#76 Episode: Back Pain 101: Transformative Strategies for a Healthier Spine
Wish you could finally be rid of back pain? I’ve got practical, proven steps that’ll help you get there! Join me as I walk through my approach to a pain-free back.
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Show Notes
Introduction to back pain and its common causes.
Importance of a holistic approach that goes beyond physical therapy and chiropractic.
Core stability and breathwork as foundational elements for back health.
Explanation of core muscles, including the pelvic floor and transverse abdominis.
Building strength in stages, starting with therapeutic Pilates.
Risks of jumping into generic exercise classes without tailored movement strategies.
Importance of spinal flexibility and specific movements like flexion, extension, rotation.
Value of mobility stretching and fascia release in maintaining back health.
How therapeutic Pilates helps in progressive strengthening and alignment.
Encouragement to approach back care with patience, intentional breathing, and self-kindness.
Invitation to schedule a consultation for personalized strategies to alleviate back pain.
Key Takeaways
Core stability and intentional breathwork are crucial for reducing back pain.
Strength building should be gradual, focusing on personalized therapeutic Pilates.
Mobility, spinal movement, and fascia release are essential for overall back health.
Patience and mindfulness are key – aim for progress, not perfection.
Achieving pain-free movement involves a holistic approach beyond typical treatments.
Transcript
Hello everybody and welcome back to the Better Than A Pill podcast. I'm really glad that you guys are all here with me today. And today we're going to be diving into one of my favorite topics, which is back pain. We're going to go through back pain, one Oh one, all of the things that you really need to know the most important things when it comes to back pain.
But before we jump in, I just want to take a moment and just give thanks to God for his guidance and bringing us all together here and for the creation of this podcast, the Better Than A Pill podcast. So thank you, Lord. Very grateful for that. Okay. So we're diving in here. And back pain is just something that I've seen extensively over the past 26 years.
And I can tell you this, you need more than what physical therapy has to offer. The protocols are great. They can be incorporated into the work that you do, but you do need more. And the same goes for chiropractic. A lot of times we will get Addicted to these adjustments and depend on them when there are things that you can be doing on your own to help.
So the most important thing is that we have a solid foundation of core stability and we need to be actually going deep and using our breath for this work. And that's often overlooked. We don't. often think about things from a holistic manner, like actually breathing. If you put your hands on your lower belly, like I've had a lot of you do before and you just cough.
You feel those muscles turning on and that's why you exhale through your mouth to engage those muscles. Except we're not just going to push them out. We're going to do things to actually to work those muscles and build up strength in the pelvic floor muscles and the TBA muscles. All those muscles need to get strong and that's where we need to start.
And then there are, some basic fundamental movement skills that we want to get in. And then we want to progress and it all boils down to our pillars. So we have that important pillar, right? Of just the foundation. And then we're going to build upon that in terms of our therapeutic Pilates, which you guys hear me talk about all the time.
We, it takes time to build strength. We've got to at least 30 days be building that foundation up. That's what I found to be true. And then from there. There are stages we've got to get certain movements into the body. I find that from the therapeutic. And when I say therapeutic Pilates, let me just say this.
You guys know that you can hurt yourself doing Pilates. I've seen it so much over the years, neck and back, believe it or not, we're trying to help the back, but back is one of the most commonly injured areas of the body. In addition to the neck, we want to be doing things that protect our knees, our hips, our shoulders, back and neck.
And things that are good for us. And so we have to build in stages. The worst thing, I see people do, they jump into a generic class, they start doing all these things that may not serve their bodies. And in an order that doesn't serve their bodies either. So we want to be building strength and progressing in that strength through our center, through our AKA core muscles that get stronger and stronger.
And we're integrating in here. Also movements of the spine and chiropractors love that it's a manual way to adjust our spine when we begin to get all those movements of the spine and we're not going to get those unless we are intentional about it. So keeping our spine flexible, getting in.
Flexion, extension, lateral flexion, rotation, articulation of the spine. All of those things are so important to maintain the health for spine. I don't care if you have degeneration or arthritis, it's never too late. And we want to maintain that as much as we can. And then I will say that we've got to start freeing up tension.
You've heard me talk about this before. One of the ways we can do that is with our pillar of mobility stretching. And really looking at bringing up tension in the hips, the legs, the shoulders, the back and in the back itself, And that is, is important. It's intentional. It's a form of actually learning how to, I would say, like I talk about slow down intentionally on exercise and begin to learn about your body guys.
It's about you paying attention. We don't just need to be stretching for the sake of stretching and we can waste our time doing a lot of stretches that just don't serve us. And there are key things that we really need to be doing. And so we get to know our body. There are key things I know I teach that I empower everybody else I work with to do that's going to help.
Okay. That's one, one way to free up tension. And then we have that pillar of fascia release we talk about all the time and that goes for our back too. Basic things. We've got a vertical release with the foam roller adding in, I use special balls, silver and gold ball series for thoracic to neck release, whole spine release, all these things.
So all I'm saying is that we've got to take the fascia into expect. Into account as well so that we are able to free up tension from that standpoint so that we've got mobility and fast release really going hand in hand and I will say to when we progress with the therapeutic Pilates and we're, we're getting the spinal movements.
We're getting that stabilization down because if we don't have that, then we're going to be compensating with our back. Definitely with their back. That's, one of the most things that I see all the time is that our back is overworking. It's overworking, but not just the back, the hips, shoulders, knees, all kinds of things, right?
We want to get this wrong and then we want to continue to get strong in our back. So building up our back strength too. And all of those things. So our, the health of our spine depends on those things. So yeah, guys, that's it. I'll tell you what. And, I think when we talk about things from a holistic standpoint, it's actually, when I'm working with somebody over time, it's a process of actually slowing down and doing these things.
It forces you to breathe, concentrate, focus in ways that you don't normally do. And I always talk about it, too, you want to be patient, be kind to yourself, listen to your body. It's not about just showing up, trying to strive for perfection or performance with any of this stuff.
It's about gradually progressing and with everything we do, and that includes our back health. You hear me say these things all the time is just getting to, to learn about your body. And going from there. So yeah, back, we could, one of my favorite topics and this works and I'll tell you what, it works and I know it works, I, and I love working and getting referrals from physical therapists and power in chiropractors, Yeah, so these things can work.
I have had clients that have been able to stop. The physical therapy just wasn't enough for that. We're going to see a chiropractor and they've been able to not go as frequently. And some people have been able to eliminate having to go altogether. And that excites me. So if you are struggling with things like back pain and all that stuff, I'm ready to help you live pain free, get rid of that so you can enjoy.
The activities you love guys. I've got 26 years of experience and improving people's health and alleviating back pain, stiffness, all that stuff. And I'm ready to provide you with personalized insights strategies so that you can get rid of it. Say goodbye. Also to the. Fear of injury and say hello to a life filled with more activity, less pain.
So you can schedule your consultation today by clicking the link in this episode or by reaching out to support at movementcraft. com. And because you are a listener of the better than a pill podcast, you will get a special rate for the consultation. So thank you all so much for listening today. I hope this conversation has brought you some helpful insights.
Remember we. release new episodes every week on Wednesday, and I look forward to having you join me then.
