Question
My son age 15 has recently discovered that he has spina bifida occulta (bottom of his spine).  He's very active playing basketball, cross country and currently baseball (he pitches as well)  Recently during a game his rib popped out of place, the next day we had him adjusted and he's still in pain and not able to play ball, we are going to take him back to the Chiro.  My question is, can the spina bifida cause his ribs to come out of place - we are still trying to figure out this condition and he seems to always get hurt with either his knees', back, etc and now his ribs - just seems strange, he's never had this problem before.  Should he be doing anything different to avoid injuries with spina bifida occulta?  Now that the ribs have come out I'm assuming it can happen again, should he be wrapping to help avoid it?  Thank you for your assitance

Answer
You may want to look at strengthening his core muscles.  The Psoas, being one of them, hooks to the whole lumbar spine.  If there is tension in that muscle, you can have problems either in the lumbar area, or just above it.  The spina bifida occulta should not hinder any activities that he wants to do; he may only have a bit of a mechanical disadvantage due to some of the misshapenness of the vertebrae and any associated joints.