Back Pain and Stopping the Pain [Part 1]

At least they are honest....

First of all it’s not your fault…pain is never anyone fault.  One way to look at pain is that it is purely feedback…something is wrong and needs attention.  Don’t kill the messenger?  Don’t suppress the pain.  Now this is relative and if you are like me, we can rationalize anything into the ground…I don’t mean that you should not take medication or anti-inflammatory…there is a time and a place for medication…just don’t over use or abuse them and you will be OK.

So what are the steps for correcting movements?  Just because you have pain doesn’t mean you should stop moving, you actually have to move more than before, just in many more variations and possibilities than you were previously moving.  Using all of these new deviations will be important to help correct your progress.  don’t suppress these movements and variations, don’t force them, don’t strain, the ease of movement will become a bit more of a process building exercise for you to navigate through the challenges into the clear.

Move More?

You are crazy…my back is killing me!  Well I hate to tell you but the first premise is that you have to move more.  Your nervous system’s is soooo involved with movement..not only involved but occupied…like ADD occupied.  Movement is the main language of the brain (your bran) and you will need to utilize this piece of information to your benefit.  All of our sensations are based around movement.  It’s a miracle that we even stand!  But all of the elaborate actions that our brain negotiates and initiates holds us together and upright and in control of our limbs.

Quality of Movement

It is pretty easy for us to distinguish the quality of movement.  Many of us from an early age know how our parents look and feel.  A child can spot their parent from across the room and just from how that parent moves or interacts with other people the child’s parent can be confirmed.  Have you ever spotted somebody from the back and thought it was a friend and then suddenly it struck you…”it’s not them.” and you freeze in your tracks and go back to what you were doing?  you know how a person moves and how well they move just based on their limbs, how they swing, how they hold themselves, and their own unique movements.  the movement you will need to get you out of pain is soft, gentle, easy and comfortable.  At first fast will be out of the question, but as you progress and move forward speed will become part of who you are again.

The Richness of Movement

We all have a huge capacity for movement…and we have a lot of experience with movement as well.  it can always get better.  Feldenkrais would say that we have more capacity for movement than for feeling or thought.  Many people suppress their thoughts (“I am not good enough”), some suppress their feelings (“she will be mad at me if I say something”) all because we want to avoid unwanted situations…but movement…we all move and it’s important to keep it going!

Sow what do we do with these three pieces of information:

1. Move More? Move more but move small.  Try as many variations as you can think of with one movement.  Can you do the movement sitting in a chair, lying on your stomach, on your side, your other side, on your head?  Get creative…just follow the next piece of advice…
2. Quality of Movement. Move gentle.  Move soft.  Move in ways without strain.  Move in ways that you can only imagine.  Make sure the effort is there in your mind but not in your physical movement.
3. The Richness of Movement. Each movement will have a given range of motion to it…why use the whole thing? You need not move large or big or fast in order to have a significant impact on your nervous system.  If you are lifting your arm for example, you can move very slow and feel a tremendous amount of information going to your brain from your limbs, how it relates to gravity, the weight of your arm…the sheer amount of information is staggering if you pay attention to as many factors as you can think of…the whole “range”  is filled with endless amounts of feedback you can learn from and appreciate…

So what?

Try this:  Lie on your back with your arms at your side.  Bend your knees and have your feet flat on the floor.  Begin with an inhale and gently (without strain or effort) press the tip of your tailbone down into the floor.  Just the tip of your tailbone.  Each time you inhale and press your tailbone down make the movement slightly larger so that eventually your back will arch.  Notice that it can take you a long time to appreciate the slight range slowly becoming larger…and how much information you gain from small gentle and soft movements.  Repeat this 20 times and each time think of how the variations of effort and softness change, the quality of movement is enhanced, and that the richness is endless only to be determined by your curiosity and patience!

Tell me what you know and what you have found out…charlie@4seasonfitness.com