One of the toughest aspects when talking with someone with chronic pain is feeling their sense of defeat and doubt. The hardest part of helping people with chronic pain is getting them to believe they can still heal their pain. Fear is a big obstacle here. Fear of being let down, fear of hurting themselves, fear of spending a lot of money on another dead end, and fear of getting hopes up only to be dashed– again. All of this contributes to doubt that anyone can really help them. After all, haven’t they visited the best specialists in their fields?

I don’t blame people with chronic pain one bit for their doubts. So many doctors, specialists, therapists, and other practitioners haven’t been able to help them–why should I be any different? They’ve been in pain for so long, it must be permanent–mustn’t it? If there was something new under the sun, surely the word would have gotten out by now–wouldn’t it?

Besides, there was an X-Ray or MRI with a disk bulge, herniated disk, spinal stenosis, degenerated disk, arthritis, or any number of other diagnoses that showed exactly why they have pain. There’s a physical thing causing their pain–they actually saw it!

But is that structural issue really causing their pain? If that was the case, why didn’t surgery help? Why did the pain pop up somewhere else after the surgery? Could it be that the same issue that caused that structural problem is also causing their pain? Could it be that the structural problem seen on the MRI or X-Ray is separate from the issue that is causing the pain? Could it be that the structural problems are instead a symptom of the underlying roots of their pain, borne out in a physical form?

I believe the roots of back, neck, or other types of pain are usually separate from these diagnoses. I believe these root causes create these diagnoses. Here’s why. If these problems were really the source of people’s pain then I shouldn’t be able to make anyone painfree because I’m not a surgeon. How could I possibly help someone with spinal stenosis without correcting the spinal stenosis? The same goes for disk bulges, degenerated disks or any of the other diagnoses mentioned above.

But they do become painfree. They are able to resume their normal life again. In fact they are able to do much more than they could because they are armed with knowledge of their condition and what makes it worse or better. They have the tools to fix themselves instead of being dependent upon me to fix them. Everyone has the ability to fix themselves. The only thing they’re missing is the knowledge to do so.

That’s where my books come in. You are now closer than you’ve ever been to fixing your chronic pain. I know this sounds presumptuous but it is true. My books will teach you to understand your pain from an anatomical, biomechanical, and movement-based perspective. Though it may sound difficult, it is all quite simple. Don’t worry, I won’t overwhelm you with boring technical jargon. I’ll explain it just as I’m explaining this to you now. Besides, I have video clips on the Fixing You website of all the exercises in my books to make sure you get it right. And I am always here to help.

Those of you with years of chronic pain, believe you can be fixed. Know that the answers exist to eliminate your pain. Instead of relying on someone else, rely on yourself. My books will give you the tools to do so.  Suspend your doubts for just a little while. If you have reached this website then you are closer than you’ve ever been to fixing your pain–for good. You can do it!

Thirty spokes converge upon a single hub,

It is on the hole at the center that the use of the cart hinges.

We make a vessel from a lump of clay,

It is the empty space within that vessel that makes it useful.

We make doors and windows for a room,

But it is these empty spaces that make a room livable.

Thus, while the tangible has advantages,

It is the intangible that makes it useful.

Lao Tsu

I have a client I’m seeing for weight loss right now. She’s having trouble dropping the weight even though her workout frequency and intensity have increased. The problem we’ve isolated is her diet and cravings for sweets. She’s an intelligent woman and understands perfectly what she is doing to undermine her weight loss goals. But she seems incapable of making the hard decisions to eliminate her bad habits.

I’ve run into this many times before where a client hires me to help them with weight loss goals. We develop a training program to get them there but they fall apart when forced to change their eating habits. Time passes and nothing happens other than strength or endurance gains. Then, one day–click! It all comes together. They find the motivation to make the right choices and weight melts away. I’ve asked my clients what exactly made them finally commit to the process. Not one of them had a clue other than they just “decided” it was finally time. What is it that triggers people to really commit to their goals? How do we turn on the switch? I think if we could harness this intangible ability, all the fad diets, weird workout equipment, and extreme workout techniques would disappear because everyone would be making the right choices all along.

I’ve had a couple people in recently with back pain. During my evaluation, I noticed the head of one of their femurs glided forward in the hip socket. Both of these people had rotated spines. Correcting the gliding femur head eliminated their back pain in both instances.

I think the mechanism here is that when the head of the femur is in the wrong place, the axis of rotation has changed for the hip joint. While bending over, that axial change then alters how the pelvis contributes to forward flexion, causing a rotating pelvis. The spine then responds to this by rotating as well.

Correcting the femur head tracking not only eliminated their back pain but also increased the range of motion of forward flexion. Suddenly it appeared their hamstrings were longer. In my mind, the hamstrings were never short, it was the altered hip joint mechanics that restricted forward flexion instead.

The body is so fascinating!