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!