Elizabeth Doney Havre Daily News edoney@havredailynews.com
A solution for common low back pain has been discovered and described by a retired Havre physical therapist who spent more than 38 years treating the dysfunction in over 8,000 patients. R i c h a r d DonTigny, who has been writing about his solution since 1964, has recently written a chapter on the disorder for a textbook, “Movement, Stability and Lumbopelvic Pain: Integration of Research and Therapy.” The textbook, which became available this week, was published in March and is available through the publisher Churchill Livingstone or Amazon.com. It will be used primarily by physicians and physical therapists across the nation. DonTigny’s chapter clarifies the cause of lower back pain as a reversible, biomechanical dysfunction of the sacroiliac joints, a new concept. The dysfunction can cause a multiplicity of symptoms that include tearing of the joint capsule, stretching of specified ligaments, separation of three different muscles, changes in leg length, scoliosis, asymmetry in the pelvis, an increase in loading to the head of the hip, stretching of the hamstrings and sciatic nerve, pain during and after pregnancy and others, according to DonTigny. “This analysis has allowed an extremely simplified method of diagnosis and treatment of lower back pain whereby the skilled practitioner can make a diagnosis in about five minutes and have 85 percent of patients free of pain in about 10 minutes,” DonTigny said. “I have been writing and researching on biomechanical dysfunction of the sacroiliac joints since 1964 when I first discovered this basic solution. As a practicing physical therapist, he completed two clinical studies in 1969 that demonstrated an 80 percent incidence of dysfunction in the sacroiliac joint in patients suffering low back pain. A third study in 1970 was done at the Sacred Heart Hospital and showed an average of 2.8 treatments per patient proved effective. DonTigny has also demonstrated a loosening of the lower lumbar ligaments that occurs with this dysfunction destabilizes those vertebra and increases shear and torsion shear to the disk. This is the probable cause of disk disease. A study by Pool- Goudzwaard in the Netherlands has also verified this discovery. He has had about 25 articles published in various medical journals since 1962 and has chapters in four reference texts. “I think it’s important that everyone who treats low back pain learn this method,” DonTigny said. “I have given workshops for hundreds of therapists.” DonTigny worked at the Havre hospitals since 1963 and the Havre Clinic for three years. He retired in 1996 from his private practice in Havre. Articles by DonTigny and a home exercise program have been posted on the web at www.kalindra.com/sacroiliac.htm. He also has a CD available for professionals.
