Lower Back    

Back pain is one of humanity’s most common complaints. Lower Back Pain, or lumbago, is a specific form of dorsalgia or generic back pain. Of all the different types of back pain, lower back pain is the most common, as it is the lower back that supports the most weight. 

To understand what we mean by “chronic” or “acute” lowerback pain you should understand the classification system for back pain. Strictly speaking acute lower back pain is less than 4 weeks, subacute lower back pain is 4 – 12 weeks and chronic lower back pain is pain you have endured for more than 12 weeks.  

Why is your lower back so susceptible?  

Your lower back is the building block for your body - it supports your entire body, using a complex interconnecting network of nerves, joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments to do so. All these components are capable of producing pain. Because the back and lower back is connected to the rest of your body, it also means that back pain can be an early warning of underlying conditions elsewhere in your body.  

Large nerves that originate in the spine and go to the legs and arms can make pain radiate to the extremities. The pain may be felt in the neck (and might radiate into the arm and hand), in the upper back, or in the low back, (and might radiate into the leg or foot), and may include symptoms other than pain, such as weakness, numbness or tingling.  

The Rolfing Approach To Your Lower Back    

To understand how Rolfing treatment for the lower back works, it is important to recognize that the lower back injury cannot be understood by looking at the lower back alone.  

Rolfing sees the body and its structure as a series of interconnected components. Your body is designed to provide internal support for all these components. Large components rest on components below them and provide support for components that are above them. This is especially relevant in the case of the lower back, which is the basis of the body’s internal support.  

Dr. Ida Rolf, a pioneer in body work, was a former organic chemist. She perfected the technique structural integration called Rolfing. According to Dr. Rolf, the traditional idea of standing up straight, shoulders back, stomach in and head high, actually misaligns the spine and deforms the skeleton.   

In a sequence of hands-on manipulation, the Rolfers move the tissue back toward symmetry and balance that the body demands.  Rolfing is designed to loosen the fascia, resulting in a freedom of muscle movement and the unlearning of bad patterns of muscle strain and misuse, resolving the source of the back pain. This release should then enable the back to properly align itself. When the back is properly aligned, back pain should recede.   

The Advantages of Rolfing For Your Lower Back  

Rolfing’s great strength is that it is non-invasive, and hence while undergoing Rolfing you will be able to continue with daily life and even sports, while simultaneously treating and relaxing your back muscles, which will eventually allow you a greater range of movement and increase your flexibility.  

It is crucial to understand that Rolfing will treat the body not as individual parts, but as a whole, so the whole organism realigns. Then, movement education would be provided to help prevent future recurrence of the problem.   

lower back