Hi Wikipedia reference-linksijproblems.

wow - that's lots of good info.

i will use point form as i find it easier...

1. I am hoping to challenge the idea that the problem is solely in the SIJ/pelvis area. Your history SCREAMS thoracic spine involvement. However, i take your point about the soft tissue changes after all these years but let me relate a story i have told before elsewhere on this forum...(sorry if you have read it before)...

This lady had something like 12 years of chronic back pain. Had great physios treating her. Had difficult standing up straight for 5 mins after rising every day. For over 12 years! She got assaulted by a patient who threw an outdoor setting bench onto her (pysch ward patient). Anyway, her FF was to the knees only with pain limitation - again for 12 years.

Literally 1 treatment restored her ROM to touching her toes. That one case had made me rethink the whole adaptive change concept which you outline above - real changes are possible quickly. Literally mins. I had 2 physios who were witnesses to the assessment and treatment (i was being assessed at the time).

2. You are spot on with the whole biomechanical change thing. A torsion in the pelvis (or thorax) will create lots of strain on those cartilage joints.

3. Wikipedia reference-linkscoliosis and short leg feeling etc...tough to judge on that one. I certainly don't believe pushing around on the spinous processes will change that. You are an engineer, do the maths! We might be able to put ?kg of force through a short lever arm (maybe 3cm) - would that counteract the torque of your whole body weight and the tension developed in the tissues?? i doubt it.

I would prefer to work out if your scoliosis is structural (due to the bones) or postural (due to the muscles). Most people have a scoliosis without any problems. It is usually postural and responds well to exercise.

4. twisting the body - the main rotation of the spine comes from the T/S. You only get 3deg from each lumbar vertebrae and maybe 5deg from the pelvis if you add the 2deg each way. Another reason why i was thinking T/S.

5. muscle imbalance and remodelling and response to stress. The body is an amazing machine. Like the story above, i have seen things that theoretically shouldn't happen. I like to find the areas of stress and fix them because then the muscles and other tissues will settle down.

6. Feeling the right leg long and seeing no change in leg length in lying down do not create a confusing situation - it just means that in lying down your legs are not much different in *apparent* length and when you walk, you *feel* the right leg is longer.

I have changed gait and apparent leg length discrepancy by joint means (manipulation of "stuck joints"), by muscle changes (stretches, soft tissue releases), my motor control changes (coordination exercises then reasses) and with visceral releases (changing the fascial pull on bony structures).

in summary, I like to keep it functional... any other ideas out there?