Category Archives: low back pain

Wishful thinking does not get much more wishful than this

“Basically they are the Amway for people who think a metal tube full of ‘granulated minerals and crystals’ can fix your bad back, make crappy wine taste better, reduce the acidity of lemons, energize your food, etc. I went to a ‘wanding party’ in Westchester, and it was very weird indeed.” Weird multi-level marketing company sells [...]
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New short article about “psoas work”

Manipulation of the psoas major muscle is over-rated: it just isn’t needed for most people, most of the time. Psoas, So What? Massage therapy for the psoas major and iliacus (iliopsoas) muscles is not that big a deal
Also posted in anatomy, debunkery, manual therapy, massage, treatment | Leave a comment

3 Lessons From an Acute Back Trauma: Joint popping, muscle dominance, and the mind game

Recently I became the primary caretaker for my wife in the aftermath of a motor vehicle accident. Like all health professionals who face their own medical crises, I immediately discovered that taking care of a spouse is nothing like taking care of a patient! Easier in some ways, much harder in others, it is a [...]
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Massage for low back pain is an evidence-based therapy, despite the need for more study

Massage therapy is an effective treatment for low back pain: that’s the finding of a comprehensive review of the science, from a 2008 Cochrane review (Cochrane reviews are generally considered to be the most authoritative summaries of scientific research). The conclusions are strongly positive (emphases mine): Massage is beneficial for patients with subacute and chronic non-specific [...]
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