BACK PAIN: THE THREE-LINE LESSON
This three-line lesson is one of the analogies I use with my patients to try and get a very important point across.
Back problems tend to fall into one of three categories:
Line #1 (Good) _________________ normal, good function.
Line #2 (Ok) ___________________ feeling pretty good, can live with it.
Line #3 (Bad) __________________ severe debilitating pain
Most individuals with a chronic back problem, such as the wiggle in your walk syndrome, live on Line #2. They have accepted that everything is all right as long as they can do their daily activities or go to work and they are in no severe pain.
Periodically they have a major crisis that drops them down to Line #3. They seek help from their family doctor, physiotherapist, or chiropractor. Once they get enough relief to move them back up to the middle line, they feel that everything is okay again.
There are many people who have lived within this cycle for years. They gravitate back and forth between the severe back pain line and the “it’s okay” line. Some never strive to reach Line #1. Life is good on Line #2. Some strive to reach Line #1, but can never seem to quite get there.
To reach the Line #1 level of real back health, you need to address the underlying problem. The mechanical problems associated with the wiggle in your walk are exactly what I am talking about.
Staying in the middle is not a good thing. It will affect how you feel, your posture, and most importantly it will produce stress on the weight bearing joints (hips, knees, ankles, feet, lower back) and create premature degeneration.
It Is Not “OK” TO BE “OK”