What we've learned is that we're basically creatures of balance—chemical, emotional and physical. All we're doing is offering a tool and a system to use to help achieve better muscle balance. This is why we have so many therapists utilizing this tool in their practice. It's amazing what goes away when we're "balanced" and "relaxed." The first picture is of the Sacro Wedgy®, which is placed under the sacrum. Notice how the hips are suspended and now free to relax. There is a muscle called the piriformis that originates with the wide end of the triangular shaped muscle attached to the front of the sacrum and the narrow end attached to the hip. As gravity takes over and the hips relax, the piriformis has a chance to stretch a little. For some people, this is going to hurt like the devil so they have to relax even more. The sciatic nerve is involved with this muscle so you can understand how this has helped so many with sciatica. This muscle is also thought to be the beginning of a series of misalignments or what we call a "snowball" effect. There is a male and female version of the Sacro Wedgy® because of the difference in the shape of the sacrum. The average female sacrum is slightly wider and shorter, because of the birth canal, than the more narrow, longer male sacrum. This explains why occasionally why some taller women and some women that just have a longer, narrower torso do better on the male version LOWER BACK PAIN AND HIP PAIN COMMON TO GOLFERS Golfers have been some of our first and best testimonials. The Sacro Wedgy® deals mainly with muscle balance and flexibility in the hips. If a golfer has tight, out of balance hip muscles, guess what? No follow through, inverted "C" - call it what you want - it's sometimes quite painful and it's not a pretty sight. Those that have chosen to include regular use of the Sacro Wedgy® (yes - you're actually going to have to use it), have found that by having more balanced, relaxed hips, their game is more enjoyable. We do not guarantee better scores. We do, however, have one entire page of the brochure devoted to "golfers back" and how to get rid of or control that all so nagging, common problem that costs the golfer time and money. LOWER BACK PAIN, HIP PAIN, PIRIFORMIS SYNDROME, "PAIN IN THE BUTT", AND COMMON TO RUNNERS, TENNIS PLAYERS AND ALL ATHLETICS INCLUDING FOOTBALL AND BASKETBALL. According to the American Academy of Osteopathy, "The lower extremities provide for support and locomotion with strong bones and powerful muscles. They are often the site of referred pain from somatic structures in the lumbar and pelvic regions and/or from certain abdominopelvic viscera." What we've learned by working with so many runners over the years (we started by exhibiting at race expos) is that the piriformis muscle seems to be the culprit for many symptoms common to runners. If you think about the function of the piriformis, it attaches (wide end of triangle) to the front of the sacrum and (narrow end of triangle) to the greater trochanter of the femur. Actually, most of the muscles in the hip originate in various places but end up at basically the same point somewhere around the femur (hip bone). So, it stands to reason if there is the slightest muscle dysfunction in the entire pelvic region, a runner, or any athlete for that matter, cannot function to the best of their ability. Beside the fact that the piriformis muscle is directly related to the sciatic nerve, another muscle, the sartorius (longest muscle in the body), originates at the top of the hip and inserts under the knee. The Sacro Wedgy® is a tool to use to help create a more balanced and relaxed muscle structure which in turn is going to allow the athlete better, more enjoyable performances. . SYMPTOMS For 15 years the Sacro Wedgy® has been helping thousands get relief from a variety of lower back problems. When any one muscle gets too tight, it may start tourquing in the spinal column and in turn put pressure on nerves and create pain. Sciatica, back pain, hip pain, knee pain, piriformis syndrome, heel pain, shoulder pain, bad posture are just some of the symptoms associated with a muscle imbalance. Relaxing daily on the Sacro Wedgy® combined with neck support, may be all that's needed to allow muscles to relax and rebalance. BACK PAIN AND LOW BACK PAIN...... can sometimes be caused by a muscle imbalance. There are hundreds of other reasons to have pain in this region but the Sacro Wedgy® helps the muscles relax and create balance and in turn helps control a variety of symptoms. For instance if the psoas muscle is too strong on one side of the lower back it will torque and pull in the spinal column since it is attached to the spine. The psoas muscle starts in the back at the 12th thoracic, crosses the pelvis and inserts in the front of the thigh. Once you walk off balance and favor one side, a snowball or domino effect occurs and creates other symptoms. By relaxing on the Sacro Wedgy® with the sacrum elevated and hips free to drop and relax, the psoas now has a chance to relax, rebalance and release using gravity and your body weight. A tight muscle isn't going to relax until it has somewhere to go. The Sacro Wedgy® placed under the sacrum, combined with proper neck support, provides this space allowing balance to occur. Better muscle balance and better posture can mean fewer problems. It's easier to prevent a problem than to get rid of it!