More on back pain

When I first visited a new chiropractors office a few years ago, they did a very thorough check of my body, including many measurements and X-ray images. The results were very interesting.

1) I had lost a full 1.5" in height from my nearly 6' 3" when in my 20s to 40s.

2) My left hip was considerably higher than my right hip.

3) I had a slight lateral curve in my spine, no doubt linked inextricably with the two points above.

They also told me of the links between spine misalignments and particular conditions due to constriction of various nerves as they exit the spine in those misaligned areas. According to the chart, misalignment at the T12 vertebra can result in skin conditions. You can believe or not, to suit yourself. I believe that if one shuts out any idea then you are closing out a possible solution to a problem. I am happy to accept that my misalignment is possibly a contributor to my psoriasis, so I will do what I can to correct it.

Chiropractor visits are rather costly, so I set a limit on my treatment and now save it for when I have hurt myself beyond self-treatment. While going through that treatment I gave much thought to what may have caused my skewness.

I have an excellent memory of my childhood, going back to before I was 4 years old. I remember a very staid old great aunt telling me not to sit with one leg over the other because my body would grow up skew. Of course I didn't believe her. I remember her also telling me to sit with both feet flat on the ground. Why would I follow that advice either?

Now that I knew myself to be skew her advice from nearly 60 years ago came back to mind. I often sat with my left leg over my right knee. Tall and slim people do this, we wrap our long limbs around each other like vines. The result, a tilt of my left hip above the level of the right. I tried wrapping them the other way, with right over left. It was seriously uncomfortable, to the point that I could not do it for more than a few minutes at a time.

I thought further about my habits and realised that when I was standing around in shopping queues or for whatever reason, I invariably placed most of my weight on a straight left leg and relaxed my right leg. This habit also tilted my left hip above the right.

I resolved to reverse both of these habits and hoped that it was not too late to correct the problem. I persisted with crossing my legs the way that they did not want to go. I had to repeatedly catch myself sitting the other way and switch legs. It took about a year before I was comfortable sitting right over left but my hips have corrected enough for it to now be comfortable to sit either way. I now also sit with both feet flat on the ground whenever I remember. I try to stand straight, with my weight squarely spread on both feet.

I don't know yet how much I have straightened my hips and spine but they are more comfortable. Reinforced by the hanging from a bar that I described in my last post, my back is feeling much better than it has for a long long time. In the process, I hope that I have done some realignment of the important T12 vertebra and any others that could affect other aspects of my health.

If you are in the habit of sitting with one leg over the other and always the same way around, try switching legs. If you find it very uncomfortable then I guess that you are also skew and could benefit from changing legs to straighten yourself and possibly improve your psoriasis in the process.