Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Anyone been Rolfed?

A little off-topic, but as the years go by I experience increasing lower back pain and stiffness. I run a lot, hike, cycle, and stretch. A friend swears by Rolfing as a way to improve flexibility for us old (50's) guys. Anyone tried it? I'll probably try yoga first but want to get opinions.
Thanks,
Dave

as a rapidly approaching 50's guy - interested in the input on this. Monday mornings get stiffer and stiffer

good hiking with you Saturday Dave - we got 3 more peaks on Sunday including a new one for the all four of us. not bad considering 3 of us (Snow, TG and me) probabaly have well over 500 combined - it's harder to find peaks that at least one in the group has not done before. with Sunday's addition it made for 8 peaks in 2 days - that's a record I wish I could keep up through the season.

TC_RC

p.s. we were an hour late to summit Wildrose at 12:34 5-6-7

Dave, I have never tried Rolfing, but I too am plaqued by back pain, or rather WAS. After doing Pilates on a regular basis,I'm now pain free. My flexability has increased dramatically and have moved up a couple of climbing grades as a result.

Rolfing is very deep tissue massage. It is VERY painful. The general idea behind rolfing is to get into the deep layers and fibers of the muscles to increase deep tissue circulation and break down fibrous adhesions due to injury/truma.Did I mention rolfing was deep and painful?.
My personal opinion is that rolfing is NOT for everyone. In fact I personaly don't think rolfing is advisable for very many people at all. Stretching,pilates,yoga,core strengthening exercise, and chiropractic are much more effective and less traumatic for most back pain IMO.

Don't forget a good physical therapist! Depending on the movement dysfunction that's the root cause of your back pain, a PT can assist with regaining mobility, then develop a specific stabilization program for your needs. And if they're worth their salt, they will take your activity of choice into account when putting exercises together!

I actually utilize quite a bit of yoga-type principles into my treatments and education, but also focus on coordinated strengthening (like balancing on one foot and picking something up from the ground). It's typical to someone who's "strong" but not well-coordinated dynamically.

But, yeah on the rolfing. It hoits!!!

-L

HikerLaura is corect dynamic motion is essential as well as funtional activities.Therapeutic exercises like walking and balancing fires propioceptive fibers and stimulates mechano-receptors that turn off the nociceptors known as pain messages. That is why walking around is better than sitting or lying around when you have back pain.Most BP sufferers feel the most amount of pain in the AM after lying in bed all night or after sitting a long time.The inactivity causes the pain messages (nociceptors) to fire to the brain. Dynamic motion sends messages to the brain to mitigate the pain messages. PT's are good especialy if they are as knowledgable and competent as HikerLaura.

Thanks for all the input. I'm thinking don't want to be Rolfed, just now! The pain is not debilitating;it just seems to be gradually worsening with age. As with DocRodneyDog's scenario, it doesn't occur during exercise, but when rising in the morning and following periods of inactivity. I do some of the core strengthening and balance exercises that Laura spoke of, but probably not enough. I've never tried Chiropractic, so I'll look into that along with Yoga and Pilates. I forgot to mention that I also hang upside down on an inversion table once or twice a day and that seems to help. And good ol' Ibuprofen!

Tomcat: See what you got to look forward to, youngster?!

My personal experience as a person somewhat older - about 10 years - than you and having begun (is that a word?) to experience some of the same complaints. I started doing an easy yoga routine once a week about 2 years ago combined with more consistent gym sessions and my usual running. The increase in flexibility, strength, BALANCE and sense of well-being, along with the decrease in pain and discomfort is incredible. It didn't come all at once and there were some rather painful episodes enroute, but the difference is well worth the short term effort. You have to give those "old" ligaments time to stretch out, so don't give up too quickly.

msmith is right there is no quick natural fix for chronic low back pain (LBP). It takes time for exercise and stretching to work. The key to chronic LBP is a group of low back extensor muscles called the multifidi.Weak extensor muscles are a predictor of LBP.If you were to do only one thing it should be to strengthen the multifidi muscles. This can best be done by laying on your belly and doing extensions and holding to a count of 10 on a physio ball AKA Gym ball.A physio ball is that great big ball you see everywhere especially in gyms.Another great extension exercise is laying on your belly on the ball and holding one arm out in front of yourself simultaneously holding the opposite leg out stretched.Kind of looks like Superman flying.You should be cautioned about taking ibuprofen reguarly. There are 16,000 deaths annually in the US from gastrointestinal bleeding from people taking ibuprophen(advil) and naproxen (alleve). In addition there are significant risks for kidney and liver damage for continued regular use.
I would highly recommend looking into seeing a chiropractor also.If it is a neuro-musculo-skeletal problem he should be able to fix you up. Especially if it is a mechanical problem with the spine irritaing the nerves in your low back.

Wait, wait, wait.

All this talk of treatment (although that essentially was the question).

First, there needs to be a diagnosis. Although it seems to be a tradition to let nothing get in the way of treating low back pain (LBP), which is not a diagnosis, but a symptom.

There are some diagnoses that seem to respond well to Rolfing (or it's variant, Structural Integration), there are some in which it could potentially be a damaging treatment. (True of most treatments!) I've often found people diagnosing themselves and asking for a treatment, only to find they had mis-diagnosed themselves, and did not help their situation.

Good point, Ken. Perhaps I'll let my Ortho take a look. However, my past experience with my cervical spine problems was: "let's try some P.T., maybe a Medrol Dosepak, and if that doesn't work, we'll fuse it!" This approach resulted in two fusions over five years. No more pain, but I wish I could rotate my neck fully!

Certainly going to the doctor and/or seeing your ortho is one option especially if your LBP is getting worse. There is also nothing wrong with trying some conservative self-help stretches/exercises with or without a diagnosis. Certainly common sense should prevail that if anything you try either doesn't help or makes you worse then you should seek professional help. As long as there is no leg pain associated with your LBP then conservative measures are indicated.
I personaly don't think running to the doctor for something as common as LBP and stiffness is necessary especially if stretching and exercise help alleviate the symptoms.I certainly don't think a diagnosis is important unless there is a history of disease or truama.As with all things you need to do whatever you are most comfortable with.

BTW medical opinions are like noses, everyone has them.

Rodney, I'm not sure what the intent of your last comment is, but I'd come back to the specific question under discussion:

We have a person with chronic LBP, getting worse with time, who does conservative stretching and exercise, inversion therapy, and chronically takes anti-inflammatory drugs. He requires daily therapy.

He is now considering various interventions that will start to expose him to some significant out-of-pocket expense, and perhaps increased risk. I think he is long past the simple home self-help stage. I think it is reasonable, at this point, to have an exact idea of what the problem actually is, mechanically, and to direct therapy to whatever the pathology may be.

If that is unreasonable, then I guess I'm just an unreasonable guy.....

Ken I am not sure what I said that you are objecting to. If it is the medical opinion are like noses comment it was meant as humor and directed at no one in particular. I am also included in that comment as I have obviously given my opinion.
We are all just trying to give some helpful and FREE advice.I don't see the harm.I think the recommendations are conservative and safe. They are only meant to be helpful. Ceratinly a visit to the doctor is always an option.
The "specific question" was about rolfing as a possible treatment for LBP.That question has been addressed as well as some other suggestions.Those suggestions should be taken at face value and heeded or ignored.The bottom line is that several people have given suggestions trying to be helpful.