So often the low back is a source of infuriating, seemingly relentless pain.  Whether the pain comes from standing for a long period of time or  after a long drive, low back pain can be chronic and hard to alleviate.

We’ve all heard about the benefits and experienced relief from regular deep tissue or myofascial release massage therapy sessions, though a key component to long-term healing comes from revision of bad postural habits and daily reinforcement of good new ones.

The simplest way to begin to understand the cause of your low back pain is to do what I call a “roaming body check”.  As you stand take note of the weight distribution between your feet, is it even between the left and right side?  It should be.  If you tend to lean on one side more than the other as you stand in line or chat with a co-worker, you are establishing that one side of your body should be longer than the other to accomodate your habit.  This leads to imbalance and overworking from one side or the other which creates torque and twisting of your naturally balanced, healthy body.

So be sure you’re standing evenly on both feet, that your shoulders are level, that you’re leading from the heart (this choice of words tends to lead you to naturally allow your shoulder blades to lie flat on your back and slide down a bit- opening up your chest and allowing you to stand up straight and breath more easily)

The next thing you should look for is the balance of your pelvis.  Envision the “bowl” of your pelvis being level, able to hold inside of it all of your organs and innards without allowing any to spill forward.  If you carry around your organs with the same care that you would a bowl of water you will be, with very little effort, properly aligning your sacrum and spine, more likely to have parallel feet and engaged quadriceps- all of which support healthy posture, relaxed low back muscles, and a slightly toned lower belly (with the added benefit of some ab-flattening work).