What is an AI Sacrum?

AI Sacrum stands for anterior and inferior sacrum. It describes a pelvis where the sacrum, the base of the spine, has rotated and dropped out of its normal position, tilting the whole foundation the spine sits on. Because everything above the pelvis has to compensate for that tilt, an AI Sacrum can create stress and nerve irritation all the way up the spine.

How does sitting in a car or at a desk all day affect the low back and pelvis?

Long hours of sitting load the pelvis and low back and encourage them to settle into whatever position you hold. For someone like a law enforcement officer, add body armor and a heavy service belt worn while seated, and the asymmetric stress adds up. Over time, that repetitive load contributes to pelvic rotation and low back subluxation, which is a common source of chronic back pain.

Why is the pelvis called the foundation of the spine?

The spine sits on the pelvis the way a building sits on its foundation. If the pelvis is level and aligned, the spine above it can stack properly. If the pelvis is rotated or tilted, everything above it compensates, which is why correcting the pelvic foundation often has a straightening effect on the rest of the spine, as it did for this patient.

Is there a difference between getting occasional adjustments and being under corrective care?

Yes, and it matters. This patient had been adjusted here and there in the past, without a plan or any regularity, and never saw a lasting benefit. Corrective care is a structured plan of specific correction over time, aimed at changing the alignment of the spine. Structural change takes consistent, repeated correction, which occasional visits cannot provide.

Can spinal or pelvic problems affect more than just pain?

Yes. When the spine and pelvis are misaligned, the nervous system that runs through them is under stress, and the nervous system controls the whole body. The AI Sacrum presentation in particular has been found to occur in all significant disease processes, including heart, lung, and digestive disorders. Correcting the underlying subluxation is aimed at restoring the nervous system's ability to run the body the way it should.

An Officer's AI Sacrum and Chronic Back Pain

By Dr. Romar Rochet, D.C. — 20+ years subluxation-based family chiropractic care. Every Correction Spotlight documents a real patient from this office.

How He Arrived

This month I want to feature a 31-year-old man who came to us with moderate to severe, chronic mid and low back pain. He is in law enforcement, and his job keeps him seated in a patrol car for much of his shift. On top of that, he wears body armor and carries a full service belt while he sits. You can imagine the day-to-day stress that puts on a spine.

More Than Long Hours in a Seat

There is more to his case than the sitting. The gear itself — body armor and a duty belt loaded with everything the job requires — adds asymmetric weight the spine has to carry and balance all shift. The work also carries a heavy physical and emotional load. Physical and emotional stress both settle into the body, tightening muscles and adding to the tension a spine is already under. For first responders and anyone in a high-demand job, that combination is hard on the structure over the years.

What His Films Showed — an AI Sacrum

His initial film showed a significant pelvic rotation. His sacrum, the base of the spine, was twisted to the left and sinking on the right. His center of gravity did not line up with the front of his pelvis, where it should. That is a biomechanically flawed foundation, and it was creating stress up the spine, irritating his nerves, and producing his pain. This particular presentation is known as an AI Sacrum, for anterior and inferior. This sacral presentation has been found to occur in all significant disease processes, including heart, lung, and digestive disorders.

The Plan — A Royal Palm Beach Pelvic Correction Case

I recommended a six-month plan to start his correction and see how we needed to progress, given the physical and emotional stress of his work. He had been adjusted before, here and there, but never with a plan or any regularity, and he never saw the benefit. This time was different. His work schedule stretched the six months into nine, which affected how much correction we could get, but even so, his quality of life improved dramatically under regular corrective care.

Clinical Findings — Initial Examination

Patient: 31-year-old male, law enforcement officer

Presenting complaints: Moderate to severe, chronic mid and low back pain

Occupational stress: Long hours seated in a patrol car, in body armor and a loaded service belt

Primary structural finding: AI Sacrum (anterior and inferior) with significant pelvic rotation

X-ray type: AP lumbar and pelvis

Care plan: Six-month plan, extended to nine by his work schedule

Lumbar & Pelvic AP — Initial & Re-Evaluation

January 12, 2022 initial AP lumbar and pelvic X-ray of a 31-year-old male law enforcement officer showing an AI Sacrum with significant pelvic rotation, Rochet Family Chiropractic Royal Palm Beach

Before — Jan 12, 2022 Initial X-Ray

October 24, 2022 re-evaluation AP lumbar and pelvic X-ray showing dramatically improved pelvic alignment after nine months of subluxation-based corrective care, Rochet Family Chiropractic Royal Palm Beach

After — Oct 24, 2022 Re-Evaluation

What Changed Over Nine Months

His follow-up films show a dramatic improvement in his pelvic alignment, and correcting the foundation had a straightening effect on the rest of his spine as well. His pain is no longer as frequent or as intense as it was. His quality of life is dramatically better than when he started. I am confident we could have gotten even more correction if his schedule had let him keep the recommended frequency, but even with the interruptions, his own innate intelligence made the changes his body needed and gave him a better quality of life.

Why the Plan Mattered

His earlier experience is worth sitting with. He had been to chiropractors before and gotten adjusted now and then, and it never did much for him. The difference this time was a plan: specific correction, applied with regularity, aimed at changing the structure of his spine. A twisted foundation does not come back to center on the occasional visit. It takes consistent, corrective work, and that is what finally moved his.

Your Job May Be Working Against Your Spine

If your work keeps you seated for hours — in a patrol car, a truck, or a desk chair — your spine and pelvis are paying for it. Come in for a full structural X-ray analysis and find out what that daily stress has done to your foundation.

Schedule a Structural Evaluation

Or call us at (561) 795-3156

Have you ever had your spine checked for subluxation?

A Police Officer, a Twisted Pelvis, and Chronic Back Pain