55 | The truth about fixing back pain

“The spine is the tree of life. Respect it.” - Martha Graham

Unfortunately, many grapple with back pain without ever truly understanding or overcoming its root causes.

This could be you if you find yourself questioning the effectiveness of your current treatments, unable to return to pain-free activities, living in fear of worsening the pain, or feeling a lack of progress towards regaining your pre-pain confidence. It's a cycle that many find hard to break.

In light of these challenges, this discussion delves into an approach that leverages the root causes of back pain, and, the root causes of back strength. I'll be sharing a dual strategy that has proven to be the most effective way to overcome (and prevent) back pain, based on my personal experience as a mover and exercise clinician, and the comprehensive research by Professor Stuart McGill.

Causal Power

"The law of cause and effect is the law of laws." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Every effect In our universe has specific causes, including back pain and back strength. This universal law of cause and effect holds true without exception - that’s what qualifies a law as universal.

The primary causal force shaping our life is our actions. Therefore, our behaviours and choices are the primary forces shaping our back health. Each choice can either heal or harm our back.

By mastering cause and effect through our actions, we can change back pain into strength. The strategy we are going to discuss involves two components: removing unwanted causes and enhancing wanted causes.

I. Causing Wanted Effects

“Our bodies are our gardens, to which our wills are gardeners.” - William Shakespeare

How do we reach the results we want? This aspect is often more obvious. To change something, we must do something. We need to take action to get somewhere that we are not.

Through this lens, we can identify the actions which can cause the effects we seek. Regarding back pain and strength, these actions fall into two categories: [1] restoring structural strength, and [2] developing skilful coordination. In summary, this is primarily the use of a corrective movement practice to restore strength and optimal movement patterns.

"Cause and effect are two sides of one fact." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

II. Ceasing Unwanted Effects

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” - Benjamin Franklin

This part of the strategy is more challenging. However, recognizing and minimizing activities that worsen back pain is critical. The primary culprit here is excessive sitting, a habit that's deeply ingrained and difficult to modify.

“Before you heal someone, ask him if he’s willing to give up the the things that made him sick.” - Hippocrates

Strategies which we will focus on involve implementing a framework called ‘spinal hygiene’ (thanks Prof. McGill) to minimize the ongoing and inescapable impacts of sitting, by minimising poor sitting postures and removing unnecessary prolonged sitting.

“Sitting is the new smoking.” - Dr. James Levine

The Dual Approach

“The part can never be well unless the whole is well.” - Plato

The surest way to guarantee success involves both reducing harmful causes and enhancing beneficial ones. One approach alone is insufficient. The dual combination creates a synergy that is often the missing, yet most powerful, ingredient in effective recovery.

This dual strategy offers a framework with two angles to think about and deal with back pain. This approach is much more than a treatment; it's about changing ourselves for the better.

Conclusion

Understanding and managing back pain hinges on comprehending the principles of cause and effect and taking personal responsibility for our actions.

The dual strategy gives us a framework for informed and deliberate action. By applying this comprehensive strategy, we transcend temporary fixes to reliably transform our back pain into a kind of confident strength that many don’t appreciate until they taste it.

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