Spinal Mechanics

Physiology of the Spine

Sacroiliac Joints

 

The articulation of the sacroiliac joint has confounded theorists and practitioners for the last century mainly because the joint seems to follow no obvious mechanism of movement. Most of the currently accepted sacroiliac  theories rely on the sacral facets having the magical ability to dislocate and self realign themselves and for this reason their validity is highly questionable.

 

The sacroiliac facet shapes on initial viewing have no apparent logic to their  symmetry and every persons facets are contoured slightly differently  from the next persons, which adds to the confusion.  Up until now practitioners have found it difficult to get their heads round the currently accepted sacroiliac theories and many give up thinking the past theorists must have had the brains of Einstein and by default accept them as the best on offer.

 

According to McGrath at the university of New Zealand ‘Manipulation of the sacroiliac joints would seem to leave the joints position unchanged’.   Quote M.C.McGrath  Musculo-skeletal Research Group university of Otago Dunedin, New Zealand from Clinical considerations of sacroiliac anatomy: review of function, motion and pain.  Page 22 Journal of Osteopathic Medicine volume 7 Number 1 April 2004.

 

If this is the case the validity of manipulation which is based on the currently accepted sacroiliac theories is questionable.  If you cannot get  the sacroiliac joints to align correctly and remember the sacrum forms the foundation for the spine, there is little hope that the spinal joints above will endure any permanent changes from manipulation. It is observations like this that have been leapt upon by some factions of the medical profession in their quest to invalidate therapies based on manipulation.

 

It was from this enigma that Osteopath John Bayliss DO decided to look at the sacroiliac joint and how it worked in harmony with the rest of the spine from an engineering point of view.

 

“Theories must be readily demonstrable and reflect “real world” movements rather than movement in isolation.”

 

John Bayliss’s sacroiliac theories do not rely on dislocation and can be applied to all shapes, sizes and age groups of sacroiliac joint. His theories were then filmed using a plastic spine to show the practical movement of the sacroiliac joints and how they relate to the rest of the spine.  The film also covers the movement of the all the spinal joints above by showing their individual movement and how they work in harmony with their neighbours.

 

The film  has been released in DVD format and is called “Spinal Mechanics and Bony Locking for Health Professionals” and is on sale now.

 

From his work on this DVD John went on to discover a new set of really affective, noiseless  manipulation techniques called PPT’s. Research so far has shown these new techniques to provide outstanding results.