Lauren Casey was 15 and a tenor sax player in her Minnesota high school marching band when the pain in her hip and lower back became severe. It hurt when she walked and when she stood for hours at her fast-food job. Soon, she began feeling like her ribs were popping out of place.

She thought maybe carrying around her 10-pound instrument, much of its weight on her neck, was the problem.

“It was heavy for someone tiny,” she said.

Casey’s parents took her to a string of doctors during her teenage years – internists, an osteopath, a physical therapist – but none could solve what ailed her. One said her problem was a “twisted pelvis.” Another, she said, suggested “it was just in my head.”

“It was doctor after doctor shutting me down,” said Casey, now 24.

In college, Casey sought alternativ

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