Hi again, Maiaoz.

Thank you for additional helpful information and I think at least this makes three important issues clearer.

First of all, it seems to me that 10 cm. is a subjective reference to how misaligned your pelvis is. This was an important point to clarify, as a 10 cm. shift would potentially be a physical disadvantage.

Secondly, we have clarified that the main component causing you trouble is STIFFNESS, there is generally little pain, and you reason yourself that the pain associated with it could potentially be due to a compensation issue.

Thirdly, although this situation obviously seems to affect your quality of life, you report that it prevents you from playing sports and running - two relatively rigorous activities - physically speaking. I therefore carefully assume that you are able to sit and walk, sleep, get in and out of bed/car and similar activities with relatively little restriction.

I'll try to discuss some of these issues a bit more. When you describe your pelvic position, you refer to a X-ray that clearly shows a pelvic shift. The reference points when observing these kind of X-rays are first of all the height of your ilium (the two larger bones that articulates on each side of the sacrum, together making up the pelvis) and the obturator foramen (the two biggest circular rings) amongst others. I always say that diagnostic images shows no pain - with that I mean that even if there is observations of anomalies, they do not represent painful situations. Many people with no activity restrictions will show anomalies on such images. One should therefore be careful on concluding a causality when observing images, especially if there is no strong hypothesis of what kind of anomaly the observer is looking for.

You then describe that the osteopath could see and feel a pelvic anteversion. These abilities, (to see and feel), are a matter of ongoing discussion, mainly concerning REPRODUCIBILITY (can I consistently see and feel the same situation on several occasions, and would my colleague observe the same if he tried to see and feel the same situation?) and VALIDITY (do these observations really mean anything?). People within the same profession does not agree on this, and even less, the different professions generally have very mixed opinions about this. In fact, this topic is probably one of the subjects that will cause the most emotional loaded discussions too.

My initial advice on seeing an orthopedic surgeon was solely based on a 10 cm. misalignment of your left pelvis as you initially described, as this was also your main question of concern. I feel both you and I have clarified that this is not true, and the answer to how misaligned your pelvis is, are a bit more subjective than what initially thought.

Further on, the references to how much or in which direction your pelvis is misaligned, are largely based on observations on which I have discussed, namely X-ray and "see-and-feel" issues. I can therefore no longer justify my initial advice, and am at this point NOT of the impression that you need to see an orthopedic surgeon. The misinterpretation from my part, are not unusual when discussing complex health issues on these types of fora, and highlights the importance of good communication when a person seeks advice in regards to health issues. This concerns the detail of information you might give in these types of fora, but especially also a reminder to myself on what advice to give based on what information.

In order to better achieve this level of communication, I therefore believe that you need to discuss your concerns with a health care professional in-real-life, before one can start to untangle the physical and/or emotional components that represents barriers to your recovery.

I am truly regretful that I can not be of any more help at this point, but ask you to keep in faith.

Kind regards,
Sigurd Mikkelsen