Anita (Corpus Christi, Tx) on 05/23/2016:

I am a 45 year old woman, and I want to help you because I know the pain and frustration you are experiencing. There were times I could not get off the floor because of the pain.

I got shoved to the floor at a rock concert when I was 17 and have had lower back pain in increasing intensity since. When I was 30, my hip would fall out of its socket, and starting about age 33, I would regularly trip on sidewalk cracks, which would send a shooting pain through my back. I remained active through it all, even running a 5K, but the pain kept coming back.

I went to 4 different chiropractors for 6 months at a time, and they helped, but it was prohibitively expensive and, of course, temporary. One chiropractor told me that I had advanced stage arthritis in my lumbar vertebrae and that I would have to get treatment for the rest of my life or my spine would fuse completely. I didn't believe this was my fate.

I was in a bad car accident when I was 35. I was rear-ended while I was at a stop sign and the result was horrendous whip-lash. I couldn't even stand up without passing out. Back to the chiropractor I went. The first adjustment helped me to start functioning again. I recognized a pattern at this chiropractor. He had a tool that was hooked up to a computer and he would run it along my spine. I asked him about it. He said that it measured how much my muscles were pulling by how much heat they put out. If the muscles were pulling equally on both sides (and the computer would show a green color), then he reasoned the adjustments he did to my spine were "taking". If one of the muscles attached to a vertebrae were pulling harder on one side, it meant that muscle was working harder, so the computer would show a yellow(moderate pulling) or red (pulling hard) color and he reasoned that the adjustments weren't "taking".

What he didn't know was that I was conducting my own experiment. I would go to the gym and lift weights for a week before he ran his test, and the colors on the computer would be green (muscles pulling evenly). Then I would not lift weights for a couple weeks and when he ran his test the results would be a mess of yellow and red. And the pain would come back.

I knew the chiropractor could put my vertebrae back where they belonged, but I wanted to figure out what was making the vertebrae get out of place.

I truly believe that if we use our muscles, it will even out our spines.

My husbands spine was a giant "S" from carrying a ladder at work every day. He stopped carrying the ladder and lifted weights intensely for 6 months. His next x-ray showed that his spine was perfectly straight!

I also figured out that my right leg was lower than my left leg (after much research on Earth Clinic) due to my hips being misaligned. My hips were tilted forward and down, more so on my right side. This is why I kept tripping over sidewalk cracks with my right foot. So I started researching hip exercises and found some videos on the internet. I did the exercises and realigned my hips! I did these leg lifts every day at first, and now I only do them about twice a week to keep my hips in line. I have no more lower back pain, and if I feel it coming on, I do the leg lifts and it goes away!

This is the main pain reliever: Lay on the floor (or in bed if you have to) on your side. Don't prop yourself on your elbow, just lay on the floor. Your legs should be stacked (you can bend the bottom leg for stability). Now lift your top leg about 18 inches. While the top leg is elevated, at the peak of the lift, twist it so your toes point toward the sky. Hold this for a count of 3. Then twist it back so your toes point forward again. And then lower your leg back down to stack on the bottom leg. Super easy. Lift, twist, hold, untwist, lower. Do this about 20 times, or as many as is comfortable. You will feel the muscle at your hip get a little cranky. That means it's getting stronger. Roll over and do the same on the other side with the other leg.

I also do similar exercises called "clam shells" Where you lay on your side with both knees bent and lift your top knee about 10 inches while keeping your feet together. Put your hand on your hip to make sure your hip is not moving while you lift your knee. You will feel this toward the back of your hip joint in your gluteus. Do about 25 of these or as many as you can. These muscles will get strong quickly!

We don't use these muscles in day-to-day living, not even running. I believe that when these hip rotator muscles atrophy, our hips become misaligned and it pinches the lumbar vertebrae. Before I started doing these exercises, I had horrible pain, and it receded after the first set. After about 4 days of doing these leg lifts 3 times a day, the pain was gone!

There are a lot of videos on the internet that show exercises for realigning your hips, just search "hips" on the video site. The ones I found to be most effective are by physical therapists who do the exercises themselves to show you how.

I also keep my upper back pain free by lifting free weights at home during TV commercials. I don't lift heavy weights, rarely over 5 lbs. I think the key is to keep using muscles evenly, especially if you have a job where you have to use your dominant arm to lift or repeat movements.

I hope this saves someone a lot of pain and hassle. Don't give up. Do what you can, and especially just keep moving!

God bless you all.

Anita