Steve Lockhart

Back Pain & Sciatica – The Link To Muscle Imbalances

I find it interesting that although so much of what goes on in the body revolves around the need for healthy muscles.

I find it interesting that although so much of what goes on in the body revolves around the need for healthy muscles, there are very few true muscle specialists who have the expertise to treat them when things go wrong such as back pain and sciatica.

In my experience people are wasting a lot of money seeing the wrong therapists and because they don't get better, the drug companies are the ones that end up benefiting at the expense of our long term health.

Successfully treating conditions such as back pain and sciatica involves a unique approach. It involves treating the full body, incorporating all sort of lifestyle factors and getting ‘hands on’ with the body. Nearly all treatments break those rules and when they do, their effectiveness goes out the window and they don’t get a lasting result.

It is my belief that most people suffering chronic pain are doing so unnecessarily, more because of a lack of knowledge and inadequate treatment methods rather than their problem being incurable. So if you are a chronic pain sufferer I urge you not to give up, just be more demanding in what you expect from the therapists you see and if you don’t get a noticeable improvement from your 3rd or so treatment, move on..

On a physical level....

Muscles need energy to be able to work properly and the level of energy available to them is determined primarily by a person’s diet, circulation and fitness.

Muscles will only work, that is extend and contract properly, while they are functional, strong and healthy enough. They must receive an adequate supply of nutrients via an efficient circulatory system that also removes carbon dioxide and waste products produced during any activity.

When a muscle doesn’t get what it needs it fails and other muscles have to compensate for it. Remember it is these compensations that cause the first stage of imbalances accumulating in the body which is the first stage of a person having the potential to injure themselves more easily or ending up with chronic pain such as back pain and sciatica.

Whether this flow of blood in and out of the muscle is carried out efficiently or not depends largely upon circulation which in turn depends on, for one, how tight the muscles are (stress!). Also the things we have been talking about in relation to an 'out of balance' body are a major consideration as is diet, posture and technique.

When a person exercises regularly they slowly develop an improved circulatory system that handles this increased blood flow, allowing the muscles to work longer and harder before they become fatigued.

However when the blood flow is not sufficient to support the work being done by the muscles they become fatigued and tighten up and a person gets tired or starts to cramp up. Although pushing through this point is how we increase our fitness level it is also one of the reasons why you can get stiff and sore for a couple of days after you start a new sport or exercise.

If muscles are neglected and continually put under pressure, not fed properly or warmed up and down properly, their condition will deteriorate steadily over time and chronic pain, or worse still, damage to the joint they support could well be the end result.

Article Tags: Back Pain, Chronic Pain

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