When Back Pain Isn’t Really About the Back

We’ve all heard that we are part of something much bigger—that our actions ripple through the lives of others. Like the butterfly effect, one small event can unexpectedly change the course of something much larger.

This is one of those stories.

I travel regularly from Maui to San Francisco, and while I’m away, friends stay at my home to look after my dog, Koa, while enjoying the beauty of the island. During my last trip, my dogsitter booked a flight that left one day before I returned. Suddenly, I needed someone to watch Koa for that last night. Kai, the son of my landlord, thankfully agreed to help out.

Little did either of us know that this small change of plans would become a life-changing experience for him.

The day I returned home, I stopped by to thank him for taking care of Koa. The young, athletic man I expected to see was barely able to move. He could hardly sit upright, walking was agonizing, and lying perfectly still was the only position that offered even a little relief. He had to cancel all his plans for the day. The timing couldn’t have been worse. In a few days, he was supposed to leave on a two-month backpacking adventure.

Kai had been struggling with severe low back pain for more than a year. His injury began with a quick twisting movement during a basketball game several years earlier. Since that day, his back had never truly recovered. Doctors diagnosed herniated discs, and he had been receiving regular physical therapy. Some days were better than others, but “better” was never good enough for the active Maui lifestyle he loved. He was desperate.

If you’ve read some of my previous blogs, you’ve probably heard me say that the place where we feel pain is not always where the problem begins. I’ve seen neck pain disappear after treating restrictions around the tailbone following a fall. I’ve seen shoulder pain resolve after restoring mobility around the liver and gallbladder. I’ve also seen chronic low back pain improve once restrictions within the abdomen were addressed. Almost always, there are emotions stored within the affected tissues — emotions we hope we won’t have to face.

As my hands began listening to Kai’s body, something interesting emerged. His lower back was not the part that demanded my attention most. Instead, I was clearly drawn toward the membranes surrounding his brain and spinal cord. In craniosacral osteopathy, these membranes, called the meninges, play an important role in the body’s ability to adapt and move freely. Restrictions within this system may contribute to pain and altered movement patterns throughout the body.

Most of my focus during this first session was on freeing up these meninges by working with the skull bones, the tailbone, and the meninges themselves. By the end of the treatment, Kai’s body had visibly relaxed. His breathing had become deeper and easier, and although his back was still very painful, both of us felt that something had shifted.

Two days later I saw him again. My attention was drawn somewhere new. Not to his spine. Not to his discs. This time, to his liver.

At first, that may seem unrelated to low back pain. Yet the liver is one of the body’s largest organs. It moves with every breath and is intimately connected to the diaphragm, surrounding fascia, and neighboring structures. If the liver’s natural mobility becomes restricted, it can influence movement patterns throughout the spine and rib cage. I used gentle techniques to restore that mobility. As the liver regained mobility, another area of restriction became more apparent: the root of the mesentery — the connective tissue that anchors the small intestine to the posterior abdominal wall. It allows the intestines to remain securely attached while still moving freely during breathing, walking, bending, and twisting.

As I continued treating these restrictions, Kai’s body gradually began to find its balance again. His movements became easier. His posture changed. The intense protective muscle guarding around his lower back began to soften. For the first time in more than a year, his body no longer seemed locked into the same protective pattern. The pain that had dominated his life started to fade.

Watching him stand up after that second treatment was one of those moments that reminds me why I love this work so much.

“I have had low back pain for the last 6 years on and off and in the last year and a half it got really bad. At one point I could barely walk due to a bad flare up. Barbara treated me during the flare and noticed some serious stiffness in my torso. She treated me and my trunk had more flexibility immediately afterwards. The next day my flare had diminished and the following day my back pain was better than it had been in months. The day after that my back pain was completely gone and it has stayed that way for the past month. I didn’t experience any sort of progress like this from traditional physical therapy which I had been working at for over a year. I am beyond grateful for this relief and I highly recommend people who suffer from low back pain to seek treatment from Barbara. She’s awesome!”

This case isn’t about proving what caused Kai’s back pain. It is a reminder that the body functions as one interconnected system. Sometimes the place that hurts is indeed the source of the problem. Other times, it is simply where the body has run out of options to compensate.

Had my dogsitter not booked an earlier flight, I never would have stopped by to check on Kai. He might have suffered through his backpacking trip in severe pain, or perhaps would have needed to cancel it.