If you are experiencing pain or discomfort in your neck, keep in mind that your head weighs about 10 lbs. and it has to remain balanced on the 7 cervical vertebra. The ligaments and muscles that control the position your head become very strained if your head falls out of alignment. Most will focus on stretches and strengthening exercises for your NECK however a greater problem can be seen in your overall body alignment. Your neck is just following what the rest of your body is telling it.

The upper back is a series of vertebra attached to ribs and held together with a lot of muscles that help us move and also stabilize movement all balanced on the 5 vertebra of the lumbar spine. Mid-back pain can mean a lot of things, some experience pain in the rib cage or spinal area, shoulder blades and in the lower traps. These pains are generally associated to poor postures, in-efficient movement patters, imbalances and rotations of the upper body. Any misalignment of the lower body will translate the effects upward to the upper back. This is why just focusing on the area of pain in the upper back usually doesn’t fix it completely.

The Low Back is one area that most people have great concern and rightfully so! It is almost impossible to do anything without involving the low back. This is why most people just lay around when their “back goes out”. I am here to tell you that it is the WORST thing you can do. The low back balances the upper body on the lower body and understanding the connection between the two is the key to your success. This is not just about “Strengthening your Core” although it sounds good, it usually doesn’t fix the problems associated to WHY the low back is failing.

Pain in the S.I. Joint can be extremely disabling with specific knife like sharp pain in one area located very low in the back and pelvis. Many times people are unable to walk and are given pain pills and injections to alleviate the pain.  The ACM S.I. Joint Pain Free Program focuses on re-establishing the symmetry and balance necessary for upright human movement. The approach toward alleviating S.I. Joint pain should always be focused on identifying the underlying conditions that caused the problem, not just focusing on the pain and using pills or injections to fix it. 

Sciatica is a general term for nerve pain in the buttock and down the back of your leg to the knee. It is the actual name of the large nerve that runs through the glut muscles and then down the leg before it splits and goes into the lower leg. Sciatica can come from many things including herniated or bulging discs in the low back, tight gluteal muscles etc. Because of the location of the Sciatic Nerve very specific muscles of the buttocks are isolated for stretching such as the Piriformis muscle. This may sound like a great place to start however what is not being addressed is WHY is this muscle group so tight and why only on one side. Addressing muscle imbalances, posture and movement limitations of the pelvis and entire body is the key to alleviating Sciatica pain.

The shoulder is a very complicated joint, it’s called the Shoulder Complex for a reason. With 4 joint’s and 23 muscles that must all move in a coordinated effort to produce the work you want to do, it is important to understand that just fixing the pain in the shoulder is temporary. The shoulder joint is a part of the shoulder blade or scapula and the scapula sits on the rib cage (mid-back) which means we also have to address any dysfunctions of the mid-back and overall body mechanics and postures that are associated with poor alignments.

The Knee joint is the most common joint of the body for Arthritis. This doesn’t mean an active lifestyle is over for you, it simply means we need to get that joint working the way it was intended and reduce the stress on the joint to minimize further damage. Strengthening your “Knee Muscles” seems to be the most common thought in anyone with knee pain but it can’t be further from the truth. Your knee is a joint positioned between your ankle and hip. It’s designed to support our body weight as the ankle and hip joints move efficiently. This is where most programs fail at recognizing the overall problems. The control of your knee comes from not just the muscles that surround your knee joint but the muscles of the hip, ankle and even your upper body.

Pain and discomfort in your ankle and foot can range from many conditions and the approach to relieve these problems usually focuses strongly on the structures around your ankle and foot. Flat feet, collapsing arches, plantar fasciitis, even bunions are all a result of alignment and dysfunctional movement patters of the hip and even the upper body. Our Feet and Ankles function to stabilize and move our body and we cannot overlook the influence our hip and upper body alignment have on the foot hitting the ground. The muscles that truly control the foot position when we strike the ground come from the hip complex and the hip is dependent on many systems of our body functioning correctly for proper alignment and movement.

Pain and discomfort to the Elbow, Forearm and Wrist vary greatly. There are a number of conditions one can experience throughout these areas, however it is important to understand that your elbow, forearm and wrist are just an extension of the rest of your body. The alignment and function of the shoulder plays a significant role in how you can use your lower arm. Although there are some very specific exercises that are recommended for the wrist and forearm in the ACM Pain Free Solutions programs, our focus is still on the overall alignment, function and balance to the entire body.