| A Holistic View Points Toward Skeletal MusclesIt is | | | | in the body is not due to problems with damaged |
| often stated in conventional literature that the cause | | | | nerves, disrupted bursae, and degenerative joints, |
| of lower back pain cannot be precisely identified. This | | | | but dysfunction in the soft tissue, especially skeletal |
| perspective derives from a mechanistic, | | | | muscles.The cause of lower back pain can be broken |
| non-integrated view of the body which has been our | | | | down into five primary problems which interconnect |
| legacy since the scientific revolution. When the body | | | | with one another. The following breakdown is |
| is viewed as a collection of isolated parts rather than | | | | adapted from the St. John Neuromuscular Therapy |
| an elegant, integrated whole, the cause of lower | | | | training, a method of postural analysis and clinical |
| back pain becomes a bewildering puzzle.However, a | | | | massage therapy focused on musculoskeletal |
| holistic view of the body can begin to sort out the | | | | alignment and treating compensatory muscular |
| confusion. By evaluating the relationship between the | | | | patterns.Five Primary Problems1) Ischemia |
| body's overall structure in gravity and it's function in | | | | (pronounced: Iz skeem ee ah)The first cause of |
| movement, the causes of lower back pain begin to | | | | lower back pain is ischemia. "Ischemia" means lack of |
| reveal themselves.A holistic perspective guides us to | | | | blood. Without adequate blood to provide nutrients |
| one of the most overlooked sources, not only of | | | | and oxygen, soft tissues such as muscles, tendons, |
| lower back pain, but chronic pain in general. That | | | | ligaments, and fascia build up lactic and other toxins |
| source is skeletal muscles.As Drs. Janet Travell and | | | | and become painful. Ischemia occurs when muscles |
| David Simons made explicitly clear in their exhaustive | | | | are chronically contracted over a period of time. The |
| 2-volume work, Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The | | | | most prevalent cause of lower back pain, by far, is |
| Trigger Point Manual, a vast proportion of chronic pain | | | | muscular strain and spasm due to ischemia. |