Is running bad for your knees?

Movement is medicine (when prescribed properly)

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I have a confession to make. A few months ago I hurt my own back.

Yes, you read that correctly, the back pain expert injured her own back! I preach this ALL the time to my clients, but one of the reasons I’m so passionate about helping people with back problems is because the treatment is not cookie-cutter. But once we find what works for you, physical therapy is so effective and rewarding.

In my case, I was able to use very specific movements to get rid of my back pain, and then start focusing on strengthening exercises to keep it gone. Don’t get me wrong, there were moments when I wanted to call my doctor and ask him for pain pills, and even the idea of an injection crossed my mind once or twice. But because I keep up with the research, I know that pills and injections really don’t work well for long-term results. Aside from the many potential complications and side effects, quick-fix treatments tend to mask your pain and keep you from doing the real work that is necessary to keep the problem from recurring in the future.

At CJPT & Pilates, long-term solutions are the only thing we are interested in. We believe that movement is medicine.

For all musculoskeletal injuries, including back pain, the research shows that movement and exercise really is the best course of treatment in about 80% of all cases. OK, I know what you’re thinking. If it were that easy, why can’t you just go to the gym, to yoga, or follow an exercise video at home to get rid of your own back or knee pain?

It’s because although movement IS medicine, it only works when prescribed for you properly.

Let me explain.

I’m working with a gentleman right now who’s had back pain for over a year. It started after a car accident. He’s tried regular physical therapy, chiropractic, steroid injections and radiofrequency ablation. None of it worked. He feels good when he exercises and moves around, but the pain always comes back.

When he came to see us, the really interesting thing I noticed about his back was when he put himself in certain positions, he would stand up and literally be crooked. His spine would shift to one side, and become very painful and stiff. In the PT-world we call this a lateral shift, and it’s a sign that indicates he likely has a bulging disc. The great thing about a bulging disc is that they tend to respond very well to corrective movements. Once we know what movement “fixes” you, we can prescribe it to you. This gentleman can now make himself straight and get rid of his back pain in under a minute. Of course the goal is to get him to the point where he no longer needs this corrective movement, but for now, it quite literally is his medicine.

I think the reason more people don’t use this approach is because it requires a little bit of work, and you don’t often see the results immediately. When you get an injection, or even take a pill, the pain is gone in a few hours and it will often stay gone for a period of time without you really needing to do much. With movement, you have to stick with it and do it correctly for it to work. And although you can get an immediate reduction in pain from the correctly prescribed movement, it takes several weeks for it to start to stick and produce long-term relief.

But here’s the best part about using movement as medicine — it’s natural, there are no harmful side-effects, and you can do it completely on your own.

If you’ve been suffering in pain for awhile and tired of using pills or quick fixes to manage your pain, sign up for a FREE Discovery Session with us to find out if movement can be your medicine instead! You can also check out our free back pain guide right here.

tight hips

The Big Reason why Back Pain Keeps Coming Back

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If you’re reading this and you’re over the age of 40, odds are pretty good that you’ve experienced back pain at some point in your life. The odds are also pretty good that you’ve experienced back pain more than once.

Every few months or maybe once per year – your back “acts up”. You get rid of it – but it ALWAYS comes back.

Sound familiar?

Well… you’re not alone. Four out of five people are impacted by back pain, and for many, it’s a constant back-and-forth year after year.

But why? Why does back pain always seem to come back?

There are essentially two main reasons:

  1. Back pain is primarily addressed with “quick-fixes” and passive modalities
  2. You (or your doctor) let MRIs make the decisions about your treatment

Quick fixes and passive modalities…

This is the most common way people tend to address their back pain. And it’s the number one reason why it always comes back.

What is a passive modality? It’s something that is done TO you. It’s where you walk in somewhere, lay on a table, and you receive some kind of treatment. This could be chiropractic care, massage, craniosacral therapy, acupuncture, even injections and surgery. You have no active role in the process — it’s completely passive.

Now, I’m not saying there is anything wrong with these treatments. They are GREAT for getting rid or your back pain — and quite often quickly. And they are also great for helping you with other problems, such a stress relief. (I LOVE getting my massage once per month!)

But when your back pain keeps coming back, it’s a big sign something is missing. These treatments are only addressing your symptoms – for example – tight muscles, tension in your nerves, stiff or out of place joints. These things are all the result of your back problem – not the cause.

And it’s the number one reason why your back problem keeps coming back – because the root cause – the thing that is causing you to have tight muscles or stiff joints – is never addressed.

When MRI’s make the decision…

Traditionally, the medical community diagnoses your back pain with images. They use X-rays and MRI’s to see what’s going on inside your spine, and from there, they make a determination of what your treatment should be.

This is a big problem, because what shows up in your MRI isn’t always the reason for your pain. For example, your MRI might show a herniated or bulging disc in your spine. Your doctor will immediately blame that for your pain. And depending on how “bad” it looks, they may suggest injections or surgery. But the truth is, another person could have the exact same visual results as you on their MRI and have no back pain at all.

So why is it that one person can have a bulging disc with no back pain, and another person can have a bulging disc with excruciating back pain?

It’s because the root cause of back pain is more complicated than your anatomy. Research has shown time and time again that 80% of all back pain is primarily influenced by your habits and the way you move, not by what’s going on structurally in your spine.

So you can go in and cut out the disc, but if you don’t identify and correct your poor movement habits that led to that bulging disc in the first place — it’s either going to come back or bulge somewhere else. It’s why surgery only has a 50% success rate for helping people keep back pain away for the long-term.

If you’re confused right now – I don’t blame you.

It’s why so many people suffer from back pain!

It’s also why we offer the opportunity for you to come talk to us for FREE if you’re tired of suffering from back pain with no real answers.

Click here to request a FREE Discovery Session with on of my specialists.

You can also download this FREE GUIDE on how taking care of back pain on your own. It was written especially with the recent quarantine in mind – where so many people have been stuck at home and off their routines.

Either way, you should know that if you want your back pain to stop coming back — it IS possible. You just might have the wrong approach and could benefit from some specialist care to finally get you going in the right direction.

Back Surgery

Can you get rid of Back Pain with Exercise?

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With small group fitness, Pilates studios such as our own, and many gyms reopening again on June 1st, people are itching to get back into their exercise routines. In our last post, we talked about tips and considerations on things you can do to ensure your body is ready to go back, especially after weeks of quarantine.

But many folks I speak with have had back pain for years, long before quarantine. So many people have tried weekly massage, daily stretching and foam rolling, and every exercise under the sun — only to find that their back pain ALWAYS comes back.

Research has confirmed many times over that exercise is the best “treatment” for back pain.

While prescription medication, steroid injections, and even surgery may be more successful at getting your back pain gone quickly — a proper exercise routine beats these things out every time. Outcomes are either the same, or better, when you choose exercise over those procedures. It’s why in our business, we focus on empowering you through movement — instead of pills or procedures! If a long-term solution is what you’re looking for, and you want to end the merry-go-round of your back pain always returning, then proper exercise is the best route hands down.

Sounds simple, right? Why then, do four out of five people continue to suffer from debilitating back pain?

It’s because not all back pain is created equal, and neither is exercise. The tricky part is that for most back pain, any kind of movement is going to make you feel better. Our bodies are designed to move and not sit still. It’s why you wake up feeling stiff and painful, and better after you’ve moved around for about an hour. Movement brings blood flow to our muscles and joints, and exercise spreads pain-reducing endorphins throughout our body. But more often than not, the pain comes back the next day, or in come cases, feels worse two or three days later. And the frustrating part is that you never know exactly what you did — so you just rinse and repeat — hoping the next day it finally “works”.

Exercise DOES work to help your back pain, just like the research says, but it needs to be specific.

Skill and coordination also matter. One exercise can act like a miracle for one person’s back pain, while it aggravates another’s. I see this all the time in my office. The nuances come down to cues, tiny little tweaks, or sometimes you need a different exercise all together for your particular body.

Back pain is not cookie-cutter, and your exercise prescription shouldn’t be either. You don’t want to go on for years just managing your back pain when you could actually get rid of it entirely with the right movement strategy.

As you enter back into the world of fitness, take note of how your body and especially your back is feeling. The correct exercise routine is going to make you feel better, and STAY better. You’ll notice continued progress, and you won’t have to foam roll and stretch every single day to manage your back pain. The wrong exercise routine will make you feel worse, often several days or months later, and the worst part is you won’t be sure where it came from.

If this sounds familiar, or you find this back pain cycle starts happening to you when you return to the gym, feel free to give us a call. You can talk to a specialist for free and find out if your exercise routine is sufficient for your type of back pain.