Let’s look at your lumbar vertebrae and the segments below the lumbars ? your sacrum and coccyx ? and what subluxations of these areas may cause.

Let me first give you the definition of what “chiropractic” and “subluxation” exactly are, and how they can affect your health and well being.

The Science : Since its beginning, chiropractic has been based on the scientific fact that the nervous system controls the function of every cell, tissue, organ and system of your body.

While the brain is protected by the skull, the spinal cord is more vulnerable, covered by 24 moving vertebrae. When these bones lose their normal motion or position, they can irritate the nervous system. This disrupts the function of the tissues or organs these nerves control, and is called the Vertebral Subluxation Complex.

Chiropractic is the science of locating these areas of spinal malfunction, the art of correcting them and the philosophy of things natural. It was founded in the 1890′s and has developed tremendously over the years. It’s a treatment that is sometimes covered by medical insurance, but it’s best to check with the individual insurance provider. Many of today’s chiropractors use spinal correction in conjunction with exercises, health, and lifestyle counseling.
You have five lumbar vertebrae. When you have a subluxation of your lumbar vertebrae, certain nerves and areas are affected. Below are some of the more common findings.

Remember that subluxations stress your spine, discs, ligaments, muscles and blood vessels and they affect the nerves that help your organs, glands, muscles and other body parts function.

Lumbar L1: Nerves from L1 go to your large intestine, inguinal rings and uterus. Constipation, colitis, diarrhea, hernias, uterine problems and other conditions have been noted in people with L1 subluxations.

L2: Nerves from L2 go to your appendix, abdomen, upper leg and bladder. Appendicitis, cramps, difficulty breathing, acidosis, leg pain and numbness, sciatica and other conditions have been noted in people with L2 subluxations.

L3: Nerves from L3 go to your sex organs, uterus, bladder, knees, prostate and large intestine. Bladder troubles, menstrual troubles, male impotency, knee and foot problems, bowel problems and other conditions have been noted in people with L3 subluxations.

L4: Nerves from L4 go to your prostate gland, muscles of the lower back and then form the sciatic nerve. Prostate problems, low back spasms, sciatica pain, leg weakness, numbness, and other conditions have been noted in people with L4 subluxations.

L5: Nerves from L5 go to your lower legs, ankles, feet and prostate. Swollen ankles, weak ankles, tingling in the feet, leg cramps and other conditions have been noted in people with L5 subluxations.

Sacrum: Nerves from your sacrum go to your hipbones, buttocks, rectum, sex organs, genitalia, urinary bladder, ureter and prostate. Pelvic problems, leg length inequalities, spinal curvatures, impotence, urinary incontinence, kidney and bladder infections and other conditions have been noted in people with sacrum subluxations.

Coccyx: Nerves from your coccyx go to your rectum and anus and anchor your meninges (coverings around your brain and spinal cord). Migraine, headache, bizarre “whole body pains,” mental problems, hemorrhoids, anal itching, pain with sitting and other conditions have been noted in people with coccyx subluxations.

Originally Published in the Korea Times by Dr. Phillip Yoo.

Backaches are as old as man…

Backaches are among the most frequent pains which generations of people have been suffering from. Some theorists claim that backaches are a civilization disease, prompted by today’s society and our way of living. Think about it, we were not meant to sit at a desk, while hunched over a computer all day.

Others point to the severe degenerative changes found in the skeletons of Egyptian pharoahs which obviously indicate that even prior to the birth of Christ the Egyptians must have suffered from various back ailments. For anyone currently suffering from acute backache such theories are certainly meaningless. Their only desire is to be free of pain and back on their feet as soon as possible. The following article, with its comments and tips, are dedicated to these people, many of whom happen to be my own patients.

Antalgic posture of the lumbar spinal column to the left.
Right-sided disc damage (arrow).

Tips to counter acute back pain ?

Acute low back pain (Lumbago), or acute leg nerve pain (sciatica) usually leads to antalgic posture, or more simply, a compensatory lean, i.e. a partial blockage of the lumbar spinal column. This compensatory lean is a reflective reply to an intervertebral disc protrusion or herniation of one or more intervertebral discs. It often reveals itself in a more or less marked lateral curve of the lumbar spinal column, in other words, the body attempts to compensate for spinal damage by tensing local muscles. This compensatory lean also leads to a compensatory gait, both of which are obviously difficult to hide and thus not only directly affect the patient, but indirectly also the patient’s environment (friends, relatives, etc.).

Important: A compensatory lean is not harmful ! On the contrary, it protects the afflicted person from worse side effects !

Tip: Walk with crutches to help relieve strain on discs and joints.

The lumbar spinal column is not the only part of the human body which can experience a blockage. The same thing can happen to the cervical spinal column (stiff neck/Torticollis), the thoracic spinal column or to any other joint.
Tip: Listen to your body and take it easy !

Lying down and walking are good therapies

To alleviate the pain of backaches, lumbago or sciatica it is highly recommendable to continually alternate between lying down and walking. Until recently, patients with acute backaches were told to stay in bed for several days. However, American chiropractors managed to prove that staying in bed too long can lead to restlessness which can become a very painful experience. I advise my patients to lie down for an average of 20 to 30 minutes and then walk around for about 5 minutes. One female patient took this advice so literally that she even carried out this procedure during the night! And it worked. After 48 hours her condition improved considerably and as a result she could even resume her activity as a dancer in a folkloristic dance group !

When pain is acute, it is also very advisable to walk with the help of crutches. These can be rented from your chiropractor or in a drug store. And remember, you are doing this for yourself and not for other people. Pay no attention to what others may think or say (sooner or later most people have the “opportunity” of trying out crutches for themselves). Once the acute pain has disappeared you will no longer need them.

Important ! Lie down for 20 to 30 minutes and then walk around for about 5 minutes.

The Bed

Tip: Prop your legs up against a support in a high bed.

Even the best mattresses cannot cure an acute backache. Nevertheless, the following tips will make your stay in bed during the next couple of days a little more comfortable. First, and if possible, lie in a bed which is adjustable in height or which rests on a high bedstead. This makes getting in and out of bed easier, even for healthy people. In the “old days” one could literally climb down from a high bed. Today, the frameworks of beds are designed so low that many people often encounter serious problems in getting out of bed. Second, when suffering from an acute backache, you can either lie in bed sideways with a small pillow between your knees; or you can lie on your back, propping your thighs against some kind of support (e.g. a pillow, stool, bench or suitcase), bending your knees 90° and resting your calves and feet on top of the support. You can also use a wedge-shaped cushion. Should this increase rather than reduce the pain, try placing a small rolled up bath towl underneath your lower back. Third, when lying in bed, make sure that you change your position frequently.

The Toilet and Bath

Tip:Sit on an object (such as a wedge-shaped cushion with a hole in the middle) placed between the toilet seat and your thighs, while leaning slightly backwards, pressing your abdomen with your hands when stooling. Doughnut cushions are sold at most pharmacies.

Unfortunately, I have never encountered any written information giving people with acute backaches advice on using the toilet and bath. Yet sitting on a toilet can pose a serious problem for such patients.
Why? Because sitting on a toilet seat stresses the vertebral discs, considering that the internal pressure of the disc doubles or triples when the body is in a sitting position compared to a standing position. People with healthy discs do not feel this. However, when the disc is already affected to the point that the cartilage ring protrudes towards the vertebral canal (known as a disc protrusion), or when the outermost fibrous ring tears, resulting in partial leakage of the soft disc core (nucleus pulposus) into the vertebral canal (disc herniation), then the shifted disc material also puts pressure on nerve tissue, i.e. on one or more nerve roots (sciatic nerve / leg nerve). Sitting thus becomes extremely painful for anyone with acute back pain and should be avoided except in “emergencies”.

The following procedure is thus recommended when sitting on the toilet: Sit on the front part of the seat and lean the upper part of your body slightly backwards – provided that the compensatory position of the lumbar spinal column allows this. With your hands apply pressure to your abdomen when stooling. Tall people should also sit slightly higher on the toilet seat. For this purpose an object can be placed on the left and right side of the toilet seat, underneath the thighs. This will make it easier to sit down and especially to stand up.

Important: The higher you sit, the easier it is to stand up !

With extremely acute backaches the patient may have to use a bedpan instead of going to the toilet. Should the blockage or respective antalgic posture of the lumbar spinal column be very severe, taking a normal bath will also have to be substituted by a brief hot shower which can considerably relieve tense muscles.

Heat and Cold

A nerve inflammation is characterized by three main signs: redness (rubor), pain (dolor) and heat (calor). An inflamed nerve root does not like deep heat. A cold pack placed on the painful area of the lumbar spinal column every two hours is thus advisable when lying down. Caution: Do not leave cold packs on bare skin for longer than 10 minutes and place a handkerchief or cloth between the skin and the cold pack to protect the skin from any allergic reaction. Furthermore, do not be irritated by any leg pain (known as referred pain) which may arise as a result of sciatic nerve pain. With sciatic pain, the cold pack also belongs on the inflamed area, namely on the lumbar spinal column.

Heat applications (heat packs, hot water bottles, damp cloths and electric blankets) should not be applied before any improvement shows, and then only indirectly and very carefully. As soon as the compensatory posture is reduced and the spinal column becomes somewhat more flexible, a visit to a thermal bath or heated indoor swimming pool can work wonders. Walking in water is one of the most effective and agreeable ways of helping yourself when the backache has subdued. It is worth trying out and has the added advantage that it will help you regain confidence in your body.

Important: When pain is acute, apply cold packs in 10 minute intervals (apply 10 mintues on, than off for 10 mintues, than on 10 minutes, etc…) every hour until the acute pain subsides.. Walking in warm water is one of the best active therapies for patients with lumbago and sciatic pain after the acute pain has disappeared.

Originially Published in the Groove Magazine by Dr. Phillip Yoo.

The mere mention of a chiropractor causes some people to cringe from remembered stories they’ve heard about a “friend of a friend” who had to go once a week for the rest of his life to get his neck and back cracked and crunched all for the sake of “proper alignment.” For this guy, a week missed meant a week of agony.

But Dr. Phillip Yoo (or Dr. Phil to his patients), the founder of the ChiroPilates method, is quick to dispel that myth of dependence on chiropractic treatment.

“Some chiropractors focus on pain care, they don’t treat the cause of the pain,” Yoo says. “If I wanted to have people just come in week after week, why would I try to teach them how to prevent the pain and take care of themselves?”

That’s where ChiroPilates comes into play. It’s a combination of chiropractic therapy and Pilates, one of the most popular fitness methods in the United States, which incorporates flexibility training, strength training of the core muscles (the muscles around the midsection) and correction of the posture. One of the main advantages of Pilates is that it can be practiced with very little equipment and, like yoga, has many basic exercises requiring only a mat.

While Yoo believes Pilates is a good system on its own, he notes that many people suffer injuries while practicing Pilates because a lot of instructors don’t understand the human anatomy.

“It’s not like aerobics. Pilates is about technique and body awareness,” Yoo says, which is why he limits his class size.

His Itaewon, Seoul sports medicine clinic has room for about six ChiroPilates students at a time and also offers therapeutic massage, fitness training and, of course, chiropractic care.

He’s even coined a phrase to describe the purpose of ChiroPilates: “To strengthen and flexen.” This, he says, means to workout in order to increase a healthy range of motion for your joints and spine and lengthen core muscles to assist in maintaining a normal posture.

“Only about 20 percent of people have good posture and exercise regularly, while 80 percent suffer from some kind of musculoskeletal disorder or pain.”

The American-born doctor, who is also a certified personal trainer and certified meridian therapy acupuncturist, believes that many conditions can benefit from chiropractic care.

He gives headaches as an example.

“A headache isn’t a brain ache. The brain itself can’t feel pain,” Yoo says. “But it’s the pain-sensitive structures in the skull, such as the web of nerves emanating from the back of the skull and the first few vertebrae of the neck which control things like sinus function and eyesight. When these vertebrae are out of alignment, the nerves are often squeezed, pulled, compressed or otherwise irritated, causing headaches.”

And so it goes down the rest of the spine. When the spine is out of line, things like digestion or strength can be affected. The main purposes of the nerves are to sense pain, temperature and touch, control motor function and reflexes and control organ function.

“Taking an aspirin may help relieve the pain temporarily, but it won’t fix the structural problem and the pain will return,” he says.

According to Yoo, the Chinese belief in chi translates in chiropractic medicine as “the body’s innate ability to heal itself.” It’s about the flow of energy which, Yoo says, is really the messages being sent by the brain via the nerves to the rest of the body. Block the flow of these messages through a misaligned spine and you effectively block your body’s ability to self-heal.

When spring returns, many people hit the trail or the court and find themselves in agony the next day. This is because they’ve failed to maintain a higher level of fitness over the winter months and returned to their warm-weather pursuits without the proper preparation. As a result, Yoo says, spring is his busiest time of year.

“People are afraid of chiropractic therapy because they want a quick fix,” Yoo explains. “But if you want to stay in shape do you go to the gym only one time?” he asks.

After a while, Yoo insists, his clients learn how to prevent their pain and maintain a proper posture. “Follow-up visits are really just for a tune-up.”

His commitment to removing the barrier between himself and his patients can be seen in his insistence on being called “Dr. Phil” and through developing and offering his ChiroPilates method. This leads to better communication and trust, which leads to real healing.

“The word doctor doesn’t mean God, it means teacher,” Yoo says. “A lot of doctors forget that.”

Originally published in Seoul magazine, May 2007
By Tracey Stark