Sacrum/Pelvis/ Scoliosis Connections

[Merida]

Just last week I got a call from a woman seeking a FMS/ CFS support group information and treatment resources. Unfortunately I closed my group 5 years ago, after leading it for 13 years. But sometimes I still get calls, and share information I accumulated through the years. And, I make sure they know about Health Rising.

Interestingly, this woman has a mild scoliosis, and her one grand daughter has a more serious case. The woman I spoke with told me she had been complaining of back pain on/off for several years, but did not have chronic body- wide pain and debilitating symptoms until her doctor injected her sacroiliac joints 7 years ago. She the ( almost immediately) developed body-wide pain and symptoms that never resolved.

As we talked, I began to appreciate that her original "back pain" was really sacroiliac pain - - pelvis problem, not initially a back problem. The lowest vertebra attaches to the sacrum, so people with a sacrum/ pelvis issue can experience low back pain as well.

The sacrum is held in place by ligaments, bone to bone soft tissues. So, no matter how strong your muscles are, the sacrum can still be misaligned and cause major problems. Normal movement and exercise will not realign a torqued sacrum.

Also, it is important to appreciate that the spinal cord is attached inside the sacrum, by the filum terminale and other soft tissue connections. The end of the spinal cord branches into many smaller nerves ( cauda equina) that pass tthrough multiple small holes in the sacrum and transmit nerve messages to the bladder, bowel, and tissues throughout the pelvis and legs.

So, how can the sacrum get misaligned in the first place: pregnancy, childbirth, kicking a soccer ball, hitting the brakes, hypermobility ( like EDS), falling on your butt, and more. I used to believe that somehow the sacrum/ pelvis complex had to have an injury to get misaligned ( rotated/ dropped) , but as I learned more, I appreciated that having even a mild scoliosis can cause the sacrum to torque.

Once the sacrum is "out" the effects can be body wide. The cauda equine nerves get stetched and irritated - tension can be passed directly to the spinal cord and dura - meningeal system. The neck and stability of the vertebral column is impacted. The sacrum and occiput ( lower skull bone) have a reciprocal motion, which is part of the sophisticated sacral- occipital spinal fluid pumping system. So, the occiput ( and sphenoid bone where the pituitary sits ) can rotate and cause abnormal spinal fluid pressures and flow. The jaw changes position to help compensate. The whole body is impacted.

I learned all of this the 'hard way.' My B.Sc. And post graduate work in biology helped me. But it has been a long journey.

 

[Lorraine Lewis]

Thank you for this very informative report on the sacroiliac. I began having problems 6 years ago when I had vaccines. The last 2 months have been a nightmare. I go to chiropractors constantly (recently it has been 2 or 3 times per week). It gives me relief for a day or two and then the bones, beginning with the s-i, all pop out of place again. The pain throughout my body is intense. Do you know of any solution??? I have had periods of time ( 9 - 12 months) when it is much better but I am not sure why. Any and all suggestions will be much appreciated.

 

[Merida]

@Lorraine Lewis
I have spent 20 years on this SI joint problem. I still do not understand how SI joint dysfunction/ inflammation and the immune system are interconnected, but I think they are. I have tried many, many therapies and therapists. On 2 occasions physical therapists doing craniosacral therapy got the sacrum mostly in place and I immediately improved. Went out shopping at the Mall! But it only lasted 6-8 hours. I sat down ( the sacrum 'unlocks' when sitting) and all the progress was gone.

I think that some of the best experts are Erik Dalton ( Texas?) and Jerry Hesch. Both are physical therapists, Hesch has a doctorate of P.T.
Check out You Tube videos that Hesch has posted on the subject. He is in Aurora, Colorado. I am hoping to go there at some point - energy permitting.

The basic issue becomes: the function and assessment of sacral/ pelvic function is very complex. Radiological studies can not evaluate sacral dysfunction. The great work of the osteopaths ( Sutherland, Upledger, etc) from years ago has been basically ignored by main stream orthopedics. Read about osteopathic craniosacral function. I have no doubt that the osteopaths are correct in their understanding. However, in the group of us who have ongoing problems I think that there are congenital structural issues that complicate things. For instance, the "holes" in my sacrum are smaller than normal, so there is less space for the nerves running to bladder, bowel, lower pelvis. ( diagnosed by neurosurgeon). Also, I was told that I have a tighter than normal attachment of the spinal cord in the sacrum. So, any small misalignment translates to big problems.

I hope more people will post on this subject.

 

[Lorraine Lewis]

Hi, Merida - I, too, am confused but of course, we would be. The people who went to med school for 4 years don't even know the answers. I can only tell you of my experience. I injured my s-i in a roll over car accident in February, 2003 but it was never a problem until the vaccines (December, 2011) so quite a lot of time had passed. I believe that when I was going to Africa and got 4 vaccines simultaneously, it was too many toxins for the immune system of a 63 year old person. So my i.s. got too revved up and inflammation was the result. A very good doctor in Florida (Daniel Dantini, M.D.) tested me for reactivated Epstein Barr. My numbers were some of the highest his office had ever seen and they had tested thousands. I was told EBV will attack your weak points, hence, my s-i. I have tried everything - dry needling, those awful injections into the s-i joints, chiropractic, osteopathic treatments, prolotherapy, physical therapy, massage, acupuncture, herbs, medicines (including 5 months of prednisone, which seems to frighten most docs) and a ton of vitamins. As I mentioned, I have had periods of normalcy when the bones are in place. Have you had some good periods in the 20 years? Funny, you said you sat down and that ended a good 6 or 8 hour period. I am the opposite. I could not walk. Any time I walked, the s-i would torque. I went from being a 40 mile / week hiker to a sedentary old lady in a matter of minutes when I was injected. Sitting became my friend, although I do hop up very often and stroll around the house for a few minutes so sitting isn't totally comfortable. Have you been tested for any viruses? Diagnosed with CFS? Had your immune system tested? I have low IgG, high cytokines, and abnormal t cells. Other doctors I have tried are: Skip Pridgen in Alabama and John Chia in California. Tried the Mayo here in Arizona. Not worth the time or travel. There is a recovery story posted December of 2017 about Pridgen but he was too heavy into drugs for me. There is a female doctor in Boston I read about recently. She is using IgG intravenously and having success with helping people like us. If you are interested, I will find her name for you. I take Celebrex and fish oil now to try and lower the inflammation. Curcumin is also recommended but I have a food sensitivity.

And, last but not least, a couple of years into this, I realized that any time anyone went near my occiput, I would suffer for months. Never have understood the connection....but I found it interesting that you mentioned the occiput....I have degrees in law, not medicine, so I lived (happily) for 64 years never being aware that there is a part of our body known as the occiput!!!

 

[Merida]

@Lorraine Lewis
Your experience is very valuable and worth noting by everyone on this forum. My injury was from a chiropractor who twisted and pushed my pelvis and neck - sore hip after yoga. But I have realized my pelvis was out before that - though I had minor symptoms and was teaching ( hands-on science) full time.
Two things had happened earlier : birthing a 9 pound baby at age 32, and falling on my tailbone ( and breaking it?) at age 13. So. . . .

In about the 1930s the AMA was 'threatened' by the rise of chiropractic and there was an actual decree that structure had nothing to do with function. Hence, chiropractic and osteopathic medicine was dismissed.

Yes, I have high titers to EBV, cytomegalovirus, parvo, herpes 6, Lyme ( !) - tick bite in 2010, and more. It seems as if there is a auto inflammatory state - not autoimmune. Read on auto inflammatory if you haven't.

I have been 'suspicious' for many years that the reason women are diagnosed so much more often with CFS/FMS is that we have a wider, inherently more unstable pelvis. The critical connecting/stabilizing ligaments between the sacrum and ilia are more easily injured and weakened.

The most amazing work published on the reciprocal nature of the function of the pelvis and cranial bones is in this book, probably found at SORSI - The Anatomy and Physiology of Sacro-Occipital Technique by Jonathan Howat, D.C., DICS. I worked with Dr. C. Curtis Buddingh, D.C., who wrote the foreword. He understood it all, and helped me tremendously. But, he could never get the sacrum/pelvis part completely. The Sacro-Occipital chiropractors do not have a complete understanding of the dysfunction of the sacrum/pelvis complex and how to correct it. Blocking doesn't work all of the time.

There is a sophisticated pump ( craniosacral mechanism) that pumps spinal fluid from the brain to the sacral bulb and back again. The occiput and the sacrum reciprocate, as does the sphenoid bone and the tail bone. The ilia reciprocate with the temporal bones. There is an innate pulse of 12-14 pulses per minute. I gave the above mentioned book to a neurosurgeon, who was chief of neurosurgery at Loma Linda - brilliant person. He read it. I asked him if he thought the concepts in the book were correct, if in fact, there was this craniosacral pump. He walked around the room, looked out the window, and said, "It will take 20 years."

Please look at Jerry Hesch videos on this subject. Love to talk more - hard for me to sit and type for long. Here is my email, but I will be out of touch rest of the week. Nallen19@socal.rr.com I guess it is permissible to pass email through this site. ?

 

[Merida]

More structural considerations: In 2003 an important volume was published, The Fibromyalgia Syndrome: A Clinical Case Definition for Practitioners, edited by I. Jon Russell, MD, Ph.D. In this volume Dr. Donald G. Seibel's study of musculoskeletal asymmetry and dysfunction 2000 FMS patients was reported. Dr. Siebel found that "virtually all FMS patients exhibit" many of muscular and postural changes earlier identified by Janda and Schmid that are "associated with pain in relevant and consistent relationship."

Siebel reports for FMS patients: head and neck too far forward; mid-cervical facet joints are forward bending; shoulders are elevated and adducted forward; protraction and internal rotation of the shoulder girdle; increased cervical lordosis, thoracic kyphosis, lumbar lordosis, crest of the hip bone ( usually left side), is superior and posterior - with indications of sacroiliac joint fixation.

FMS patients frequently have a functional short leg (usually left side) due to one side of the pelvis slipping upward - evidence of incompetent sacroiliac joints. "There is often a compensatory scoliosis of the lumbar spine . . . and scoliosis of the thoracic spine . . . "

Dr. Siebel gives many more specifics about structural issues and contracted muscle groups which are consistent in the FMS patient group. In 13 years leading a support group I met only 1 patient with FMS that did not have significant fatigue. Is it any wonder that we are exercise intolerant??? It is like trying to run a car on the road that has a flat tire ( or 2) and a kink in the engine cooling system. Because when the pelvis and sacrum is misaligned, the entire craniosacral spinal fluid pump is out of rhythm, causing abnormal pressures and flow in the central nervous system. Yet, we have no researchers looking at these profound structural issues.