Top 10 Recommended Steps To Put Out the Fire In Your Back
We hope everyone is having a great week! We are going to build off of what we talked about in one of our previous blog posts, “How To Cure Your Back Pain Hangover.” Just a little refresher, that blog was all about the why. Specifically, the top 3 reasons why you are having back pain.
Today, I am going to get a little bit into the “what”. I am not a huge fan of the “what” because it is very tactical, less strategic, and I find that the tactics without the strategy are sometimes useless. BUT, I do know this is what people are looking for in terms of: “I have back pain now...what the heck should I be doing for it?” So, that is what we are going to talk about today.
A little update I feel the need to share, I am back in the home office this week...so you know the drill, we are in the kitchen.
JULY = BACK PAIN MONTH
If you are struggling with back pain, are frustrated with back pain, or have had chronic back pain...this is the month to pay attention to us. We are talking all about back pain this month! On that note, a few quick little reminders:
We have our Build A Better Back Online Program that kicked off July 7th and if anyone is interested in learning more about that you can reach out to us (Instagram, Facebook, Email, phone) or click HERE.
We have a Low Back Webinar coming up at the end of the month. It is titled, “Long-Lasting & Simple Solutions to Kiss Back Pain Goodbye.” We will be coming to you LIVE and will be demonstrating some of things we do often with our clients. These things we will be talking about and showing you are things that seem to be working really REALLY well right now and things that you can take a utilize. You will not want to miss the offer we will have for you at the end of that. This is happening July 27th 6:30-8:00 pm.
Again, this is the month for back pain and we are going to keep rolling on here with the top 10 things to do when you have back pain. These are going to be more tactical and actionable steps. I am going to talk a little bit about what we do a lot. I find that with back pain, there are just way too many things. WAY too many things out there. If somebody out there is coming to you with 1 solution...1 big thing for back pain...or it's their way or the highway, I would probably argue that you turn around and run out of that room as fast as possible. Everybody is different. Everybody’s situation is different. At the end of the day, your back pain is an experience. It is not a concrete thing that all 10 human beings I see in the clinic on any given day have the exact same experience or variables surrounding that experience that will dictate how it goes. There cannot be just one way, and if you know anything about how Motus Rx operates, usually...and a lot of times what is popular cough cough surgeries cough cough cough injections cough cough...is wrong. I am just gonna leave that out there and we will move on to the top 10 things to do when you have back pain. And this is why I am going through 10 things...not just one because we are all different and it is good to have options and take different approaches based on your situation or attitude towards it.
Quick disclaimer before I get started, this is in no way meant to replace or take the place of a medical diagnosis or treatment. I am also not saying you should go out and do this at this moment, I am just telling you the top 10 things that we are doing for people right now who are having back pain. Therefore this is for informational purposes only. I do recommend that you get a good evaluation from a physical therapist that you trust.
THE TOP 10 THINGS TO DO WHEN YOU HAVE BACK PAIN:
LOAD IT. LOAD IT UP BABY!
Most of us, when we have back pain, baby ourselves. We better turn into couch potatoes, not get off our feet, and slap some ice on there and hope that it gets better. We tell ourselves that we can’t do anything for the next 3 days. Of course, I mean that all jokingly with the most respect. The number one thing that we often don’t do is load the back. We completely avoid loading the back. Because this is informational, I am going to have you take this with a grain of salt, but “load it” means a lot of different things. We have to be smart about how we load it. When you have back pain, one of the most common things that we see people benefit from in our clinic is actually getting the individual loading the tissue that is painful, threatened, or that is hurting. You have to be smart though. It is appropriate loading of that tissue. It is not loading up a barbell and pulling weight from the ground of 100 lbs and saying, “lets deadlift the snot out of this.” But deadlifts may be part of it, we just may alter some things and set you up for success a little bit. It might be doing some things from your back, hands and knees, or your side where we are gently/safely/progressively loading the tissue.
When I say “load it”, is just means give it a challenge or a stress. Typically you are going to want to start with isometrics. This means the tissue, or the muscles, are typically under stress but you are not going through a big range of motion. That might just be you taking a band or weight, getting into an athletic position, and holding the weight or the band out in front of you. Your body’s job, or your back’s job, is to make sure that the weight or resistance does not move you.
So LOAD IT. That is the #1 thing. Very counterintuitive, but I cannot tell you the number of times that somebody has gotten back pain that they have been dealing with for 2-3 weeks or even the last 48 hours and they come in and we challenge the core, back, and system with a little bit of loading...and they walk out 5 times better than they walked in. A.) because the tissue is getting some pump and circulation, and use and B.) we start to build the confidence that, “I’m not broken after all.” Load it! That is the #1 thing to do when you have back pain. Obviously, within reason and consult with your local expert or with us. Just a reminder that all of these things to do are subject to change. I am creating this last as I see things right now for the sake of today’s blog post. This is all subject to change and things that we are doing right now quite a bit.
NEEDLE IT! DRY NEEDLE IT!
Try dry needling. If you haven’t heard of it, we don’t know what rock you have been living under, but we use it quite frequently. A lot of people are using it. It is the greatest thing since sliced bread for physical therapists and any practitioners that are working with individuals who have muscle pain. I am not going to go too much into the details of what dry needling specifically is, but I will say that the great thing about dry needling is that it is a very novel stimulus to the body. It is a new stimulus to the body. Sometimes when we get injury, pain, guarding, or are fearful we need something to come in and basically put the fire out.
The other cheesy analogy is to “reboot the computer.” We need something that is going to take that fearful and guarded tissue and help it rebound, bounce back, and reboot. Therefore we can move as quickly as possible back into number 1...loading it, or whatever it is we want to do from there. Dry needling is a very effective strategy. It is not for everybody. It is not for every situation. It does not cure acne. It does not cure cancer. We are finding it to be very beneficial for putting out that fire early and then bringing that person back to what they want to do as soon as possible. #2...NEEDLE IT!
#3 POP IT! CRACK IT! MANIPULATE IT! (whatever you want to call it)
We still do love a good ole fashioned spinal manipulation or for lack of fancier terms...cracking your back. It does not have to crack or pop, but have somebody or something else come in and provide a quick stretch to the area (the low back or mid back) and producing that rapid pop (cavitation - where your spine actually cracks/pops) helps relax the tissue around the area. Physiologically we know a crack, in our world (and I mean this with the utmost respect) we are not putting anything back into place, realigning anything, or changing the curve of your spine. We are simply relaxing the muscles around that area creating a little bit of a window of opportunity for muscle relaxation so that we can go back and load it, move it, or do what we want to do with it.
The spinal manipulation that we do with individuals (cracking the back so to speak), produces fluid exchange at that level. I am not going to get into white paper and studies today, but we do know that at the different levels of the spine with spinal manipulation we create fluid exchange. This creates hydration in the area, it hydrates discs, it helps any things that are kind of bathing in those nasty biochemicals, and it helps flush the system with some positive fluid f you will. #3, we still do love our good ole fashioned spinal manipulation.
I will say if #2 (needle it) and #3 (crack it) is all that somebody is doing with you and you do not have a good strength plan, home program plan, or someone helping you progress your movements in your exercise and all they are doing is relying on needling and cracking, as much as we love it and use it, you might be missing the boat on getting the whole picture to get all the back to the transformation you are looking for.
This is a huge one, and I think it’s talked about a lot but I can’t believe how much we are coming across it in our clinic right now. #4 is BIOMECHANICS.
Now biomechanics is….oh boy....I have a love/hate relationship with biomechanics. Our job always for individuals is to have thoughtless and fearless movement. We want individuals to be able to move without thinking, move with confidence, not overthink every single little thing that they do, or not the classic “bend with your legs and not your back or your SOL.” There is an element of biomechanics we need to look at in terms of higher level sports and higher level activities.
The common one that we are seeing a lot with our golfers and our crossfitters is the simple idea of stacking the spine or creating a canister (creating a canister from your pelvis to your ribcage). That canister needs to stay stacked and appropriately pressurized as we do different movements. A classic one for a lot of our individuals who take on barbell work and weights, as they start hinging or squatting, they lose the mechanics of that area (that lower back, pelvic, or rib area). They lose appropriate pressure or neutrality of that spine, of that area. They then have energy leaks. If you imagine a can of soda (not that we promote drinking soda here) when it is full and the top is on, you have good pressure and it is really hard to move that can. It is hard to bend, shift, or twist it. As soon as we pop the top, we lose a little bit of the pressure inside and we are actually able to start bending that can a little bit. That is just the analogy that we will see with a lot of the individuals that are having back pain. The biomechanics are just a little bit off. There are a number of reasons that might be, but ultimately their biomechanics are off. They lose pressure and they lose energy which can sometimes lead to dysfunction and pain in the back.
Watching biomechanics and getting with someone who is good at identifying and understanding movements and recognizing these things when they are happening...they might be important...they might not...but having that ability to identify that and have a conversation about it is really important. #4, watch BIOMECHANICS.
5. #5 is LAY IF YOU MUST, BUT MOVE OFTEN.
Lay down and take a load off if you must, but still make sure that you are moving often. That could be a number of things. Even if you are going to stay non-weight bearing on your back or side, make sure we are still getting some general movement from side to side while you are on the ground, laying in bed, or on the couch. If you have the ability to, the ideal is to get up and move around your house/area and not become a couch potato. Even though it hurts, even though we have pain, even though we might have had a recent injury or chronic situations...one of the worst things we can do is just become an object that stays at rest.
The trouble with laying or sitting is not the position of laying or sitting, but the fact that laying or sitting usually promotes us to lay or sit for longer and not move. We know you have to take a load off, you have to destress, you have to catch your bearings a little bit...but even in those moments, make sure you are moving frequently. The longer that you stay at rest and you’re not moving, the more we decondition and the more likely we are to stay in that state and get caught in this negative cycle. The number 1 thing that I see, well maybe its number 5 or 6, but people take on a short term compensation for pain. This means they have pain, they start to lay down and de-load, they protect and guard, and it is a short term compensation which is usually good because our body as human beings does not want to do something stupid and take on more pain and more stress. So our body kind of shuts it down. This is a good SHORT TERM compensation. When it becomes a problem is when it becomes a LONG TERM compensation. Now we are really really in a bind. That's where I say, lay if you must but make sure you are moving often.
6. This potentially needs to be #1, but #6...TALK TO SOMEBODY.
Having pain, especially back pain, is one of the loneliest things and places to be on earth BUT I guarantee you that you’re not the only one out there that has it and I guarantee you that there is somebody out there that has it worse. I mean talk to somebody, not like us...because that is coming down the road...but talking to a friend, loved one, somebody who has been there, or support groups. As much as Dr. Google, Dr. YouTube, and Dr. Facebook drive us a little bit insane, there's plenty of people out there (people and practitioners) that might be able to help you to get it off of your chest to see who else is going through a similar thing and what they have tried. It always helps to talk to somebody.
If you get into a situation, make sure it's not just a pity fest (and I mean this with respect). There has to be somebody that can tell you their experience and tell you some actionable steps that helped. It has to be somebody that is willing to be there to support you and not just talk crap with you about how bad life is. You have to make sure that the individual you are talking to is going to have some actionable advice and is going to give you something that will objectively help you.
7. #7, another simple, but amazing one...WALK.
I kind of talked a little bit about it in #5, but #7 is WALK. Walking is what we were designed to do as humans. It is actually built into us like a hardware operating system where we will do this in our sleep...some of us literally sleep walk. It is ingrained in us. Usually walking is somewhat doable (unless you are really really in a bad situation). Walking is a natural thing for us human beings. The more things that we can do that are natural to us, and we were designed to do, the more we get into a normalized situation after an injury. So that is kind of the mindset and the psychology aspect of understanding things that we are designed to do that are normal or natural to us to help us out of these situations.
The other physiological side is that walking is so incredibly good for your back. This is because of weight shifting from one side of the back to the other, hips flexing and extending, and having these spinal segments that are kind of gapping and compressing rhythmically as we walk. Very similar to when I give someone a crack or manipulation, walking does a very similar thing to the back, just not to that degree. It just is those tiny little mobilizations or movements, if you will, that help hydrate those areas, promote circulation, and normalize movement so that maybe we are not as fearful and guarded in those areas.
8. MOVE YOUR HIPS.
The hips are these ball and socket joints that are attached just below the back and center of gravity...get those ball and sockets moving. The more that you can promote movement and mobility of the hips, typically the happier your back will be. Much like walking, the hips were designed to move. If we can move them, we do not necessarily have to over stress the back while we are moving our hips, but we get something that is directly attached or the next link in the chain from the back. It gets those surrounding areas moving so that the back is a little bit happier.
9. Very very similar to the hips, but the segment just above...our thoracic spine. MOVE YOUR THORACIC SPINE.
The 12 segments that sit above the low back and our ribs attach to were also designed to be fairly mobile. A lot of times we get stiff and guarded in those areas either creating back pain or from back pain. The thoracic spine is an easy area to move and we do not have to over stress the lower back. If we can move the thoracic spine and we can move the hips, then the low back that sits between those things is probably bound to be a bit happier. The things above and below it are designed to move and move fairly well, and if they are moving fairly well, then again, the low back feels a little bit closer to normal. Those are some actionable things. Hips and thoracic spine you can do a lot of movement in non-weight bearing positions. You can do movements when you are laying down and moving the knees side to side, upper back rotations, open books...all these things that you can do where your low back does not have a lot of stress or movement. These movements are usually very appealing in those early stages of back pain.
10. The 10th thing that you can do for back pain, low back pain, or when you have back pain is...for the love of all that is good and holy in this world...PLEASE GET EVALUATED BY SOMEBODY WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING WHEN IT COMES TO BACK PAIN.
I would take it a step further and say somebody that knows what they are doing with back pain that is not jumping right to extreme measures. Somebody who is not jumping to MRI’s, injections, and surgeries. Again, I mean this with the most respect to the individuals who are in those fields, but most of the time (90-95%) back pain is a mechanical nature. It means that it is just something that is not quite right, but it is not anatomically wrong. If you go down the road of MRI’s, injections, and surgeries right off the bat without addressing the conservative...again 9 out of 10 individuals might be going down a path that was not necessary. Therefore it is really important to get evaluated.
Most people are not improving their back pain because they are not addressing the underlying why. They are trying to put a bandaid on, address the symptom, or cover the hole when the foundation and support itself is falling apart. Make sure you get a good solid evaluation from somebody who is going to be able to help you figure out the why behind this, get a plan in place, won't sugar coat stuff, they are not prescribing you 1-2 sessions but they also are not prescribing you 800.
I hate to speak in generalizations, but usually if somebody says that they are going to get your back better in 1-2 sessions...they are full of bologna. If they tell you that you need 800 and you have to sign up for this 2-year plan...ehhhh probably full of bologna too. Again, I apologize because I hate to speak in generalizations, but at the end of the day I don’t really apologize because I don’t really think that any of those extremes in most cases are not in the right place or mindset to get to what you need to address. Find somebody who is going to objectively evaluate the why and give you a realistic plan that sees the transformation through and is not unrealistic on one end of the spectrum or the other.
That is the top 10 things to do when you have back pain. That is as we see it right now. I am sure there is about 80,000 things more, but those are the top 10 things that I typically will go to that I am finding most effective, common, and least often addressed when someone is having back pain.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful week. We lost game 1 of the NBA finals...I am a big Milwaukee Bucks fan. I was a little pouty and a little bit out of my element about it, but it's just entertainment. It is just a basketball game. I am just happy the Bucks are there and have had such an awesome season. If you follow any of the great sports that are out there, I know the Euro Cup is going on, baseball is headed into the dog days, training camp is coming up for NFL, hockey is still Stanely Cup so there is a lot of good stuff happening there.
Most importantly, I hope everyone is having a great summer and great week. If you have any questions, please reach out to us. We are happy to help. Be on the lookout for our Build A Better Back Online Wellness class. Also be on the lookout for our online webinar at the end of the month. This is a low back webinar: Long-Lasting and Simple Solutions to Kiss Low Back Pain Goodbye.
If you are interested in getting evaluated for the first time by Dr. Eric Wallace, you can schedule a FREE discovery visit by clicking HERE.
If you enjoyed blog, be sure to check out:
Our free “7 Tips to Relieve Low Back Pain” report
Our “How to Cure Your Back Pain Hangover” blog released last week
Listen to our podcasts on spotify or your favorite listening device.