Question
Dear Doctor,
I'm 44 years and a mother of 2 girls: 14 and 6 years old respectively. I started having little lower back pain two years ago. I didn't give much importance until last July 2012 it started to hurt too much. Even in my right leg and knee. My doctor asked me to have lower back Xray and said that I have sciatica.  Then she asked me to undergo city scan to be clear what I really have in my lower back and the result is I have lumbar spondylosis. I had also a check up with an orthopedic with all my laboratory results and he told me  to do gymnastics to strengthen my lower back. I searched spondylosis exercise in Internet and right now doing pelvic tilt every night before going to bed. Will it help? How can chiropractor work for my sickness? Thanks and God bless.

Answer
Hi Dollie,

Spondylosis simply means that your bones have some degenerative changes to them.   Some people have mild degeneration and no symptoms.   Some a lot of degeneration (with bone spurs, vertebra bone hypertrophy, and worn-away discs) and still no pain.   It is difficult to correlate pain with spondylosis.  This is why current guidelines recommend not to do x-rays or CT scans as they do not change how you are treated.   The treatment might be the same, e.g. pelvic tilt exercises.    You are better off doing the exercises first, then do x-rays or other imaging if you are not getting better.   There is a a lot that needs to be determined in order to know what exercises are best, or how you should obtain treatment, but most likely you can start with obtaining some manual therapy by a PT and a Chiropractor.   You can try other exercises, including "Bird Dog on Ball" and "McGill Side Plank" (google these).   You can also use heat application to your lower back, as it will feel good (but not fix anything), and also have someone do vigorous massage to your hip and back muscles (which might add to your mobility).   

'Hope this was helpful.

Dr. G