hours. Follow-up x-rays were taken after his 20th visit. These x-rays confirmed that his postural and spinal anomalies had measurably improved.

In their conclusion, the authors pointed out the effect that posture and subluxation can have on the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). "Abnormal postures and subluxations of the spine can potentially lead to impairment of blood flow and delivery of nutrients through the spinal cord consequently causing neural dysfunction in the CNS and PNS."