Back pain - the real cause

Back pain - the real cause

Every day I walk into my office, 50% of the clients I see suffer from back pain. I had a client in so much pain that he could not sit in a chair, lie face down or face up. He was on his knees on the floor with his head on the chair as I walked into the waiting area. In 1 week I helped reduce his pain by 50% and in 3 weeks he was back to work pain free. This man had tried everything for years. This was not a coincidence like I see every week in my office. It's not a miracle either, just an understanding of why our back hurts. Somehow the medical establishment missed this in their training.

First of all, I am not a doctor and do not pretend to be one. I am a massage therapist who doesn't just give massages. I was fascinated by the muscles of the human body and how they play a role in how we feel. Far too much attention has been paid to strength training our muscles. There are hundreds of thousands of studies on strengthening our muscles in every peer-reviewed journal. There is very little research into why we need to stretch and what the best way is. This is primarily why we still can't figure out back pain once and for all.

There are three areas of our body that can cause back pain. To find out which one is not difficult. If your back hurts after sitting or lying down for a while, or after standing for a while, or after bending over to pick something up, the cause is probably in the front of your body. More specifically, the front of your thighs if the pain occurs on either side of your lower back. If the pain is in the middle, it is likely that the inner thighs are causing the pain. On the other hand, if your back hurts after sitting for a while, it usually means the hamstrings are tight.

As you can see, I didn't say anything about the back. These three sets of muscles can actually tilt the pelvis forward or backward and put tremendous pressure on the lower spine. This can later lead to bulging discs, herniated discs, or pinched nerves if left untreated. Let's not wait for it.

When you work out at the gym and talk to a trainer about these areas, you'll see stretches that don't really work. The quad stretch, where you stand and pull your heel up to your hip, is more for the knee at best. You may feel a pull in your quads, but that's just because they're tight and a tight bend in the knee is causing it. Squatting does the same thing. Once the quads are tight enough, the knee can no longer bend as much. In the resources box below I will add the link to some of my videos.

The second mistake when stretching your back is to straighten your back by leaning forward. It feels good at the moment, but since you're not stretching the front thighs, it won't last long.

The inner thigh extends where you sit on the floor, place the soles of your feet together and then press your knees down. This doesn't work either. If you are already flexible, this is great. If not, you may injure yourself.

It is also a mistake to touch your toes while standing and bending forward to stretch your hamstrings or back. First, you have three hamstrings, so at best you're stretching one. Secondly, if the cause is on the front, this will not help. I worked with a woman who was an avid yoga person. She had back pain and went to her doctor. When she showed him that she could bend forward and place her palms on the floor, he said, "Yes, you are flexible, that's not the problem." When I asked her if she wanted to bend backwards to stretch her front thighs, she said she never did because it was too hard. I showed her how to stretch it and in 2 weeks she was pain free and still is after 5 years.

The biggest mistake people make when stretching or teaching stretching is not engaging the brain. Your brain won't let you do anything if it thinks you're going to hurt yourself. If the brain doesn't believe you can do it, you won't do it. Stretching is about showing the brain that movement is possible. When people try to force a stretch or hold it for more than 5 seconds when they are in pain, the brain contracts opposing muscles to stop the pain. This can lead to cramps. It will take a different mindset to learn how to stretch properly.

The key is being able to unlearn everything we've been taught about stretching and relearn a new way that is much more beneficial for your body. If you can do this, you will find that the older you get, the less pain you will endure. At 60 I have virtually no pain on a daily basis, but at 40 I was in so much pain that I developed this technique.

Inspired by Butch Phelps