One problem

3 missed calls.

Who the hell calls anyone these days?

They are all from Dad; on behalf of my Sister Lyndsey. Her back is out. She’s on the floor, scared, the slightest movement could send a lightning bolt of pain down her spine. God forbid she sneeze.

They say we may have 99 Problems until we get sick (or hurt). Then we have 1.

What can I do, over the phone, to help someone who is lying immobile, on the floor, fearing the slightest bit of movement?

Sit back. Relax. Let's have a look at why professional experience matters.

That was weird

I am not a Doctor, but I have listened to Doctors confess that low back pain is a mystery. Some profound insights:

1- Past a certain age we all have significant structural spinal damage (see below). Looking at the chart below… by age 50 80% of us will have disk degeneration (or some other potentially painful problem).

But nowhere near that percentage will have back chronic back pain. The mystery deepens.

A few quotes help make my next point:

“We experience life through our bodies. If we are not able to articulate our life experience, our bodies speak what our minds and mouths cannot.” - Dr Gabor Matte

“What is in us, must out.’ -Hans Selye

“Pain is produced when the brain feels threatened and is trying to enact behavior change.” - Dr Eric Cobb

Some pain comes from trauma. Hit your hand with a hammer or roll your ankle and you’ll get the predictable jolt of pain.

My Sister had no such moment with her back. She wasn’t dead lifting, or running, or practicing karate.

But she does have a stressful job. And it was Christmas, which last I checked, can be fairly stressful.

That in (stress) needs an out (pain). To quote Dr. Cobb again, ‘typically these pains arrive in areas of the body that are poorly mapped (by the brain)’. The low back doesn't have much innervation (mapping). Nor do other chronic stress areas like the knees or neck.

Was back pain her brain’s method of demanding behavior change? I can't prove it, but it’s a likely story.

Because there isn’t any fresh tissue damage she should be able to get out of pain quickly.

What to do?

She’s on the floor; she can’t move well; and I’m on the phone with her. What can I do?

I have her move her right ankle in a figure 8. She’s able to sit up without pain. Next I have her draw figure 8’s with her right index finger; then move her right wrist in a circle.

The moves work. She stands up and walks. Tenderly. :60 seconds ago this would have meant excruciating pain.

She’s back to having 99 problems.

She continues doing these three simple movements for a few days. The pain subsides.

Move your ankle, wrist and finger to help your back. Riiiiiight. Youre gonna have to trust me. There is a neurological explanation as to why these movements help (we're upregulating her cerebellum by doing ipsalateral complex movement in proprioceptively rich joints. Obviously, right.).

Pain is 100% unique to the person, so is the solution. Some people need 1 movement, some need 101, some need a month of 8 hours sleep. Miraculously my first guesses panned out here (one of my better Professional moments).

That weekend we have a birthday party for our Sister Jamie. People keep asking me about getting in shape, and what to do about their various injuries. I think word got around that I’ve worked some miracle on Len.

I have this pain in my ankle…

My back is feeling tight after surgery…

What should I do?

I wish there were one simple solution. I don’t have a pill or a one size fits all program. I'm not even 100% right with my own clients’ various problems.

It's an educated guessing game. An often frustrating educated guessing game.

What I have, what the Trainers we work with at Train have, are a set of skills.

Skills we’ve acquired over long careers.

We are a gym for experienced Trainers to operate their own business. Everyone one of us has a story about getting someone out of pain with just a few quick adjustments.

Or getting a big strength or conditioning results with simple tweaks.

It comes with experience; a combination of knowing the body, knowing the client, having trust in one another to make safe educated guesses.