The painful muscle vs. the problem muscle
When a muscle stops firing properly — inhibited by injury, posture, or stress — its neighbors take over work they weren't built for. Those overworked neighbors are usually where the pain shows up. Treat only them and you've treated the smoke, not the fire. Applied kinesiology (AK) uses muscle-response testing to find the inhibited muscle upstream of the pain.
The tell: relief that never lasts
If massage, adjustments, or therapy give you days or weeks of relief and then the same pain returns, the treated spot probably wasn't the cause. With low-back pain and sciatica specifically, Dr. Ozzie consistently finds imbalance in the psoas — the deep hip-flexor muscle attaching along the lumbar spine — as the upstream driver.
Where back-pain care goes wrong
Chasing the pain; resting indefinitely (deconditioning makes inhibited-muscle patterns worse); and treating imaging findings instead of function. Red flags — numbness spreading, loss of bladder/bowel control, trauma, fever — are a different lane entirely: those need urgent medical evaluation, not an adjustment.
What the practice actually does
A hands-on AK assessment to identify the weak or inhibited muscle, chiropractic care where the exam supports it, and correction of the contributing habits. NIH patient resources describe most low-back pain as mechanical — exactly the category where finding the functional driver matters most.
Your next step
If your back pain keeps returning, stop re-treating the symptom. Book an exam — or read what a first visit looks like before you commit.
Quick answers.
What is sciatica, exactly?
Pain that radiates along the sciatic nerve — from the low back or buttock down the leg — usually from pressure or irritation where the nerve exits the spine. The practice looks for the muscular and structural imbalance creating that pressure, with the psoas a frequent finding in Dr. Ozzie's experience.
Do I need surgery for sciatica?
Most sciatica is mechanical and improves with conservative care — finding and correcting the muscular or structural imbalance creating the nerve pressure. Red-flag symptoms (progressive numbness, loss of bladder or bowel control, trauma, fever) need urgent medical evaluation.
Where this comes from.
External links are provided for reference and education; they are not endorsements, and we don't control their content.
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Last updated July 4, 2026
This page is educational and is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. It does not replace care from your physician. If you have a medical emergency, call 911. Always talk with a qualified provider before changing medication, diet, or supplements.