Patient history pelvic orthosis in everyday life

Pelvic orthosis relieves the burden on the sacro-iliac joints

The perfect video recording requires good equipment, an eye for detail, patience – and a strong back that can keep the camera still and focussed. Marc Ohlmeyer, the self-employed German cameraman and cutter, who makes promotion films, portraits and commercials, has almost all these attributes. In fact, all of them apart from his back, which has long been a red rag to him. Then he discovered Lumbamed sacro, with which he now masters his cinematic challenges even better. The orthosis relieves stress on his sacro-iliac joints and Marc has less pain.

Chronic pain: Love for the camera is a bane for the back

After training to become an industrial business management assistant, Marc Ohlmeyer decided that he wanted to do something other than daily office work in the long term. An internship at a film production company followed and then training as an audio-visual media designer. Marc lives in Bischofsgrün in Upper Franconia and is – besides his passion for films – also a photographer, volunteer mountain rescuer and a hobby guitarist. But you will find the 44-year-old most often behind his video camera. He turned freelance with his media production company momedia in 2013. “In my job, I get to know a wide variety of people, I’m always seeing new perspectives, getting glimpses behind the scenes and I get to work on totally different subjects”, Marc Ohlmeyer explains why he loves his job. His everyday life is marked by creative cooperation and his photo and film shoots take place in the outdoors, at events or with the protagonists themselves at home.

Marc is always in action and he has to be able to rely on his back. “Exercise is always good for you, but the camera case weighs 30 kilogrammes, add to this the tripod and the lighting. I have to load all of this into the car several times a day.” And even after the perfect image has been captured, you still have to hold on. “I often have the camera on my shoulder while filming. It weighs about 10 kilogrammes, which I then have to balance out. That’s OK for a minute or two, then it gets difficult – but if the picture’s right, I have to grit my teeth.” However, the muscles alone cannot hold the upper body in this frozen position for long. Then Marc adopts a protective posture and puts his weight onto his lumbar spine. Over the years, this led to muscular imbalance and, as a result, to chronic pain.

How the pelvic orthosis Lumbamed sacro* works

There are a number of reasons why the back can become imbalanced, for example, due to abrupt movements such as lifting a heavy box. Back problems then develop at the junction between the lower spine and the pelvis, where the sacro-iliac joints (SI joints in short) are located. It is exactly here that the new Lumbamed sacro* exerts its action. It combines the strengths of an orthosis, a pelvic brace and a soft support in a single medical device, so it is the ideal everyday companion for all those whose lower spine is tense or locked up. The orthosis stabilises the pelvis, relieves stress on the sacro-iliac joints and relaxes the muscles, which can help relieve pain. Marc Ohlmeyer benefits exactly from this combination. “I find it easy to move around with the Lumbamed sacro* and it’s hardly noticeable. It’s comfortable to wear underneath my clothes.” Marc simply wraps the orthosis around his pelvis like a belt and secures it with a Velcro fastener. The orthosis consists of elastic compressive comfort knitted fabric, an inelastic pelvic brace and two massage pads. He uses two handy tension straps to adjust individually how firmly the infinitely variable pelvic brace fits. The circular compression this exerts stabilises his whole pelvis and relieves stress on the sacro-iliac joints.

Lumbamed sacro keeps reminding Marc Ohlmeyer to keep his back straight even when he is sitting down.

Stand up straight please!

Every patient feels the pain at one very specific place, which is why Lumbamed sacro* comes with two drop-shaped pads. Marc attaches these individually to his orthosis with Velcro fasteners. The pads act exactly over his sacro-iliac region, where he needs them to. This local massage increases the circulation, has a relaxing effect and promotes the course of healing. “The gentle pressure exerted by the pads has two positive effects. First, the muscles are affected directly and relaxed. Second, the pads remind me to stand up straight instead of slumping into a hollow back. This means I have less pain, without any of the side effects of conventional painkillers.”

The medical device supports his back while lying down too, for example, at night when he is asleep. Marc simply removes the pelvic brace and puts on the knitted fabric using the additional fastener supplied with each product. “The orthosis reminds me to stand and sit up straight, and the pads ensure a gentle massage effect, even when I’m lying down. I can always wear the orthosis: at work, playing sports and in my free time.”