So why do I call this blog the "MINDFUL Back"?
It has been my experience through the years, after treating thousands of people with low back pain, that if they do not understand how pain works, if they cannot TUNE IN to the signals their body is telling them throughout the day, then all of the various treatments will be either temporary or ineffective.
For example, pain treatments used in the clinic (massage, ultrasound, ice/heat packs, TENS electrical stimulation, etc) all will have a very temporary effect if the individual is moving in a way throughout their day that repeatedly flares up their low back pain.
Or if someone is working on strengthening their "Core" (which is the abdominal, back, buttocks, hip muscles), but is not TUNING IN to the fact that their back symptoms may be INCREASING while they are doing exercises... well, what good is it to be stronger with more pain?!! No pain, no gain does not apply if the "problem spot", such as low back, buttocks, sciatica, is getting irritated during exercise.
Or if you bend over many times a day in the "normal way", with increased back pain each time you do it... you are irritating your pain and keeping the chronic pain cycle going. In this circumstance, you would need to learn a NEW MOVEMENT PATTERN for bending that would not trigger your back pain. And only then can you have a hope of achieving permanent pain relief.
In this blog, I will be teaching you many of the traditional physical therapy approaches to treating your low back pain (stretching, strengthening, changing movement patterns and posture, for example) while teaching you how to be MINDFUL with your body and your pain, so that you can understand how to LISTEN to your pain and respond accordingly. Your symptoms will tell you, if you listen: 1) are you moving in the correct pattern?, 2) have I done too many repetitions of this exercise and need to stop for now? 3) am I sitting in the correct way and is it time to change positions?
But I encourage you to be brave, learn to tune back into your pain. I will teach you what those signals mean, how to listen, what to ignore because it's "good pain" (yes, there IS such a thing), and what is "bad pain" and should be altered. In time, you will become the master of your own pain and learn how to either eliminate or better manage your pain permanently.
So let's get MINDFUL. I will see you at the next post to start teaching you how your pain "behaves". If you would like to be notified via your email when the next blog post has been posted, please subscribe by providing your email.
In time, you will become the master of your own pain and learn how to either eliminate or better manage your pain permanently.
Doesn't that sound good?
See you next time!
Comments