Thinking about the 'core'

Hi all,
Currently on my Musculo placement and have been treating a lovely 78 yr old lady who first presented with sharp back pain, with referral of pain down her posterior leg, she also had a +ve SLR. She had good global ROM in all directions, however, her inter-segmental movement was hypomobile in the lower segments.
Rx consisted of PAIVMs & STM to the Lx region and muscle stretching & STM to her piriformis as this was often the site of her buttock symptoms. For the initial first treatments with her I focused on the above- both times when she returned she would state how for the first 2-3days after the Rx she felt great however after this until her next session she would slowly deteriorate with the pain intensifying. So, last week I decided to add in some lumbopelvic stability exercises as an adjunct to the manual hands on techniques I had been using. This included pelvic tilts in sitting and some TA work in crook lying. When she came back this week she stated how those exercises had really helped her and the treatment had had a longer lasting effect then the previous treatments.

Again, as many other posts have brought up, it highlights the importance of core stability work in patients and how manual treatments shouldn’t only be used as you need to empower the patient and get them highly involved in their rehabilitation process.