Low back pain and sacroiliac joint dysfunction in young athletes

Stubborn low back pain in Chinese Medicine if often treated as a "Kidney deficiency."  In young athletes with low back pain, it doesn't make sense to diagnosis kidney deficiency, which is associated with aging.  If there is pain with weight bearing, the sacroiliac joint (SIJ) might be the cause of the pain.  Low back pain is often associated with sports involving repetitive extension, flexion, and rotation, such as gymnastics, dance, soccer and rugby. The SI joint is an area that is rich in fascia and ligaments, therefore it responds well to acupuncture with electrical stimulation.The SIJ is a weight bearing joint, so pain with weight bearing with clue the practitioner to check the SIJ. 

I have found that the sports medicine acupuncture techniques as taught in the Sports Medicine Apprenticeship Program: Treatment of the Low Back, Hip and Pelvis have an amazing effect on chronic low back pain due to sacroiliac joint dysfunction.

 

Using specific sports medicine techniques more directly addresses this type of stubborn, chronic dull achey low back pain, especially when combined with Chinese Medicine's channel theory.  

"Sacroiliac Joint

The sacroiliac (SI) joint disperses the forces between the trunk and the lower extremities. This joint can be a source of pain in young athletes because of excessive or reduced motion within the SI joint. Pathology of the lumbar spine can alter the mechanics of the lumbar spine, resulting in stress to the SI joints.²⁵ Inflammation of the SI joint can also result in SI joint pain. SI joint inflammation can occur from infection, such as Reiter syndrome, as well as from seronegative spondyloarthropathies, such as Crohn disease, psoriatic arthritis, and juvenile ankylosing spondylitis. Another cause of SI joint pain is a stress fracture of the sacrum.²⁵

Athletes with SI joint pain present with extension pain that is insidious in onset.^11,25 On examination, pain is localized to the lumbar or buttock region with extension of the spine. They may have poor pelvic stability on Trendelenburg testing, as well as a positive FABER test (Figure 7). Palpation elicits tenderness over the affected SI joint.^2,11,25""

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3445254/