Have you ever felt like no matter what you do—stretching, strengthening, trying to sit up straighter—your body just doesn’t feel right?

Maybe your back keeps tightening… Your hips feel stiff… Or your posture just doesn’t hold, no matter how hard you try.

And it can feel confusing… because you’re doing the “right” things.

But what if the issue isn’t what you’re doing… It’s where you’re starting from?

Want to read the transcript instead?

here it is…

The Pelvis

The Foundation of Movement, Posture and Pain

​Hi, I’m Alexis Weidland, osteopath at BlossomingMe and Healthy Learning Lounge.

And in this video, I want to introduce you to one of the most overlooked—but most important—areas of your body when it comes to movement, posture, and pain.

Your pelvis.

Pelvis – Not the Hips

Now, when most people think about the pelvis, they tend to think about the hips.

But your pelvis is much more than that.It’s:

• The base of your spine.
• Where your upper body sits.
•  And where your lower body moves from.

So every time you: sit, stand, walk, bend, lift – Your pelvis is involved.

It’s not just a joint… It’s a central organising structure for your entire body.

But here’s where things start to go wrong.

Your pelvis is designed to be both:

• stable
• and mobile

And most people lose one… or both.

Some people become:

• too rigid → stuck in one position
• or too loose → lacking control and support

And when that happens… Your body doesn’t just stop working. 👉 It compensates.

And this is where it gets really important.

Your body always prioritises function over efficiency.

So if your pelvis isn’t doing its job properly…

Your body will still:

• get you upright
• get you walking
• get you through your day

But it will do it by borrowing movement from somewhere else

Now let’s go one layer deeper

because this is where things really start to make sense.

Your pelvis doesn’t work in isolation.

It connects directly to:

• your lumbar spine
• your hip joints
• your abdominal system
• and your rib cage above

And all of this is linked through:

• muscles
• ligaments
• and importantly… fascia

Fascia is like a connective web through your body.

So when your pelvis shifts position—even slightly…

👉 That tension travels.

• Up into your back
• Across into your ribs
• Down into your legs

✨So the body isn’t made of separate parts…  It’s a connected system

And your pelvis sits right in the middle of it.

POSTURE CONNECTION

Now let’s bring this into something really relatable—posture.

A lot of people are told:

• “sit up straight”
• “pull your shoulders back”

But posture doesn’t start at your shoulders.

👉 It starts at your pelvis.

Because your spine sits on your pelvis.

So if your pelvis is tilted:

• forward (anterior tilt)
• or tucked under (posterior tilt)

Your spine has to adapt.

And then your rib cage shifts… And then your head shifts…

COMMON PELVIC PATTERNS: 

Now, this is where we can start to get a little more specific.

Because your pelvis doesn’t just become “dysfunctional” in a general way…

👉 It tends to fall into predictable patterns

And the two most common ones I see are:

• tilt
• and asymmetry

ANTERIOR / POSTERIOR TILT

Let’s start with tilt.

Your pelvis can tip:

• forward → what we call an anterior tilt
• or
• backward → a posterior tilt

👉 Anterior Tilt

In an anterior tilt:

• the front of the pelvis drops forward
• the lower back increases its arch

This often comes with:

• tight hip flexors
• lower back compression
• difficulty engaging the deep core

And people often feel like:

• their back is always tight
• stretching helps temporarily… but never fixes it

👉 Posterior Tilt

In a posterior tilt:

• the pelvis tucks under
• the lower back flattens

This can lead to:

• reduced shock absorption
• stiffness through the spine
• over-reliance on upper body movement

And often feels like:

• everything is tight and restricted
• posture feels ultra straight, restricted or even fatigued

Now here’s the important part:

👉 Neither of these is “wrong” on its own

Your body should be able to move through both.

The issue is when you get stuck in one position
and lose the ability to move out of it.

 ASYMMETRY

But even more commonly… 👉 The pelvis doesn’t sit evenly side to side

One side might be:

• slightly higher
• more forward
• or rotating differently

And this creates asymmetry

When that happens:

• one hip works harder than the other
• weight doesn’t transfer evenly
• muscles develop unevenly

And over time, this can show up as:

• one-sided pain
• recurring tightness on the same side
• feeling “off” or unbalanced
• A functionally longer leg
• Even scoliosis

And this can cause the muscles and joints of one leg all the way from the toes to the hips, to have altered pressure placed on them and increased tension as well as decreased mobility in certain placed.

And because your pelvis connects into your spine…

That asymmetry doesn’t stay local. 👉 It travels.

• up into the lower back
• into the rib cage
• into the shoulders
• even into the neck

So again…It’s not just about where you feel the issue.

👉 It’s about how your body is organising itself underneath that.

And this is where it starts to influence your rib cage… which we’ll go into in the next video.

So instead of thinking: “My posture is bad”

Start thinking:👉 “My base isn’t supporting me properly”

What this can look like in real life is:

• constantly needing to stretch your back
• feeling tight through your hips or hip flexors
• glutes that “don’t switch on”
• core exercises that never quite feel right
• posture that feels forced or exhausting to hold

And often people bounce between:

• stretching
• strengthening
• trying different exercises

But nothing really sticks.

And here’s why.

Because if your pelvis isn’t positioned or moving well…

👉 You’re building strength on top of dysfunction

And your body will keep defaulting back to its familiar pattern.

Pressure vs tight muscles

Now, there’s another really important layer here.

Your pelvis also forms the base of your pressure system.

And what I mean by that is: Your body uses pressure to:

• stabilise
• support movement
• and transfer load

And your pelvis works together with:

• your diaphragm above
• your abdominal wall
• and your pelvic floor

To create that system.

We’ll go much deeper into this in the next video…

But for now, just understand:👉 If the base isn’t working… the whole system struggles.

So when your pelvis isn’t functioning well, you might experience:

• lower back discomfort
• hip stiffness or pinching
• instability or weakness
• Pain or tension in the buttocks or even down into the legs
• fatigue when standing or walking
• recurring tightness despite stretching
• You are also more likely to suffer
  • Sciatica
  • Bladder irritability
  • Sexual organ irritation, discomfort, pain or dysfunction
  • And period issues in women

And often these symptoms don’t feel directly linked to the pelvis…

Which is why they’re so often missed.

So instead of asking: 👉 “Where does it hurt?”

Start asking: 👉 “What is my body compensating for?”

💡 Because the area that hurts… Is often not the area that’s driving the issue.

PRACTICAL TAKEAWAY

So what can you start to do with this? For now, keep it simple. Start by becoming aware of:

• how you sit
• how you stand
• whether you feel balanced between both sides

And instead of forcing posture… 👉 Think about allowing your body to stack more naturally. We’re not chasing perfection,  we’re building awareness.

Because over the next few videos

we’re going to build on this. We’ll look at:

• how your rib cage and pelvis work together
• how this affects movement and breathing
• and how it connects to deeper systems in your body

And if this is already starting to click for you…

This is exactly why I created my Rib Cage Reset mini course. Because when you understand how your body works as a system… You can start to support it in a way that actually creates change. I’ll pop the link below if you’d like to explore that further.

But for now…

Start paying attention to your foundation. Because when your pelvis starts to work better…👉 Everything above it has a chance to improve.

So that’s it for today. Did it raise any questions or aha moments? If so, I’d love to hear them. So please put those in the comment section. I love answering questions. I hope you found today useful. And if you know someone who could use this information, please share it. Remember to comment, like and subscribe.

Until next time and in health,

Bye for now.

Click the Button Below for my RibCage Reset min-course

Interested in further reading?

1. 1. 1. The Effect of Breathwork on Pelvic asymmetry and function
      2. The connection and effect of pelvic floor muscles to fascia to bladder and bowels
      3. The effect and importance of pelvic floor on posture
      4. The Connection between the Pelvis, Pelvic Floor, Respiraiton and Pelvic Organ Function

About Blossoming Me

BlossomingMe offers a fully integrated approach to your wellbeing. Located on Sydney’s Upper North Shore. Sarah is our Cranio-sacral and Remedial Massage Therapist and health and lifestyle coach. She can help relieve those problematic knots, tightness and other specific ailments to promote a healthy recovery. These complementary massage therapies can be combined to suit your needs, and include: craniosacral therapy, shiatsu, acupressure, reiki, remedial, swedish, and body-mind-massage. 

Our qualified Osteopath, Alexis, offers a drug free, minimally invasive, “hands on” treatment focusing on the musculoskeletal system with its associated muscles, tendons, ligaments, membranes, bones and joints. Alexis takes a functional approach. This means that she focuses on the way a component (body part, tissue or group of tissues) performs its role, as well as the way the body works, performs and integrates as a whole. Our team can support you to improve your posture and therefore your overall health.

If you suffer from lower back pain… Maybe it is time to support your lower back… by taking the pressure off it. How might you do that? Well, if you support the way the 4 main fascia and structural areas work and transmit load and movement to, and through the lower back. You reduce the strain and excess load being placed on the lower back. When you do that, you allow your lower back to move better and you allow any tissues (joint, muscle, disc etc) to be able to return to better function, without being irritated. So, your lower back feels better… and stays better.

Want to read the transcript instead?

here it is…

4 Ways To Support Your Lower Back

By Supporting The System

If your lower back has been tight, painful, or keeps flaring up…

you might be wondering: 👉 “What should I actually be doing to help this?”

Should you – 

• Stretch it?
• Strengthen it?
• Rest it?

The truth is… most lower back pain doesn’t improve by focusing on the back alone.

Because as we’ve explored over the last few weeks:

👉 your lower back is part of a system

And when that system isn’t working well… the back ends up doing too much.

Hi, I’m Alexis Weidland, osteopath at BlossomingMe and Healthy Learning Lounge.

And in this video, I’m going to show you four simple ways to support your lower back…

by improving how your body:

 👉 breathes
👉 moves
👉 transfers load
👉 and releases tension

Before We Start

These aren’t about pushing through pain.

They’re about:

 👉 restoring balance
👉 improving load transfer
👉 and helping your body feel supported again

And importantly: these can help even if you’ve been told you have a disc bulge, joint irritation, or muscle tightness

1️⃣ Breathing: Restore Diaphragm Movement & Reduce Protective State

We’ll start with breathing — because this influences everything else.

Lie comfortably on your back.

Place one hand on your lower ribs.

As you breathe in: allow your ribs to gently expand sideways

As you breathe out:  let them soften back in

Keep your breath slow and relaxed.

As you breathe…

– Allow your body to feel supported by the surface beneath you

– Let your shoulders soften

– Let your abdomen relax

This does two important things:

 👉 helps the diaphragm move more freely
👉 reduces protective tension in the body

And when that happens:

• pressure inside the body improves
  • spinal support improves
  • and the lower back doesn’t have to work as hard

2️⃣ Movement: Supine Alternating Knee Lift

Next, we support how movement is shared through the body.

Stay on your back with knees bent.

Slowly lift one foot a few centimetres off the floor…then return it down.

Alternate sides.

Keep it:

 👉 slow
👉 controlled
👉 relaxed

What to focus on

Try to keep:

• your pelvis steady
  • your breathing relaxed
  • your back not gripping

This helps your body relearn how to:

 👉 move the hips
👉 while the spine stays still and supported

So instead of your lower back doing everything…  movement starts being shared again

3️⃣ Thoracolumbar Fascia Release

Now we address tension through the back of the system.

Using a soft ball or your hands:

Gently apply pressure to the muscles beside your spine…or across the lower back and upper pelvis.

You can:

• lean into a wall
  • lie on the floor
  • or use your hands

Keep the pressure:

 👉 gentle
👉 slow
👉 and comfortable

The thoracolumbar fascia helps transfer load between the upper and lower body.

When it becomes tight or restricted:

 👉 load doesn’t move efficiently
👉 and the lower back works harder

Releasing this area can help:

• reduce tension
  • improve movement
  • restore load transfer

4️⃣ Psoas Release 

Exercise

Stay lying on your back with your knees bent.

Let your legs be fully supported. Bring the leg of the side you are working on, so your heel is on the opposite knee

Place your hands gently on your lower abdomen – in the hollow  next to your pelvic bone. Gently push till you feel tension under your fingers or slight discomfort (NOT PAIN) 

Take slow, relaxed breaths.

As you breathe out:

👉 allow the front of your hips and abdomen to soften

You might feel a subtle release deep in the body.

Optional (light progression):

Do this again, but this time, with your fingers more in the middle of yor abdomen, off to the side a touch. To get the right spot, lift your leg and notice were you feel the muscle lift/bulge under your fingers. Press here. Again, only enough to notice tension and minor discomfort. Bring your leg so your foot is resting on the opposite thigh. Again, relax and breathe. Allowing that area to let go

As a more intense progression – only if you feel up to it and it doesn’t hurt

Notice the pull under your hands and the increased discomfort. Repeat the movement, up then straighten. Keeping movement slow and controlled.

Avoid any hip or knee clicking…

The psoas connects your spine, pelvis and legs.

When it’s tight or protective:

👉 it can pull on the lower back
👉 increase load through the spine
👉 and affect how the pelvis moves

Helping it relax:

 👉 reduces tension
👉 improves alignment
👉 and allows load to move more efficiently

(we’re not forcing a release, we are allowing your body to let go)

These four areas work as a system:

• breathing
  • movement
  • fascia
  • deep stabilising muscles

When they’re working well together:

👉 load is shared
👉 movement feels easier
👉 and the lower back is supported

You don’t need to force change.

You don’t need to push through pain.

Small, consistent improvements in how your body:

 👉 breathes
👉 moves
👉 and relaxes

can make a big difference.

If you’d like guidance working through this step-by-step… I’ve created a mini course called Pelvic Reset. Inside, I guide you through:

• improving breathing
  • restoring rib cage movement
  • and supporting how your body distributes load

You can find the link below.

The most important thing to remember is this:

👉 Pain doesn’t necessarily mean something is damaged.

Often it means: the system needs better support 

And when you start improving that system…

👉 the lower back often begins to feel better too

If you found this helpful, I’d love you to connect.

And I’ll see you in the next video.

If you found this helpful

So that’s it for today. Did it raise any questions or aha moments? If so, I’d love to hear them. So please put those in the comment section. I love answering questions. I hope you found today useful. And if you know someone who could use this information, please share it. Remember to comment, like and subscribe.

Until next time and in health,

Bye for now.

Click the Button Below for my RibCage Reset min-course

Interested in further reading?

1. 1. 1. Postural function of Diaphragm altered with Breathing Requirements
      2. Functions of the Thoracolumbar Fascia
      3. The Diaphragm, spinal stabilisation and Lower Back Pain
      4. Altered Diaphragm position & Function with Chronic Lower Back Pain
      5. The Diaphragm is a central conenctor, affecting organs, the nervous system and the musculoskeletal system
      6. The Diaphragm Functions together with the Lumbar Multifidi and Thoraculumbar Fascia

About Blossoming Me

BlossomingMe offers a fully integrated approach to your wellbeing. Located on Sydney’s Upper North Shore. Sarah is our Cranio-sacral and Remedial Massage Therapist and health and lifestyle coach. She can help relieve those problematic knots, tightness and other specific ailments to promote a healthy recovery. These complementary massage therapies can be combined to suit your needs, and include: craniosacral therapy, shiatsu, acupressure, reiki, remedial, swedish, and body-mind-massage. 

Our qualified Osteopath, Alexis, offers a drug free, minimally invasive, “hands on” treatment focusing on the musculoskeletal system with its associated muscles, tendons, ligaments, membranes, bones and joints. Alexis takes a functional approach. This means that she focuses on the way a component (body part, tissue or group of tissues) performs its role, as well as the way the body works, performs and integrates as a whole. Our team can support you to improve your posture and therefore your overall health.

If you suffer from lower back pain… especially if it has crept up slowly or if it keeps coming back. Have you thought about how your rib cage and breathing affect things? Have you noticed the connection between the rib cage and your pelvis… and that strong fascial layer that connects them – the Thoraco-lumbar fascia? If this fascia is tight, restricted, strained… It affects how the rib cage and the pelvis move. AND how the lower back needs to move or stain as a result. So if you ave chronic stiffness; difficulty walking in a smooth, comfortable motion; pain that returns no matter what you do. This may be the answer.

Want to read the transcript instead?

here it is…

The Hidden System Behind Your Lower Back Pain

Lower Back Discomfort?

 If your lower back feels tight, tired, or like it keeps getting irritated, no matter what you do, it might not be a strength issue. It might be a load transfer issue. Because your lower back isn’t designed to work on its own. It’s part of a much bigger system that shares load through the body, and right at the center of that system is a structure that most people don’t think about at all. The diaphragm.

Hi, I am Alexis Weidland,

osteopath and nutritionist at Blossoming Me and Healthy Learning Lounge. And in this video I want to show you how your diaphragm, fascia, and deep body connections influence your lower back. And why your back often ends up doing more work than it should.

Position

The lower back sits between the rib cage above the pelvis below, and the legs that move you. Because of this, it acts like a transfer station for force. Every time you walk, bend, lift, twist, forces need to move smoothly through your body.

When the system works well, movement feels efficient, easy, comfortable. The back doesn’t get overloaded. But when it doesn’t work well. The lower back starts to pick up the slack. And then, over time, muscles tighten; joints get irritated; discs might bulge or get damaged; nerves can become stressed, irritated, inflamed.

Load Transfer

The body manages movement through something called load transfer. This is how force moves between the rib cage, the spine, the pelvis and the hips, and into the legs and the other way as well.

Structures

Diaphragm

And one of the key systems that controls this is your diaphragm and the fascial system. See the diaphragm is more than just a breathing muscle. Most people think of it as just something that helps you to breathe and well, it does.

But it also is a

• pressure regulator and
• spinal stabilizer and
• central connector in the body.

When the diaphragm contracts and moves well, it creates a pressure change from the chest to the abdomen. That pressure supports the spine and helps to distribute load efficiently. When breathing becomes shallow or restricted, or the ribcage doesn’t move properly. That system doesn’t work as well, and the lower back often has to compensate.

This is where things get really interesting because the diaphragm doesn’t work alone. It connects with three major systems that directly influence your lower back.

The first is the thoracolumbar fascia.

The diaphragm connects into this large sheet of connective tissue across your lower back called the thoraco lumbar fascia . This fascia links the spine and the ribs and the pelvis and the glutes all to the upper body. It acts like a tension system that helps to transfer load between the upper and lower body.

When the system is working well, movement is free and easy, load is shared, and moved across the whole system seamlessly, and the back is supported. But when it doesn’t move well, tension then increases load becomes uneven, and the lower back or parts of it have to work harder.

And this is one of the key reasons that people might feel

• tight,
• fatigued,
• guarded,
• overworked in the low back.

The second one is the Psoas and the deep pelvic muscles at the front.

The diaphragm also connects closely with these deep muscles. The psoas attaches to the front of the lumbar spine, and to the pelvic bowl and to the inner thigh. But more importantly, it helps to control how your spine and pelvis are positioned.

Again, when it’s in balance, the spine sits in a good position. The pelvis moves well easily and equally and load transfers evenly. But when it becomes tight or protective or restricted, it can pull the spine and pelvis out of balance, often asymmetrically.

And this can lead to

• increased lumbar curve,
• rotation and side bending, and
• uneven load through the back, and

      =>  this can even present like with a leg length difference.

And again, the lower back ends up compensating.

The third is the rib cage sitting on top of the diaphragm.

The diaphragm attaches into the rib cage, and so for the diaphragm to function properly, the rib cage needs to move well. When the ribs expand and move properly, the diaphragm can descend correctly. Pressure changes from the chest and abdomen are then created effectively, and the system can work smoothly.

But if the rib cage is stiff or restricted, then breathing becomes more shallow, the diaphragm cannot move quite as deeply, and load transfer then becomes less efficient. And the lower back again often starts to take more strain.

These systems influence the lower back through a few key pathways.

Load transfer

If pressure and fascial tension aren’t working properly, the back muscles have to increase their workload.

Pelvic mechanics

The pelvis moves between subtle positions during movements. If this balance is disrupted again, there is increased stress and pressure on the lower back.

Fascial and organ connections

The diaphragm connects through the fascia to the digestive organs, the kidneys, the reproductive organs. Restriction in these areas can influence tension, movement , and they can even create referred pain into the back.

Protective patterns

If the body senses stress or irritation. It creates protective tension. Over time, this tension becomes persistent. Movement begins to change, and pain sensitivity begins to increase.

The key point here is

Your lower back is not just a structure, it’s part of a connected system. And when that system isn’t working efficiently, the back often becomes the place that has to carry too much load.

So instead of only asking what’s wrong with my back? A more helpful question is, what is my back compensating for?

In the next video

I’m going to show you four simple ways that you can start to support your whole system. We’ll look at improving rib cage movement, restoring breathing patterns, and helping the body to distribute load more effectively through the connective and fascial tissues.

Because when the system improves, the lower back often doesn’t have to work so hard anymore.

• Your lower back is probably strong enough.
• Pain doesn’t necessarily mean that something is damaged.
• Often, it simply means the body needs better balance, support, and coordination.

    =>  And when we start restoring that, things can change often quite quickly.

If you found this helpful

Please keep an eye out for the next video. And if you want guidance through this process, book an appointment with us, or you could even work through our ribcage reset mini course to help support your ribcage to allow your lower back to function more freely.  

So that’s it for today. Did it raise any questions or aha moments? If so, I’d love to hear them. So please put those in the comment section. I love answering questions. I hope you found today useful. And if you know someone who could use this information, please share it. Remember to comment, like and subscribe.

Until next time and in health,

Bye for now.

Click the Button Below for my RibCage Reset min-course

Interested in further reading?

1. 1. 1. Postural function of Diaphragm altered with Breathing Requirements
      2. Functions of the Thoracolumbar Fascia
      3. The Diaphragm, spinal stabilisation and Lower Back Pain
      4. Altered Diaphragm position & Function with Chronic Lower Back Pain
      5. The Diaphragm is a central conenctor, affecting organs, the nervous system and the musculoskeletal system
      6. The Diaphragm Functions together with the Lumbar Multifidi and Thoraculumbar Fascia

About Blossoming Me

BlossomingMe offers a fully integrated approach to your wellbeing. Located on Sydney’s Upper North Shore. Sarah is our Cranio-sacral and Remedial Massage Therapist and health and lifestyle coach. She can help relieve those problematic knots, tightness and other specific ailments to promote a healthy recovery. These complementary massage therapies can be combined to suit your needs, and include: craniosacral therapy, shiatsu, acupressure, reiki, remedial, swedish, and body-mind-massage. 

Our qualified Osteopath, Alexis, offers a drug free, minimally invasive, “hands on” treatment focusing on the musculoskeletal system with its associated muscles, tendons, ligaments, membranes, bones and joints. Alexis takes a functional approach. This means that she focuses on the way a component (body part, tissue or group of tissues) performs its role, as well as the way the body works, performs and integrates as a whole. Our team can support you to improve your posture and therefore your overall health.

Had you ever wondered what is actually causing your lower back pain? Is it actually a disc, or a joint, or maybe a muscle? What if it is a combination of structures? More importantly, How can you tell? To help you understand what is causing your pain, below I describe symptoms of 4 types of Lower Back Pain.

Want to read the transcript instead?

here it is…

4 Types of Lower Back Pain

And How To Recognise Yours

If you’ve been dealing with lower back pain

You’ve probably wondered what exactly is causing this. Is it a disc, a muscle, a nerve, or is it something else entirely? The tricky part is lower back pain doesn’t always fit neatly into just one category, and that’s where it can feel confusing and why it often keeps coming back.

Hi, I’m Alexis Weidland, osteopath, and. Nutritionist at Blossoming Me and Healthy Learning Lounge. And in this video I wanna help you to start making sense of your back pain, so that you can begin to recognize what type of pattern may be involved, and why your symptoms feel the way that they do.

Most lower back pain doesn’t come from just one thing. Instead it usually fits into a combination of patterns. But to make this easier to understand, we can group them into four common types of lower back pain.

Four Common Types of Lower Back Pain

1 – Local Tissue Irritation.

This is where the structures in the lower back itself are involved. This might include:

• joints,
• muscles,
• ligaments,
• discs, or
• even nerves.

What this can feel like. Again, we have a few different variations here.

Disc related symptoms Often has:

➝ pain present with bending or sitting;

➝ stiffness, especially after rest;

➝ discomfort straight after getting up; and

➝ sometimes pain radiates into the buttock or even down into the leg.

Nerve irritation generally has:

➝ sharp shooting pain;

➝ burning or tingling; and

➝ symptoms that also might travel down the leg;

➝ plus there could be possible numbness or weakness.

Facet joint irritation: pain is generally when:

➝ we arch backwards and often it’s one-sided;

➝ it can be worse with standing; and

➝ there’s usually localized discomfort.

Muscle or fascia involvement: usually has a

➝ dull, aching pain: tightness;

➝ fatigue in the muscles; and

➝ it’s worse after holding a posture or position for a prolonged period.

And importantly, these don’t always exist on their own either. You might have a combination of those.

2 – Movement and Load Transfer Patterns.

This is one of the most common and most overlooked contributors. Your lower back doesn’t move on its own. It relies on coordination between the hips, the pelvis, the ribcage, and the spine.

But many people develop patterns such as

• stiff hips,
• reduce ribcage movement,
• shallow breathing and
• uneven movement.

Causing tension and strain through the fascia of our body.

What this often feels like:

➝ your back might feel like it’s constantly tight and doing too much work;

➝ stiffness after sitting;

➝ recurring flareups;

➝ one side often feels tighter than and more active than the other;

➝ pain with certain movements or activities.

In this case, it isn’t just the tissue, it’s about

how the load is being distributed throughout the whole body.

3 – Nervous System and Protective Tension.

This is also a piece that often gets missed. When your body is under stress, physical, or emotional, it shifts into a more protective state. This can lead to increased muscle tension; increased sensitivity to pain; and pain signaling to the brain in the first place; reduced recovery and healing.

This often feels like:

➝ the pain tends to fluctuate;

➝ symptoms are worse with stress or fatigue, or you can’t quite tell why;

➝ there’s constant tightness or a feeling of guarding; and

➝ there’s generally restriction;

➝ plus there’s sensitivity to touch or to movement.

In this situation, the body is trying to protect you, but the protection can become excessive.

4 – Referred or Organ Related Patterns

This is less commonly discussed, but it’s very important. Not all back pain starts with the back. The body has connections between the internal organs and the spine, through its fascia, through its nerves, and through shared pathways.

It can feel like:

➝ deep, hard to localize pain;

➝ pain that isn’t clearly linked to movement or certain positions – it tends to feel a bit different to mechanical type pain;

➝ it may come or go.

➝ Sometimes it’s associated with digestive issues, kidney irritation, menstrual or pelvic organ symptoms.

In these cases, the back may be responding to something that’s happening elsewhere.

Now, here’s the most important part.

Most people don’t fit into just one of these categories.

They generally do experience a combination of patterns. For example, you might have some disc irritation, combined with movement imbalances and fascial strains and pulls, plus your nervous system has increased tension and protectivity.

And if we only focus on the one piece, we miss the bigger picture.

This is the one of the main reasons that back pain can keep coming back because treatment often focuses on the symptom instead of the system behind it. When we start to understand which patterns are involved, how they interact, and what the body is compensating for, we can take a much more effective approach.

In my next video,

I’m going to take you one step further and I’ll show you why these patterns exist in the first place. We’ll look at how the body transfers load, how breathing influences your spine and your lower back and how structures like the diaphragm and the thoraco lumbar fascia and the abdominal fascia play a central role.

Because once you understand that, everything starts to make a lot more sense.

The key thing to remember is

Your back pain is not random.

Your body is responding to something, and when you can start to understand those patterns, you are already one step closer to improving it.

If you found this helpful

Please keep an eye out for the next video, and if you’d like help identifying your own patterns more clearly, it might be worth booking in to see us for your individualized assessment and treatment plan.

So that’s it for today. Did it raise any questions or aha moments? If so, I’d love to hear them. So please put those in the comment section. I love answering questions. I hope you found today useful. And if you know someone who could use this information, please share it. Remember to comment, like and subscribe.

Until next time and in health, bye for now.

Click the Button Below for my RibCage Reset min-course

Interested in further reading?

1. 1. 1. Postural function of Diaphragm altered with Breathing Requirements
      2. Functions of the Thoracolumbar Fascia
      3. The Diaphragm, spinal stabilisation and Lower Back Pain
      4. Altered Diaphragm position & Function with Chronic Lower Back Pain
      5. The Diaphragm is a central conenctor, affecting organs, the nervous system and the musculoskeletal system
      6. The Diaphragm Functions together with the Lumbar Multifidi and Thoraculumbar Fascia

About Blossoming Me

BlossomingMe offers a fully integrated approach to your wellbeing. Located on Sydney’s Upper North Shore. Sarah is our Cranio-sacral and Remedial Massage Therapist and health and lifestyle coach. She can help relieve those problematic knots, tightness and other specific ailments to promote a healthy recovery. These complementary massage therapies can be combined to suit your needs, and include: craniosacral therapy, shiatsu, acupressure, reiki, remedial, swedish, and body-mind-massage. 

Our qualified Osteopath, Alexis, offers a drug free, minimally invasive, “hands on” treatment focusing on the musculoskeletal system with its associated muscles, tendons, ligaments, membranes, bones and joints. Alexis takes a functional approach. This means that she focuses on the way a component (body part, tissue or group of tissues) performs its role, as well as the way the body works, performs and integrates as a whole. Our team can support you to improve your posture and therefore your overall health.

Have you ever noticed that even when you’re trying to relax… your lower back never quite relaxes? Or maybe you suffer flare ups of lower back pain a few times a year, or… Maybe you had lower back pain, and it improved, but it seems to be hanging around still… just at a lower level?

You might stretch, rest, or even do regular strengthening… but it just seems to linger.

For many people, lower back fatigue, tension and pain persists, because the lower back is compensating for weakness or dysfunction in onther parts of the body. If these other areas don’t get dealt with. Then even though the lower back tissues that originaly were injured, but now seem to have healed… symptoms just stubbornly seem to stay.

Ever wondered why? There are 4 specific areas of dysfunctions, that if they remain dysfunction become the reasons your lower back pain keeps coming back!

Want to read the transcript instead?

here it is…

4 Reasons Your Lower Back Pain Keeps Coming Back

How the rib cage, pelvis and fascial systems influence the spine

Ever Had Lower Back Pain?

If you’ve ever had lower back pain, you’ve probably been told something like, you’ve strained a muscle, your disc is bulging, you just need to stretch more.

And sometimes those things are true, but here’s the part that most people don’t get told. In many cases, the lower back isn’t actually the main cause of the pain. It is simply the area that’s ended up doing too much work and therefore caused a disc bulge or a muscle strain because other parts of the body aren’t functioning well. So the back becomes tight, irritated, and painful. But the real issue maybe somewhere else entirely.

Hi, I’m Alexis Weidland, osteopath and nutritionist at Blossoming Me and Healthy Learning Lounge, and in this video, I’d like to help you to understand why lower back pain actually happens, why it often keeps coming back, and why looking at the whole body is the key to improving it.

Lower back pain

Is one of the most common health issues in the world. Around 80% of people experience it at some point.

It can show up in very different ways:

• After lifting something heavy,
• Maybe after bending over to pick up something, probably even light , or
• It slowly builds over time due to posture, stress, and reduced movement.

But one of the most confusing parts for people is that scans don’t always explain the pain.

The Problem with Scans

There are three general situations that we can see with scans

1. Pain, but nothing significant on imaging.
   • You may suffer real, significant pain, but your scan doesn’t actually show anything useful.
2. Findings on a scan, but you doesn’t actually have any pain in that area at all (maybe found incidentally).
   • You may have disc bulges or degeneration and arthritis, but you feel completely fine , or
3. Both findings on a scan and pain are present, but these are not clearly linked.
   • If you have both pain and findings on a scan – we can’t confidently say that what we find on the scan is the cause of your pain.

So what does it tell us then?

That the pain is not just about the structure, the missing piece is load and our capacity.

A helpful way to understand this is. Pain is often about the relationship between the load placed on the body and the body’s ability to cope with that load.

You can think of it a bit like if the body is distributing load well, adapting well and has overall good capacity, it will tolerate a lot.

Sometimes even when there are structural changes that would often expect to cause pain, but if the body is already under strain, then even a small additional load can trigger pain.

So instead of asking only what structure is damaged?

We also need to ask why did that area become overloaded in the first place?

What Causes the Lower Back to Compensate?

The lower back is a load transfer hub.

It sits in a very important position in the body, and it connects the ribcage above the pelvis and hips below and the legs that move us.

Because of this, it’s designed to share load, not carry it alone. When everything is working well,

• Our hips move comfortably, freely, easily, and fully.
• The ribcage moves, expands side bends, rotates easily.
• Our diaphragm and the thoracolumbar fascia both stabilize the lumbar spine and the forces then transfers smoothly through the body.

=> Movement feels efficient, comfortable.

But when the system isn’t working well, the lower back has to start to compensate. And that’s when irritation and pain can begin to develop.

Most back pain tends to involve a combination of three main factors.

Local tissue irritation

Sometimes the pain is coming from those structures in the lower back itself. This could include:

• Joints,
• Muscles,
• Ligaments,
• Discs
• Nerve irritation.

For example, a disc may bulge and irritate a nerve leading to pain or symptoms down the leg, as well as in the back.

But even here, we still need to ask

Why did that area become overloaded in the first place?

The second one is movement and load transfer patterns.

The lower back doesn’t work in isolation. It relies on coordination between the hips, the pelvis, the ribcage, the spine.

Modern life often leads to

• prolonged sitting,
• reduced movement and activity,
• shallow breathing and stress levels,
• stiff hips,
• stiff rib cage.

When these happen, the lower back often ends up doing too much, either:

👉 moving too much, or

👉 being stabilized and protected too much.

So this can create tension, fatigue, irritation, and over time it increases risk of injury.

There’s another layer that often gets missed. The nervous system.

When the body is under prolonged stress:

• the muscles need to stay guarded
• you get increased pain sensitivity, and
• our healing capacity also reduces.

👉 You get breath changes, posture changes, tension changes, and the body shifts into a more protective state.

👉 This protection is helpful short term, but over time, it can become excessive, and this is where many people get stuck.

What Does Stuck Look Like?

They might regularly stretch the back, do strengthening of the back and massage their back, and it all helps at least temporarily. But if the underlying system hasn’t changed, the same patterns rebuild the pain returns. And one of the most important and often overlooked contributors to this system is…

How does the body manage – breathing, load transfer, and fascial connections?

Structures like the:

👉 diaphragm,

👉 thoracolumbar fascia,

👉 psoas and

👉 rib cage.

They play a major role in how forces move through the body. And if these aren’t functioning well, the lower back often ends up compensating.

The key points here are:

=> The lower back isn’t necessarily weak.

=> Pain doesn’t necessarily mean something is damaged or broken.

👉 Often, it means that – the system around it needs better support.

👉 When we start looking at the body as a whole, instead of just focusing on the one painful area, things begin to change.

In the next video, I’ll start by identifying what factors might be contributing to your own back pain because different people experience back pain for different reasons.

So that’s it for today. Did it raise any questions or aha moments? If so, I’d love to hear them. So please put those in the comment section. I love answering questions. I hope you found today useful. And if you know someone who could use this information, please share it. Remember to comment, like and subscribe.

Until next time and in health, bye for now.

Click the Button Below for my RibCage Reset min-course

Interested in further reading?

1. 1. 1. Postural function of Diaphragm altered with Breathing Requirements
      2. Functions of the Thoracolumbar Fascia
      3. The Diaphragm, spinal stabilisation and Lower Back Pain
      4. Altered Diaphragm position & Function with Chronic Lower Back Pain
      5. The Diaphragm is a central conenctor, affecting organs, the nervous system and the musculoskeletal system
      6. The Diaphragm Functions together with the Lumbar Multifidi and Thoraculumbar Fascia

About Blossoming Me

BlossomingMe offers a fully integrated approach to your wellbeing. Located on Sydney’s Upper North Shore. Sarah is our Cranio-sacral and Remedial Massage Therapist and health and lifestyle coach. She can help relieve those problematic knots, tightness and other specific ailments to promote a healthy recovery. These complementary massage therapies can be combined to suit your needs, and include: craniosacral therapy, shiatsu, acupressure, reiki, remedial, swedish, and body-mind-massage. 

Our qualified Osteopath, Alexis, offers a drug free, minimally invasive, “hands on” treatment focusing on the musculoskeletal system with its associated muscles, tendons, ligaments, membranes, bones and joints. Alexis takes a functional approach. This means that she focuses on the way a component (body part, tissue or group of tissues) performs its role, as well as the way the body works, performs and integrates as a whole. Our team can support you to improve your posture and therefore your overall health.

Is shoulder pain holding you back?

If that sounds like you, I recorded this week’s video especially for you.

This video concludes our series on shoulder pain, tightness, and restrictedness.

Join me to discover why shoulder pain is not random and how you can support your body with some simple breaths and movements.

Here are 3 ways this video might help you:

✅  Recap to discover common shoulder pain patterns (impingement, frozen shoulder, rotator cuff involvement, labrum issues, and possible arthritis) 

✅  See how sensitive and responsive your shoulders can be to load, movement patterns, stress, and your recovery capacity.

✅  Explore how autumn, in traditional Chinese medicine, is connected to the lung and large intestine meridians, which relate to upper-body tension and “letting go.” 

Plus, learn three gentle ways to support your shoulders, aid circulation, ease pain and tension, and improve movement.

✨ So join me for this week’s video to help your shoulders feel lighter.
Your shoulders deserve a little support, too.

Because Shoulder pain isn’t random. It’s patterned.

Rather read the transcript?

Here it is…

Hi, I’m Sarah Gowans, remedial massage and craniosacral therapist, as well as emotional integration facilitator at BlossomingMe and the Healthy Learning Lounge.

In this short series, we’ve been exploring some of the most common reasons shoulders become tight, painful, or restricted in their movement. As well as some simple ways that we can support them.

Because shoulder pain isn’t random.

It’s often your body responding to load stress, movement patterns, and even how much you’ve been carrying, not just physically.

Let’s take a closer look.

Across this series, we’ve talked about shoulder pain in busy mums, in corporate professionals, and desk workers. As well as older people wanting to stay active, and people just wanting to stay active and well as they age.

And one important message keeps appearing: Shoulder pain isn’t random. It’s responsive.

Your shoulders respond to how much you carry, how much you move, how much stress your nervous system is holding at any given moment, and how much space your body has to recover.

And in this final video for the series, I want to bring everything together with a few simple ways to support your shoulders, especially as we move into this season of autumn in the southern hemisphere.

Uncovering Patterns of Pain:

Different shoulder problems often follow recognisable patterns. For example, if you feel a sharp pinch when you lift your arm overhead, that’s often impingement. If the shoulder becomes gradually stiff in all directions, that may be a frozen shoulder pattern. Or if there’s a weakness when you lift your arm, there could be rotator cuff muscles involved. If the shoulder clicks or feels unstable, the labrum can sometimes be part of the picture, and if there’s deep aching with stiffness and grinding, well possibly arthritis could be contributing. Different patterns, but all of them can respond to the right kind of support.

The Emotional and Seasonal Link:

Autumn is an interesting time for our body. In traditional Chinese medicine, this season is associated with the metal element, which relates to the lung and large intestine meridian channels. These pathways move through many of the areas where people commonly feel upper body tension, the chest and ribs, upper back, shoulders, and arms.

The lung meridian begins in the chest and travels down the inside of the arm, towards the thumb. While the large intestine meridian travels along the outside of the arm and through the shoulder. When these pathways feel restricted, people very often notice tight shoulders, shallow breathing, or heaviness across the chest.

The mental element is also associated with letting go, and autumn mirrors that beautifully. Trees release their leaves. Nature creates space. Our bodies often reflect this rhythm too. When we’re holding too much stress, responsibility, grief, or just mental overload, tension often gathers in our chest, shoulders, and neck. These very areas where these meridian channels go through.

Sometimes shoulder tension isn’t just physical.

The Breath Connection

Sometimes it’s also about what the body hasn’t had space to release. This is where breath can become incredibly important. You see, the lungs govern breathing and help move energy through our upper body. When our breathing becomes shallow, which often happens when we are stressed or busy.

The shoulders often start helping to lift the rib cage over time. That creates an extra load on the neck, upper traps, and shoulders. And slow breathing can help reverse that pattern.

Practice number one: slow nasal breathing

So the first practice we talk about today, slow breathing, isn’t just for relaxation. It is actually supporting our lung meridian pathway, easing the load on our shoulders and helping our nervous system shift out of the constant effort. 

Sometimes the most powerful shift begins with something really simple, 

• a slower breath, 
• a softer shoulder, 
• a simple moment of letting go.

So the first practice is something called:

Slow Nasal Breathing:

We’re going to extend the breath out. 

• So breathing in for 4, 3, 2, 1, 
• And out for 6, 5, 4. 3, 2, 1. 
• Letting your shoulders drop as you exhale.

In this simple process, stress reduction could help lower the muscles that are tight and guarding.

Practice number two: lung meridian breathing stretch

Let me show you a simple stretch that supports this lung meridian pathway. 

• Bring your hands gently behind your back and interlace your fingers.
• Standing tall as you can and letting your shoulders soften down towards the floor. 
• Creating a bit of a gap here in your neck between your chin and your shoulders, letting them drop, and letting your arms come down towards the floor. 
• Now slowly lift your chest, not by forcing the shoulders back, but by lifting your breast bone, and allowing it to come up to rise.
• Take a slow breath in through your nose, and as you exhale, allow the shoulders to soften back down again. 
• In this position, take three slow, deep breaths. Releasing Gently

You may feel a gentle stretch through your chest and or down the inside of your arms.

That’s your lung Meridian channel opening.

Practice Number three: A Qigong-based shoulder release movement

Here’s a movement inspired by Qigong that works beautifully for shoulder tension. 

• Stand comfortably with your feet hip-width apart, flat on the floor, letting your arms relax.
• Now, gently swing one arm across the front of your body.
• So allow it to swing in front of you and then behind you in front and behind, 
• Keeping the movement loose and easy, like the arm is a pendulum. Just imagine that. 
• Let the shoulders soften as much as you can. 
• After about 10 or 15 swings, change arms, and let your breathing stay slow and natural as you move.

You may notice warmth or tingling through the outside of the arm and shoulder. That’s circulation, improving the large intestine meridian pathway.

Bringing it together.

Sometimes supporting the shoulders isn’t just about muscles. It’s also about our breath, circulation, movement, and helping our body release what it’s been holding. Across every stage of life. 

Shoulder comfort isn’t just about reducing pain either. It’s about preserving confidence, independence, and the freedom to keep doing what really matters most to you. All those important activities. 

And Autumn reminds us that letting go isn’t weakness. It is part of our body’s natural rhythm, just like the seasons. It’s part of our body’s natural rhythm.

Your shoulders often respond to load. They respond to stress. They respond also to safety. They’re not broken. They’re just responsive. 

Shoulder pain isn’t random. It’s patterned.

And patterns can respond to the right support.

Your shoulders have been carrying a lot. Let’s help them feel safe enough to let go. 

And if you’ve recognised yourself in any of these shoulder patterns, there are gentle ways that we can support your body.

You don’t have to figure it out alone.

And I hope that you found value in today’s video. If you did, please like and share it.  And join us next time as we tap into the body to help you live your most fulfilling life. 

And finally, remembering that shoulder pain isn’t random. 

It’s responsiveness from your very wise, adaptive, and capable body. 

So join us next time for our next chapter to support you in living your most fulfilling life. 

From my heart to your heart, 

Namaste.

Sarah xx

P.S. To help you further, if this video resonated, I created my FREE eBook, “Neck, shoulder, and jaw pain: A Gentle Path to Release”, might too.

There’s no more pressure, no more fixing, just listening and understanding, and some small shifts, to really help you make a difference for your shoulders.

So if today’s video felt familiar, this might be your next supportive step.

📖  Click the link to download yours!

https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/form/ORwdWucHnyi5z9gCrBMY

Interested in further reading?

Understanding Shoulder Pain: A Guide for People on the Go

Breathe and Release: Unlocking the Secrets of Upper Back Tension

From Thoughts to Tension: A Guide to Mental and Muscular Fatigue

Restoring Your Inner Strength: A Guide to Overcoming Physical Fatigue

Decoding Stress: How the Fire Element Affects Your Shoulders

The Surprising Link Between Shoulder Pain, Headaches & Chest Tightness