I’ve been training for my 3rd marathon testing my theories about foot mechanics by running in Chuck Taylors (Converse) shoes. And no, I’m not sponsored by Converse! I’m up to my 20-mile runs and am feeling very good about my foot strike mechanics (although wish I was a faster runner!). I’ve had no, foot, knee, hip, or back pain since switching. Previously, I would always have to correct a pelvic rotation which contributed to back and hip pain but no longer. I’m feeling very good about my new theories regarding our walking (running) patterns.

Yesterday saw a woman with bunion problems and we were able to temporarily reduce the size of her bunions by changing how she stood. Now the trick will be to get her to walk better, thereby correcting the mechanical issues, I believe to be behind her foot, hip, and back pain issues. I’m really enjoying experimenting with this as I believe our anatomy supports my theory. Of course, I have a lot to learn, however, to tweak it and make it applicable to everyone.

Earlier this summer I flew out to California to be interviewed about back pain on The Holistic Success Show. I had a wonderful time meeting Dr. Puff, Elizabeth, and the crew. They really made me feel at home. Feel free to check out Episode 38 if you’d like to hear me speak about back pain. Feel free to contact me with your thoughts!

I recently saw a woman who had a history of sharp stabbing back pain for about 40 years. I performed my evaluation and gave her the exercises to correct the issues I found. She felt relief but still had occasional stabbing pain. I asked her when this happened and she told me it was after sitting in a chair or getting up from bed. So I evaluated her sitting and lying habits and made a few changes. Today she told me her pain was 98% gone–in one week.

To me this highlights the importance of addressing how you do things as much as what you do. She happened to have a hypermobile spine which made it difficult for her to stabilize well. She was out of touch with her body and couldn’t connect with her abdominals to stabilize the pelvis or spine. So focusing on habits such as how she stood up, sat down, slept, and worked at her desk was where we were really going to make a difference quickly. She was amazed.

This was deeply satisfying to me because she came to me a couple years ago with back pain and I wasn’t able to make a big difference in her pain. Now I know why. I didn’t focus on the things she did 99% of the day and instead focused on anatomical problems I found. This was a good lesson for both of us!

I just had a fun interview with Ruhe Fitness who is doing an audio series about back pain.  You can check it out at this link if you’re interested.

http://ruhefitness.audioacrobat.com/download/RickOlderman-FixingYou_net.mp3

I’ve had several emails from people who have purchased my book on back pain. They’ve written me to say they have identified the cause of their pain and are just beginning to fix themselves. This alone has been a huge weight lifted from their shoulders after hearing multitudes of diagnoses and theories from specialists. This makes me very excited because once you understand the cause of your pain, you can take the necessary steps to fix it. I’ve outlined how to understand the causes of back pain and these steps in my book. I’ve made it as simple as possible.

I feel like a parent witnessing my kids take their first unsure steps! Yes, there will be some wobbling and mistakes but if they stick with it and think about the underlying causes of their pain, they’ll be not only walking but running before you know it! It’s very exciting and satisfying to know I am making a difference in these people’s lives whom I’ve never met.

I wish I could be there to guide them personally and make sure they do all the right things. In a way, I can. I just had my first Skype session with someone who purchased my book. It went quite well. Better than I expected. Ideally though, I hope readers feel they can go it themselves. I think it’s important to understand that everyone has all the tools within them to fix their back pain.

Back pain, like other areas of chronic pain in the body, is really the result of poor movement habits. These movement habits though, are often accompanied by anatomical and biomechanical problems feeding, and fed by, these movement habits. This creates a cycle of chronic pain that needs to be broken at these three levels.

If you talk to enough people (or visit enough websites), you’ll find someone who swears by Pilates or Yoga as the end-all-be-all solution for their chronic pain. And rightly so. These disciplines take the body through positions and movements that it normally wouldn’t go through. This is what has helped those with chronic back pain. I’m a big believer in these two disciplines and any others that responsibly help people feel and understand their bodies movement habits or functional deficits.

What you don’t hear about, are those others who were not helped or even made worse by their experiences with these disciplines. Yes, there are many. So, how is it that the same movement philosophy, and even the same instructor, can be the cure for one person and not the other? The answer lies in a lack of understanding of functional anatomy as it relates to movement and chronic pain.

Ultimately many practitioners have only a general idea of how the body moves or how specific muscles work. But they don’t understand how that movement, or lack of it, exactly relates to chronic back pain (or pain elsewhere in the body). So typically you are taken through a series of moves that are exactly right for your problem and others that are exactly wrong for your problem. In the case of back pain, most pain can be boiled down to either excessive arching (extension) of the lower spine or by excessive flatness (flexion) of the lumbar spine. I’ve posted a 1-minute test on YouTube to help you figure this out. Of course there are varying degrees of these problems and reasons contributing to them but you’ll get the idea using this simple test.

If you look at a typical Yoga or Pilates repertoire, you’ll notice that about half the exercises involve stretching the spine into extension while the other half stretch it into flexion. So by the end of your session, you will have done the perfect exercises for your back pain–and the wrong exercises as well. That’s why so many receive temporary relief of their pain but it always returns.

In addition to being a physical therapist, I’m a Pilates instructor myself and am not picking on these disciplines. They can truly be just what the doctor ordered–if the doctor understands exactly what your problem is. Many do not, however. Fortunately understanding the roots of your pain are quite simple. Once you know why your back hurts, you can hone your workouts to focus on those exercises or poses that directly correct these issues and avoid those that contribute to it. Finding an instructor that understands these root causes can be a beautiful experience of letting go of pain and fear of movement and reclaiming your life.

I think we are all thoroughly confused now with all the advice on back pain bombarding us every day!

So you’re going to figure out why you have pain right now. It’ll take 60 seconds. Really. Get out your watch and time yourself while performing this very simple back pain test.

Lie down on your back on a firm surface. Straighten your legs out and stay there with them resting on the ground for 30 seconds. Don’t forget to time yourself! Now bend your knees with feet flat on the floor and stay there for 30 seconds. No cheating! Just 30 seconds no matter how good it feels! If there was no difference in your back pain then hug your knees to your chest for 30 seconds instead.

If your back felt better with the knees bent (which most people do) then your pain is the result of too much arching in your low back. Bending the knees and flexing the hips flattens the spine and reduces the arch. All you need to do is not allow the back to arch so much.

If your pain felt better with your legs straight, then your problem is due to too little arching in your low back. Straightening the knees creates more arch in the spine. All you need to do is make your back arch more.

Simple.

Sound too good to be true? It’s not. Back pain is due to a very basic problem of the lower spine either arching too much or too little.  It is this fundamental problem that is at the root of all back pain. “But, that’s too simple! It can’t be that easy!” you might say. It is–you just proved it to yourself.

“But, I have disk bulges, stenosis, degenerated disks (insert your diagnosis here)!” you might counter. Well, how do you think those problems got there? The body’s tissues respond to abnormal stresses placed on them. Excessive extension or flexion of the spine creates abnormal stress. A lot of it.

Don’t take my word for it though. You just did the test. Did your back actually feel better with your knees bent or straight? If your back could feel that good all the time, would you be happy? That’s all the proof you need to know that something is inherently right or wrong for you.

The trick is, getting your body to hold on to that good feeling. Turns out there are a few simple things you’ll have to do to make this relief last. First, you must remove the stresses pulling your spine into either too much extension or too much flexion.

Then you must strengthen the muscles responsible for maintaining this ideal position. Strengthening them without removing the stresses affecting the spine will not fix your pain. That is because the stresses pulling the spine into extension (or those creating too much flexion) are much more powerful than any strength program you could create. There’s just too much leverage acting on the spine.

Lastly you must identify the habits that are contributing to these first two issues and, therefore, pain. Luckily there is one neat little book that outlines all these principles–mine!  Fixing You: Back Pain will explain all of this to you in plain English including how to correct the stresses creating too much extension or flexion, the proper strengthening exercises and which movement habits are likely contributing to your pain. I also include free videos of all of the exercises in the book on the Fixing You website.

“Sounds like a lot of work,” you might be thinking. Wrong. Many of my clients are 50% better in just one treatment. It’s not uncommon to eliminate back pain altogether in two or three treatments.  Your body doesn’t have to be perfect, it just needs to be better than it is now.

In 60 seconds you’ve just learned the core of your problem. Don’t you think it’s worth it to take this a little bit further and see for yourself? I understand your doubt (see my blog, Chronic Pain & Chronic Doubt, just a few articles down from this one). Read my testimonials and you’ll see others who have been helped by this very simple way of approaching and treating the spine.

Whatever you decide, I truly wish you the best in your search for answers. I understand your pain and frustration. I work with people just like you all the time. They are better and you can be too.

Search any health or fitness magazine and you’ll see how important core strength is for back pain by virtue of the number of articles devoted to the subject. In fact, there are over 30,000 search hits each month about core strength on Google. Fitness instructors and medical professionals all espouse the benefits of core strength for chronic pain. Then why do we still have back pain? After all, many of you have been subjecting yourselves to endless abdominal exercises for years and still have that nagging pain. So, if it were a matter of just strengthening the core, we really shouldn’t be reading another word about back pain–but we do.

So, obviously core strengthening is not the key to fixing back pain–or at least how it is traditionally taught. Back pain stems from a functional problem with the pelvis and spine. Most back pain can be categorized into three root causes. All of these causes take into account the pelvis’s relationship to the spine.

What I mean by this is that, for various reasons, often the pelvis is tilted either forward, backward, or sideways. The spine then adjusts for these pelvic positions compensating in the opposite direction. For instance with an anterior pelvic tilt (where the pelvis is tilted forward), the spine will then compensate by bending backward or extending more to maintain an upright position. This increases lumbar lordosis (the inward curve of the lower spine) creating a spine that, more or less, becomes stuck in this position. During normal daily activities the spine moves maintaining this new posture.

This is the essence of why core strengthening doesn’t work, in and of itself, to fix back pain. Because the core is strengthened in a position that reinforces the original pelvic and spinal alignment causing pain. Don’t get me wrong, it’s possible to stumble upon the right way to strengthen the core and help relieve back pain. That is why you’ll read of so many people who were helped by one particular method or another. But remember, at least as many people have not been helped by it or have been made worse. You never read about those people.

When I look at yoga or Pilates exercises for back pain, they are usually taught in a series. If you look closely, half of the exercises in the series does one thing to the spine and half does the opposite. That is why they can sometimes be beneficial, because half the time you’ve happened to do the right thing for your spine. But that’s also why they don’t really help the spine, because half the time you’ve happened to do the wrong thing for your spine.

Probably more important than core strength is understanding how your daily activities are contributing to your back pain. After all, you spend far more time at your job than you do strengthening your core don’t you?

Now, I know a lot of you will think I’m just plugging my book here and I am–for the purpose of helping you understand exactly why you have back pain and what to do about it. The key to developing a core strengthening program that helps your back pain is to first understand why you have back pain. Sounds pretty obvious doesn’t it?

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!

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!