​Pain down the leg, typically the back of the leg, is termed sciatica as it follows the course of the sciatic nerve.  This pain should always be investigated as the cause can be serious.  However, if the pain does not go below the knee and is not accompanied by pins and needles or numbness, there is a good chance that this pain is referred from the lower back muscles and joints, or the hip.  Pain that travels below the knee (often accompanied by pins and needles, numbness, tingling, or burning pain) is true sciatic nerve pain and is likely to be due to an injury to one or more lumbar discs.  Often in the past this has been called a slipped disc, or a disc bulge, sciatica or a trapped nerve, but they are all the result of the same thing; damage to the lumbar disc.  This condition is serious and rarely resolves without treatment – if it is left for too long it often requires surgery, and there can be permanent damage to the nerve.
As a general rule, lumbar discs are very hardy.  It is difficult to injure them and most people who do suffer this type of pain have a long history of back problems which have lead up to the disc injury.  They may also have poor postural or structural configurations in their spine that have predisposed their injury and can be addressed with proper treatment and exercise.
Chiropractic is at the forefront of postural and structural correction, so if you do suffer pain of this type, do yourself a favour and give your chiropractor – or us – a call.
(Again, pain of this type can come from other, even more serious causes and should always be investigated.)

Why is it that some people reach their sixties, seventies and beyond and look great, they are active, play regular sport, spend time with their grandkids and are in a good state of health, while there are others of the same age that are virtually house bound and struggle through every day?  While there are undoubtedly many factors that contribute, one of the most important is posture.
Your posture, and your underlying structure, determines how well you spine ages.  There is a law of nature called Wolf’s law.  Simply put ‘Wolf’s law of bone remodelling’ states that a bone that is under uneven load (meaning poor posture or structure) will respond by building more bone on the side of greater load – meaning arthritis, or wear and tear!  What this means is that if you have good posture and good underlying structure, your bones will wear well.  And if you have poor posture or underlying structure, your bones will wear badly.  Of course injuries can effect this, as can bone weakening diseases such as osteoporosis and Pagets disease, but even with these diseases people with good posture do better than people with poor posture.  So in the future, if you want to be amongst the crowd of people playing golf in their retirement, enjoying overseas holidays and time with your grandkids a great way to insure this is to work on having good posture.
And if you want any help or advice with this, or would like to check how your structure is doing… Chiropractic is at the forefront of postural and structural correction so give us a call and make an appointment.

As defined in my last blog, simply put, scoliosis is a curve in the spine to the left or the right when viewed from behind.  When a structural or postural spinal problem is left for a long time it starts to wear (or degenerate).  Wear and tear in the joints, soft tissues and bones creates slow deformity over time (wolf’s law).  Left for many years this deformity/degeneration magnifies and distorts, often in the form of a lateral curve or scoliosis – a degenerative scoliosis.

This accounts for why a previously healthy, straight spine becomes curved with age, and it may seem surprising but this has become the most common form of scoliosis in the world today.

What can you do about it?  It is important to remember that this form of scoliosis takes many years to occur.  By maintaining good posture and structure throughout life you can vastly minimise the chance of developing a degenerative scoliosis later in life.  This is one of the reasons Chiropractors advocate a maintenance approach to your back.  Chiropractors specialise in postural and structural correction and by keeping your spine straight and level you can prevent a degenerative scoliosis.
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For people who have developed a scoliosis in adolescence, there is a greater risk of this progressing to a degenerative scoliosis as you get older. Consequently for these people it is even more important to be carrying out preventative treatment throughout life to try and avoid this second advancement period.

Viewed from behind the ideal structure of a human spine should be straight from top to bottom with level shoulders and a level pelvis – no exceptions.

Simply put, scoliosis is a curve in the spine to the left or the right when viewed from behind.

But there is more to the story...

When someone is diagnosed with a true scoliosis (or an idiopathic scoliosis) they are being diagnosed with a growth condition.  In these types of scoliosis, the growth plates in an individual’s vertebrae are growing at different rates and this causes the spine to bend and twist to compensate.  This is a very serious condition and the only chance you have to correct it is while the spine is growing (ie in a child or an adolescent).  Once growth is complete the condition is permanent and often causes ongoing problems throughout life.  This alone is reason to have your children checked at regular intervals because, just like check-ups to the dentist, in most circumstances if this condition is caught early it is easy to fix.  But catching it late can mean extreme treatments of even surgery.

For more information on scoliosis and treatments for idiopathic scoliosis go to: http://www.sydneyscoliosisclinic.com.au

​Bad posture, or having one leg shorter than the other, can cause a curve or lean in the spine which is not a true idiopathic scoliosis.  This sort of curve is also termed a scoliosis but because the vertebra are not deformed from uneven growth these scoliosis’ can often be resolved quickly and easily with chiropractic treatment.  Your chiropractor will know how to assess for the different forms of scoliosis and if need be, the right people to refer you to for the best possible treatment.