What bothers me most is when a person in their 50’s or 60’s come into my office complaining of lower back pains but can’t understand why, as they put it, “their back never bothered them and now it is in so much pain.”  Upon doing the examination I see that the patient’s right hip is extremely higher than the left hip.   The opposite shoulder, the left, is extremely higher than the right shoulder.  This caused a scoliosis to form, the spine is no longer in the center of the back, but off to the right in the low back region, and to the left in the upper spine, making the letter “S.”  The patient started to develop this “S-shaped-curve” in High School but was never told that Chiropractic Adjustments could correct this problem.  So as the patient continued to develop, an age the “S-shape-curve” caused the biomechanics of the spinal column to be working incorrectly, leading to a postural change, and many functional changes in the spinal column.  Now the patient is in her 70’s and is having constant lower back pans which radiate into her right hip and leg making it extremely uncomfortable to sit and walk.  The patient lives alone and needs to be ale to function and take care of herself.  She needs to be able to walk throughout he grocery store in order to do her own shopping.  However, she find herself doing less and less and in a lot of pain.  She makes an appointment with her Medical Doctor looking for that instant cure.  After all she never had pains before, surely he has a miracle pill/cure!  Her Medical Doctor tells her to take advil during the day and alieve at night.  The patient gets some relief but not a lot and not for very long.  Finally, she is visiting a friend who tells her she must go see her Chiropractor who helped her with her lower back problem.  The woman comes into my office in a lot of pain and tells me all the things she can no longer do.  she is getting afraid that she won’t be able to take care of herself or work in her garden, which she enjoys doing.  I take a thorough history and do a complete Chiropractic and Physical Therapy examination.  I tell the patient I can help her with Chiropractic/Physical Therapy Treatments.  I will also need to make custom Orthotics to try an balance out her hips and legs taking the stress/weight off her right leg.  I educate her on the changes that her spinal column has been forced to make and how at a younger age this was totally correctable.  But at this age, I will be able to make changes but not correct the biomechanics completely.  It will also take time between 4-6 months as it took years to get to this state.  But there is hope and I will be able to get this patient out of pain.  The pills that her Medical Doctor told her to take will do nothing to correct the problem nor restore the lack of function that she is experiencing.  The medications will not solve the problem nor will they give her a better lifestyle.  The medications have side affects which, in the long run will compromise her kidneys and continue to decrease her lifestyle.