Hidden Cause of Spine Pain

Specialist Physiotherapist Mirsad Alkan, who stated that the correct sitting habits are lost with working from home and that the person also engages in unhealthy behaviors such as lying down, said that this situation causes neglected sacroiliac joint pain and said, “Sacroiliac joint pain causes posture disorder over time. "If it is not treated negligently, it disrupts the hip joint and spine biomechanics and causes various problems, including short leg length and scoliosis."

While working from home is common during the pandemic period, working in the same position for a long time also causes serious damage to the musculoskeletal system structures. Experts say that sacroiliac joint pain, which is not known to the public; he warns that he causes damage to the skeletal structure from short legs to poor posture, and to skeletal structure in later years. Making important statements on the subject, Bahçeşehir University (BAU) Physiotherapy Program Instructor, Expert Physiotherapist Mirsad Alkan underlines that sacroiliac joint pain should not be neglected. Alkan, “Spine influence; It can cause many problems such as hernia, disc diseases, distortion of the spine bone shapes, muscle spasms, trigger points and tight band formation, as well as causing deformities in the spine (scoliosis) ”.

Working in bed is dangerous

Providing information about sacroiliac joint pain, Expert Physiotherapist Mirsad Alkan said; “One of the most important components in maintaining the health of the spine is the protection of the sacrum (large, triangular bone in the lower part of the spine) bone known to the society as the coccyx. The angular changes that the sacrum makes with the pelvis, known as the pelvis, in the sacroiliac joint can cause many health problems, especially pain. This condition is defined as sacroiliac joint dysfunction. The sacroiliac joint is under pressure especially in positions such as sitting by sliding forward and working while lying down, and the natural angle of the sacrum is distorted, causing serious biomechanical problems and mechanical pain complaints. This complaint, which is quite common even in the pre-pandemic period, is increasing due to long-term work in non-ergonomic home environments and decrease in physical activity levels in pandemic conditions. It is thought that the risk increases with the use of non-ergonomic equipment and the choice of wrong sitting positions during the working from home. The same is true for recreational activities such as watching movies, playing games, etc., in addition to work activities such as sitting on extremely soft or extremely hard surfaces, sitting by sliding forward, and working lying down, ”he said.

Incorrect posture and even limping can cause walking

Physiotherapist Mirsad Alkan stated that the change in the position of the sacrum bone over time also affected other joints, and said that especially the spine and hip joints play a key role at this point. Alkan said, “Incorrect posture habits over time make the balanced strength of the muscular structures imbalanced and as a result of the pain caused by the decrease in muscle strength; patients resort to erroneous movement behaviors such as antalgic posture and antalgic gait, which means acting in a way where the pain is less felt. Antalgic position preferences are sometimes realized by the body's orientation without the patient's awareness, and existing mechanical disorders become chronic. In such a situation, with the decrease in muscle strength support, it causes disorders such as limping, sickling, bouncing, starting from the hip and affecting the whole leg ”.

Hernia causes deterioration of bone shapes and short leg length

Stating that spinal involvement causes many serious diseases, Mirsad Alkan said, “This condition can cause many problems such as hernia, disc diseases, distortion of spine bone shapes, muscle spasms, trigger point and stretch band formation, as well as deformities in the spine (scoliosis). Although scoliosis is initially seen as functional scoliosis due to muscle imbalance, if it is not treated, the bone structures can adapt to this situation and become structural scoliosis and the treatment process becomes difficult. Functional scoliosis development can also be seen as a result of apparent short leg length in some hip involvements without spinal involvement. Especially, adolescent children, who have grown significantly in length in a short time, should be more careful about this issue and it is recommended that they be monitored in health institutions at regular intervals in terms of risk ”.

Uncontrolled use of painkillers is dangerous

Underlining that well-planned exercise programs that cover all the affected structures play a critical role to correct muscle strength imbalances during the treatment phase, Specialist Physiotherapist Mirsad Alkan gave information about the treatment process. Alkan said, “In the treatment of this condition, single-session treatments facilitate daily life with temporary relief they provide, but in the long term, the problem turns into a chronic disease. It is a very common and erroneous behavior for patients who think that they have recovered after single-session treatments, instead of applying to health institutions to relieve their pain in the ongoing process, they turn to pain medication. Changes that may occur in the pain threshold of people as a result of improper use of painkillers may result in chronic pain complaints in the long term. For this reason, the use of medication must be at the dose recommended by the physician, and the treatment should be continued with manual therapy and exercise programs spread over the time planned by expert physiotherapists for the definitive solution ”.