The hidden prankster and joker of low-back pain

To alleviate pain and correct any misalignment from spasms, treating both muscles with stretching exercises, trigger point therapy and chiropractic adjustments is best.

by Dr. Kenneth Muhich — 

Have you ever experienced back pain so severe that you had to crawl on your hands and knees to get to the bathroom because you could not stand up? Maybe after sitting at a computer or driving a long distance you were unable to get up without pain, making you walk like Groucho Marx.

This is no laughing matter when suffering from back pain that intense.

Your problem involves two muscles. One is the iliopsoas muscle (nicknamed the hidden prankster), situated in front of the low back. This muscle runs along the lumbar vertebral bodies from the base of the rib cage all the way down to the lesser trochanter of the femur bone. It is like a foot-long hot dog, long and narrow. This muscle causes pain in the sacroiliac, buttock, groin and anterior thigh.

The iliopsoas muscle often controls the second muscle involved, known as the quadratus lumborum (nicknamed the joker of low-back pain). This muscle runs from the base of the 12th rib, down to the crest of the ilium. It causes referred pain into the sacroiliac region, the hip, buttock, groin and anterior thigh. The symptoms are very similar for both muscles.

To alleviate pain and correct any misalignment from spasms, treating both muscles with stretching exercises, trigger point therapy and chiropractic adjustments is best. If both muscles are not treated, you are destined to have chronic low-back problems.

Dr. Kenneth Muhich is a chiropractic physician specializing in the treatment of painful conditions such as fibromyalgia at Stetson Chiropractic Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz. www.stetsonchiropractic.com or 480-948-4955.

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 30, Number 4, Aug/Sept 2011.