Low back pain or stiffness is a pretty common complaint. About 80% of people experience it at one point in their life, and some people chronically.
If you’re new here to my blogs, welcome. If you’re not new, you know that I talk pretty extensively about the location of pain is rarely every where the problem is. Why? Pain is a signal from the brain. That’s it. It doesn’t tell us where the pain is originating from, it just tells us “hey something is not in balance”.
There can be various difference reasons for pain to manifest in the low back region. Too much sitting and not enough movement is really common, weakness in the core/abdominal muscles and backside (glute) muscles ( also really common), too much cranial tension (in the skull bones) causing the low back to compensate, unstable pelvic joint, toes are crammed together…… These are all examples of mechanical reasons for the pain in the back. It could be upstream or downstream that’s the issue, but something in the structure of the body and subsequently how the nervous system is working is causing the issue.
However, lower back pain can also be related to certain organ’s needing attention. What do you mean?
Something occurs called viscerosomatic pain referral patterns. In other words, your organs have specific channels and pain patterns that can mimic as a mechanical problem. For instance, if someone is having a heart attack they can feel pain down the left arm. This is that referral pattern.
The lower back region in particular has a relationship with several different organs. The upper region of the low back is the kidneys, next in line is the ascending colon, reproductive organs are next, descending colon and finally the uterus/prostate at last lumbar region.
Depending on which organ is either inflamed or just not functioning properly, determines where in the low back you may feel it. How does that work? The referral patterns. The one I see most commonly in this region is the kidneys. Now, we are taught in the education system that when the kidneys are malfunctioning you may feel something like “flank pain”, which is pain felt around the lower part of your ribs on your backside.
However, this most often only occurs with stone formation and kidney infection.
The kidneys are our filtration system, and when that filter gets either overburdened or doesn’t have the right hydration/mineral balance, the organ starts to malfunction. It’s very similar to when the liver, which is our biggest toxin filter gets too clogged up we can get a host of problems.
The kidneys biggest function is to remove waste from the blood. Every day the kidneys process about 200 quarts (190 liters) of blood and filters out about 2 quarts of waste products and extra water.
Waste could be a chemical that the body cannot use at all, or even if the body can use it, if it is present in excess of what the body needs then the excess is classified as waste. If wastes accumulate in the body, the results can be deadly, so waste needs to be removed quickly. Other functions of the kidneys include:
- Urine formation
- regulating water volume
- regulate salt content
- regulate blood pressure
- produce hormones- erythropoietin, triggers the release of red blood cells
- regulate the pH of our body
- process vitamin D into an active form
Second, the kidneys get backed up in what is called the CBS pathways in methylation. You can think of it similarly to detoxification. When the biochemical pathways do not have sufficient vitamins/minerals either because of toxins, pathogens, not enough in the diet or genetic variations, this pathway in particular causes some damage to the kidneys. Like I mentioned a moment ago, the kidney filters waste and a lot of that waste is chemicals we either breathe, eat or for some inject. If the burden is too high the kidneys can’t keep up and it causes damage. Often times someone will not “feel” pain in the kidney, or might not even have abnormality in their laboratory work, but the organ isn’t functioning at its best. How do we know? The referral pattern.
The referral pattern for the kidneys for some starts in the lower back and wraps around the front of the pelvis into the groin region. This is a pretty significant bull’s eye in my practice that I know the kidneys are at play. It is important to rule out the mechanical issues first as well, because pelvic instability looks similar. However, chronic pain here is a clue to the kidneys.
Remember, traditional medicine may have zero clue here. If your labs and urine look “normal”, everything is perfect in their eyes. However, hidden toxins and hidden pathogens like parasites and mold toxins don’t show up in these tests. These, in combination with other chemicals like pesticides, herbicides, air pollution, adjuvants in v@CCinations, to name a few really put a big stress on the kidneys, and sometimes the only way to let you know is through this referral pattern.
Here’s my tips:
1. Start with hydration. You need CLEAN water, not tap or refrigerator, or bottled…those are mostly toxic..Get highly filtered water and then add minerals in to help you absorb it. Better yet, get kangan!
2. start taking a toxin inventory….. Is your food organic and non gmo? Cleaning products and beauty products organic and clean by EWG standard? use of fertilizers, pesticides, weed killers…. Aromatic things like febreeze, fragrances and perfumes…5G towers near you, or EMF protection(radiation is toxic), need your nails done all the time, use plastic bottles, mold is in your home, you’ve done many v@CCinations, you take pharmaceuticals….. this isn’t an exhaustive list but you get the picture. Start taking inventory and begin to change out things that you can one at a time.
3. Get a customized nutritional plan to make sure that CBS pathway and others are working effectively to get out the toxins, and also to screen for mold and other pathogens that might be lurking around. It doesn’t take a lot, but a few key vitamins and minerals can help tremendously here. Unfortunately, our food even if clean just isn’t enough anymore because our soil is void of minerals. Most everyone needs supplementation now.
4. Sauna and infrared light are also great tools to help take the toxin burden off, by getting toxins out through the sweat.
5. Eat organ meat. The best way I’ve found to build organs is to utilize organ meats. They’ve been around a long time and for good reason. If you don’t particularly love eating organ meats ( need to be grass fed), like myself I recommend the brand heart and soil as they are in capsule form which is easier on the palate.