.png)
This is a low back problem shared by about 1 out of every 20. The word, spondylolisthesis means, broken and slipped forward vertebra. They don’t require surgery but they DO require attention to keep the low back functioning.
To the best of our knowledge, these are mostly caused at 2 or 3 years old when learning to walk. Sometimes acute trauma when older but that is rare. Most people are unaware they have this problem until they get to adulthood and their weight goes up and core tone goes down, they go in and the chiropractor takes an x-ray of the spine. Here is a picture of what it looks like from the side. This is an L4 "spondylo". Below is an MRI and you can see the disruption in cerebrospinal fluid (the white stuff) and the tortuous course it forces the lower nerve roots to take on their way to L5 and the tailbone and down the legs. Those nerves are a single, long cell from this area all the way to the foot or wherever they terminate.
You’d think this would always hurt, but they don’t. It kind of comes and goes for most people. You’d also think it should limit you from being able to do all kinds of things, but famously, Anthony Carter, the Pro Bowl Viking’s receiver has a “spondylo” and fared pretty well. He was seeking out chiropractic care before it was cool though, which allowed him to play at a high level. So, it’s not a disability sentence. They just require more maintenance than the average low back. For life, because they don’t go away.
It’s important to know if you have this because when getting adjusted, these don’t really “like” getting adjusted lying on your side. The adjustment is done to move the tailbone back up under the L5 or L4 vertebra. So, usually lying on your stomach and using the drop piece table to move the tailbone helps greatly.
The only way to know if you have it or not is an X-ray to see what’s causing the low back issue or sciatica. I know many chiropractic offices don’t utilize x-rays. That doesn’t seem wise to me, but there’s an office for everyone, I guess. The last thing I want to do is aggravate somebody’s low back and make it feel worse. Sometimes, that’s necessary to correct longstanding abnormal structure, but that’s not this situation. These can’t be corrected completely no matter what. We strive for calming them down and getting them to work better again. But, x-ray findings always kind of look like the picture above.
The people who have this situation can do pretty much what everyone else does. They just need to have their spine checked and adjusted regularly to keep low back pain at bay.
By the way, getting adjusted regularly doesn’t guarantee you have no back pain. In fact, back pain’s not the main reason to get adjusted. Getting adjusted makes ALL your nerves work better and the nervous system as a whole works better. Those of you who get checked regularly, you’re not imagining that, you really work better. You sleep better, you move better, you think better. Because that’s what your nerves do. Heck, sometimes you sense pain better. Because your nerves do that too.
Lastly, this can happen elsewhere in the spine, but the low back is the most common. Here's one in the neck. These people have major problems because it interferes with the nerves going all OVER the body, not just the low back and legs.
You don’t need a spondylolisthesis for a problem to take advantage of the benefits of regular chiropractic care. But, for the people who do, their lives run much more smoothly because they get checked regularly. It’s very smart to do this and will save much money and misery over a lifetime. Absent that, it’s running from doctor to doctor for this pill or that for this problem or that problem. The difference is like night and day.
We are always here for you.
Dr. Barrett
Comments