One of the most common things that people ask — ‘Is my back out?
One of the most common things that people ask when they come to see me is ‘is my back out?’, or alternatively they might say ‘my back/ hips feel out’. Is it possible for the hips or a part of the back to be ‘out’?
Typically, when we refer to a part of the body as being ‘out’, we are referring to the idea of the body being ‘out of alignment’. Underlying this idea is the assumption that, in order to function at our best, we need to be ‘aligned’, which ties in with the notion of spinal or body ‘symmetry’. But is this a valid or even reasonable way of thinking? Is symmetry ‘best’?
We can look at this in two ways. Firstly, in relation to symmetry and how our body moves; secondly, how someone feels in their body.
None of us are perfectly aligned. Most of us are either left or right handed, have a ‘dominant’ leg (think about which foot you would use to kick a football), and a dominant eye and ear. We naturally develop imbalances both in position and the way we move so that we can use those parts of the body that we favour most efficiently. Besides, anatomical variation is the norm! The shape of each bone differs from person to person – our shin bones have a slightly different shape to our friend’s, in just the same way that the shape of our skull is slightly different from theirs too. These normal variations impact both on posture as well as how each of us move.
We may feel ‘out of alignment’ as a response to acute pain, or following a period of excessive or unusual loading (e.g. a long plane flight, or long periods sitting in front of the computer at work, or in response to a new gym program). Our body may feel less symmetrical due to tight muscles or joints, and we may be able to see this in the mirror too. What we are feeling or seeing is our body doing its best to avoid a painful position or movement, or we are seeing the result of our body having tightened up because of a sustained awkward position.
An osteopath’s job is not to ‘pop’ the spine or hips ‘back into place’. In fact, imaging (such as CT/MRI) studies have demonstrated that there is no change in spinal positioning following spinal manipulation (a technique which often features an audible ‘click’ or ‘pop’). Improvements in pain, posture, alignment, and movement take place as the nervous system responds to osteopathy, whether the treatment is in the form of joint manipulation/adjustment, massage, mobilisation, or other techniques. This is why providing sensible advice and information about your condition is an essential ingredient of osteopathic care.
Osteopaths want everyone to continue to function at their very best, and encourage people to move in a variety of different ways, practicing things that support us in our mind, body and soul.
