How to Cure Back Pain – Introducing Movement Resilience

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Welcome to the Back Pain Solutions Podcast – How to Cure Back Pain. Introducing Movement Resilience

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Introducing Introducing Movement Resilience

In modern society how many people can honestly say that they move with freedom and confidence? Do people really feel they have the capacity to execute movements, whatever they may be, without being concerned that they may injure themselves in the process? How can people get to a position where they feel they can move with confidence, and feel strong within themselves? These are the questions we answer in today’s episode of the Smartstrong podcast.

In this episode we introduce the concept of movement resilience and what we mean by movement resilience. We discuss how people can take back control of their back health, and prevent future issues, by becoming resilient to movement. We highlight how people can start to build movement resilience into their daily lives, and where they can go for advice to support them on the journey to becoming a stronger version of themselves.

What is movement resilience?

Movement resilience involves an understanding of the key movements that help to support good back health and building the core strength to support activities of daily living which will prevent your risk of injury to the back. If we learn to keep the back in neutral, and develop the key movements to support this then it is very difficult to damage the lower back. Whatsmore, if the same rules are applied during recovery from injury then there is no reason why everyone can’t recover from a back injury. This should be reassuring to the reader but it involves effort.

Too many people are unaware of the negative impact their daily activities can have on their back health. We’re simply not designed to live the lives we are leading and without action the back pain epidemic will continue. We are designed to move but we need to do so safely.

Show Highlights Introducing Movement Resilience

Everyone has the ability to develop movement resilience and develop healthy habits to improve their spine health. With the correct advice there is no reason why someone should continue to suffer but involves patience, and effort, on the part of the patient.

Interview Transcription for Introducing Movement Resilience

Ben James 0:00

When we’re young, we move with freedom and confidence with a great resilience to injury. Somewhere along the line, we’ve developed poor habits and become more vulnerable to back pain, smart, strong features, evidence based and practical advice to help you take back control of your health and get back to the activities you love. This is your guide to better health. So join us as we demystify some of the commonly held beliefs about back pain. build your confidence to a stronger bank, the smart Hello and welcome back to Back Pain Solution podcast, everybody where we’re here to help inspire and educate you to build a better back through movement.

Today’s podcast is all about what is movement resilience, and what are we talking about when we say movement resilience? Where do people start? So I guess the first question Jacob is what is movement resilience? You know, when we’re when we’re mentioned in that term, what what are people need to know.

Jacob Steyn 0:52

I think a lot of people are maybe a lot of people have had chronic problems and they they get used to the idea that getting up in the morning is a drag. They have issues with picking up children or, you know, doing small jobs and I think the term movement resilience is, is probably describing the fact that you’re able to do everything without being cautious and being hindered by by by lifting your kids the idea that your back can support you and you’re going to enjoy it. And you can enjoy your movement. describe that as movement resilience.

Ben James 1:35

Yeah. So you almost got the confidence in everything that you do movement wise, whether it be lifting something small off the floor or lifting from the cupboard, you kind of do it. You can do it without thinking, shall we say, because you’ve got the confidence in your, in your movement and your resilience to to I guess injury?

Jacob Steyn 1:55

Yeah, absolutely. And I think but not taking away the understanding of How to do it properly, of course, but enjoying your body and knowing that, you know, you feel strong and you can you can attempt anything that’s within your power.

Ben James 2:10

Yeah, and I guess, you know, for a lot of people listening as we, as we discussed before, there’s going to be a lot of people drawn to the podcast because of current back pain or previous back pain. But this is also I think, important for those people that have never suffered, you know, because we know that the lives we lead, as we’ve mentioned before, and the sedentary nature of the lives that we lead, and the work that we do is increasing that risk of back pain. So there’s also a, an element of movement and resilience that is, you know, for people that would consider themselves Okay, at the moment in terms of prevention, but again, like you say, it’s about overall confidence, whoever that person might be.

Jacob Steyn 2:52

Yeah, there’s always a first time which means, you know, I’m not wishing upon anybody but people coming to me with a bad back problem. Quite often haven’t had really any bad back problems in the past. So the idea of movement resilience also goes towards having, you know, making sure that you’re not actually this is not overcoming you at some point. So, yeah, yeah.

Ben James 3:20

Yeah. And I think, like you say this, when people do come in with back pain for the first time, it’s kind of like, Well, why have I got back pain? Whereas for us, it’s often the case of well, don’t be surprised you’ve got back pain because of X, Y, Z that we’ve discussed before. I think again, it’s back to back to that education and back to that knowledge base that people need to know that what they’re doing wrong and and why they need to be working towards this resilience, if they’re to be, I guess resilient to injury over the long term or recurrent.

Jacob Steyn 3:58

Yeah, I’m not only what their what they could potentially do wrong, so they prevent this from happening. I think that’s that’s a big deal these days, because we know very well that we’re not living in an ideal, ideal world for our bodies. And quite often we ask way too much, way too busy. And so if we, if we understand this and we take some steps to make sure that we’re moving towards this movement resilience that we’re talking about, then we can very well prevent a back injury or bad episode.

Ben James 4:32

Yeah, and just jumping in on that point there. I think, you know, is always prevention is always the, the best approach, isn’t it? I mean, it’s, you know, less, less costs, financially, emotionally, you know, pain, etc, etc. You know, if you’re, if you’re aware of this in advance of any problem and you’re, you’re building towards resilience, as with other things dire, etc, etc. Then, and you’re far better place than then dealing this when dealing with this when you have a problem.

Jacob Steyn 5:07

And I think for a lot of people, they might be a runner or a cyclist or do a sport where they’re not actually lifting things like we do, and we do powerlifting weightlifting, but you’re always using your back. And so maybe you have an office job, you’re sitting a lot, and every now and then you go on a skiing holiday. So you do a long, long drive for 10-12 hours. That’s what we do here in Europe, to the to the Alps. And so, then understanding what you can do to prevent this these episode these things you do to become a problem with your back. I mean, that’s very handy. Very helpful. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Ben James 5:46

Yeah, absolutely. No, absolutely. And and I guess the, you know, the natural next question there for people is, so where do I start? You know, I’ve I understand what you’re saying I understand that I need to be taken back control, whether I’m Back Pain already whether I’ve suffered from it in the past, whether I’m actually okay at the moment, but I want to prevent back problems because someone in my family’s had it, all these different questions they buy into it, they understand the principles of it, what’s the first thing that they they should be doing?

Jacob Steyn 6:21

The first thing you could do is start with very basic exercises. I think we’ve discussed this before. And, but basic exercise, I mean, usually we start with very low intensity, lots of reps. And our purpose there is actually just getting the neural drive the communication between the brain and the right muscles, which is going to give you the stability, which we’ve also discussed many times by now and previous podcasts. And I think that’s a place where you start to just that you don’t jump into the deep end and and hope that your body’s going to do it. Well. The thing What we want to avoid is jumping in the deep end and developing developing compensations.

Ben James 7:06

Yeah, and I guess the, the natural question for a lot of people there is, so where can I go to do those exercises, because there’s going to be people that are fitness enthusiasts or gym goers already or sports people that are going to be, I guess, more confident in reading online and doing their research in order to be doing the right exercises, where there’s going to be other people that that don’t have that knowledge, don’t have that enthusiasm, maybe maybe don’t even have the time with other things to do that research. So, you know, should for example, people go to somewhere like CrossFit or other exercise classes or gyms to go to specifically focused on this area of, of movement, I guess.

Jacob Steyn 7:58

Yeah, I think that’s a good Question men because there’s a sea of information and I would stay clear of most of it so. And I, when I give the core lessons at the gym, I always asked before the lesson, how many people here who are starting CrossFit, because at the very beginning, when they started, they do the on ramp course. I ask how many people here have back pain and usually the out of 10, maybe sometimes even more, hands up. So and what quite often happens is these people continue with CrossFit and actually develop even worse back problems, some other some of them resolve their back pain. But in my view, if you have an issue with your back, or if you just want to build movement, resilience, CrossFit quite often and most of the times actually not a good place to start.

Ben James 8:55

So now you got a so we got to be we know the cross It has been very good for a lot of people we know that, you know, certain principles that are fantastic. But, you know, unless you again back to that baseline that foundation, he’s just running that risk of just doing things to high intensity and losing losing the focus on form. But also there’s a there’s maybe a layer before that in terms of,

Jacob Steyn 9:20

Yeah, yeah, there’s that there’s absolutely a layer before that, because quite often in the same as the same goes for an hour CrossFit gym. You know, you get in a group, you get taught the general basics of how to lift something and how to squat. But I think the real understanding of how your core works, and that’s all that’s also the reason why I give it the core lessons. And I think that’s the fundamental base before you would even start learning to inch through the hips or or do a squat, pick something up, but I think the fundamentals are actually the understanding of how the core works. And that’s what once you know that and you apply that that’s where you get your your real movement resilience.

Ben James 10:04

Yeah, so I mean, you, your CrossFit gym is quite unique in that you have that, that kind of two stage course, as part of the onboarding, as you call it, so part of the induction process to the CrossFit gym. So not every CrossFit gym is going to have that and certainly not every standard gym is going to have that especially some of these new gyms that are kind of all access 24 hours, you can go when you want, you know, the the level of instructors there or the number of instructors there is going to be limited. So I guess the natural question is, for those people that don’t have that luxury or that they don’t have that CrossFit gym or even if there is that CrossFit gym in the area, but they’re not certain of this kind of core onboarding, should we call it and what are some of the questions that maybe they Start with an approach in a CrossFit gym a standard gym, just to get an understanding of the knowledge of the instructors to at least allow them then to know when they enter these spaces. Do I need to do my own research or my own knowledge in advance of using the facilities? Or can I get the guidance to help me at the outset?

Jacob Steyn 11:27

Yeah, I think that’s very individual depending on the on the on the gym, as you just mentioned, but I think and that’s what we discuss with the trainers as well as across the gym is to when people start, ask them, not only Who here has back pain, but who who are here to fix their back pain, or their back problems. And so people to you, so you as a trainer or a therapist, if you’re working if you’re working in a gym, so you’re clear Who here has back problems and who here have the intention or the expectation to fix their back. And that gives you a much better overview of who you’re dealing with. Because, you know, instead of just putting everybody through all the exercises and pushing them a little bit to do it, now you work with a lot more care. And quite often what was what we do is we follow a system then where if we see it not going well that people are spoken to, and we have like a an hour that we sit and chat with them, and then maybe they get referred to me. So then we really peel back the layers and we go back to teaching them the true understanding of the very, very basics. And so in that way, we try to build up. We try to build up their capacity to continue with CrossFit.

Ben James 12:51

Yeah, and I suppose that’s, that’s always the kind of utopia you’d like in the sense that you’re kind of coming at it from an instructor’s View of asking those questions of the of the customer. She says the customer enters and you’re, you’re asking those open questions to get an understanding of what their goals are and how they got back pain have they suffered back problems for somebody that’s going into a gym that that doesn’t have that kind of level of insight or or that approach in terms of identifying some of these some of these factors? Should these should, should customers really be confident enough to challenge the gym, the instructor, whoever they see, first of all, when they’re when they’re maybe looking at a facility to us and ask them about kind of a core core training or education around the core? Because that’s, that’s kind of the first step really, isn’t it? In terms of building resilience, it’s focusing on that core having an understanding That core, how it works, how it operates and what exercises a should and shouldn’t be doing to keep that back in alignment and and focus on that, on that core musculature, if you like.

Jacob Steyn 14:15

Yeah, that’s, that’s a very good question. It’s also quite difficult because a lot of people will be, you know, they’re confronted with the idea that they’re starting this new sport, and they have to do their best to live up to expectation, you know, to others, but also their own. And maybe they come from a seated seated job background, and you know, they want to make a change. So I think the last thing that they really think of, is it are these specifics that we’re pointing out, even though these are probably the most important thing you have to think of when you start doing something like a, like a lifting sport or CrossFit.

Ben James 14:56

Yeah, absolutely.

Jacob Steyn 14:58

I think that I think that I think people have to just be aware and ask and you know, they have a legal in the back there to speak to the trainer. And if then if they you know, you have to be vigilant and if you don’t have the, if you don’t have the feeling that you’re being taken care of here and you’re just putting being put through a series of exercises, and sometimes quite often in a CrossFit gym being challenged, to go faster and harder, then you’re probably in the wrong place. And, and you need to be very careful that you’re not going to get injured. Is that something you want to avoid? Not the reasons therefore.

Ben James 15:38

Yeah, I think you know, from a personal point of view, I always feel that there’s a, the kind of a missing link, really in in this kind of chain of, of management of back pain because you you know, naturally or if you experience back pain, you’ll either go and see your doctor or you might see the chiropractor or the osteopath or the physio first or your be referred to those and then, you know, in between that it feels like there needs to be a rehabilitation focused gym before you know, the CrossFit gym or or or other and and there’s no kind of accountability I suppose from a lot of these gymnasiums to to focus on some of these fundamentals, these foundations that that really are up a pretty important when you consider the risks.

Jacob Steyn 16:31

Yeah, I think that thirdly, I agree there were we discussed this growing off and the you know, there are a couple of obstacles there I think one is people people come to across the gym they have the expectation to start now you know, even though you’ve been they come in, you tell them look, there’s an on ramp course you have to follow for four weeks and then you have to go to to Jacob for two core lessons spread over two weeks. That’s already a big step for them before they can start doing the Taking part in the woods. Yeah, so, but that that’s good, you know, we’re talking about actually working on the basis of your movement. And maybe it will take you a year to move properly and to understand the movement. Because if you would start CrossFit, it might take you a year before you really develop some strength in the right places, and, and so on. But that means that a lot of people will be put off by the idea of developing this sort of strength in the space. If they then have to go and do that for a year long and then start CrossFit. So yes, I mean, that’s the one obstacle but it’s very true. And we all know if you start a new sport, it takes it takes you a while before you actually start doing it properly.

Ben James 17:49

Yeah, now and I guess we’ve got to, you know, acknowledge and appreciate that. Some of these people have made the decision that right I’m going to get healthier and you know, I want to take back control. They might not fileted want to lose weight or they, you know, they want to look better, that’s often the motivator behind going to the gym. So, you know, like I say those those motivational factors are more based on how I look how I feel, and, and and losing weight rather than they are moving properly. So there’s a there’s a bit of a disconnect there with what they perhaps should be doing and what they actually want to want to be doing, if that makes sense. But there’s always going to be a challenge, I guess, in in trying to get people to buy into this principle at the outset,

Jacob Steyn 18:37

And people are looking for the fun factor. And but I think two things that would be important if you start across the gym, I think the one is that you you got to have a good feeling about the guidance. And and feel like you know, it’s not you know, they’re not playing in the band and telling you to pick up ridiculous amounts of weight in front of 400 meters within on the one side of your body, you know stuff that’s really going to pull your spine, off center. And with little guidance, I mean, that’s something you have to look out for, have a gradual slow start, especially from the trainers perspective. And the other thing to look out for us is simple adaptations to different body types. So if everybody’s doing exactly the same thing, for example, pulling from the ground when they do deadlifts, or cleans or anything with a bar from a from a deadlift position, there’s just no way everybody could be pulling from the ground because we know that some people are not going to be able to keep good form on their back and forth from the ground. So you, you have to have a feeling in this gym that they’re actually catering for different body types. So for example, having blocks that you can stack on top of each other, raising the bar from the ground, so something would not be pulling from the ground is, in this case, the only real way to do a proper deadlift or you know what I mean? Yeah. Without without without straining the back. So these little things matter, and I think that’s something you have to look out for.

Ben James 20:17

Yeah. And I think, I suppose the message really for anyone listening that is thinking, I mean, I guess the audience listening really are are the ones that that will take the advice and, and look at the foundations because they’re more likely to have suffered from back pain, you’re more likely to, to be wanting to resist future episodes of back pain, rather than you are that individual that hasn’t suffered and is just looking to him proof. You know, a lot of those people that are just going to join a gym or join a CrossFit gym, on the people are necessarily going to be listening to this podcast unless they’re a new fusee asked around this this kind of subject, but I think the message really for those guys listening is, you know, like with a lot of things in life, you know, there’s no quick fix, you know, there aren’t any get rich quick schemes, you know, there, there’s no way of doing a, you know, a diet that’s gonna, that’s going to help you lose weight immediately and keep it off in the long term. You know, it’s it’s kind of taking that long term approach, having that long term vision and setting yourself the kind of the goal of overall strength and health and wellness. And laying those foundations at the outset, are are the first step but also, I think the important message or one really important messages by doing that your overall performance at somebody like CrossFit or the gym in general, is just going to be so so much better, because by focusing on the core and the foundations and building progression, Core strengthen core insurance, the the impact that will have on on activities such as CrossFit or other sports is is pretty significant. I think we both agree.

Jacob Steyn 22:13

Absolutely. And, yeah, and, you know, I mean, I know from my own experience, building core strength for 50 years. It’s not something I it’s not something I developed in a couple of months. It took me years to get to the point where I felt like I’m strong enough to, to, to to, for example, contact sport again.

Ben James 22:35

Yes.

Jacob Steyn 22:37

So it’s it. I think it’s, I think people have to understand, just like you said, not only that has better to do with over the long term, but also that you should give yourself time and you should use you think about a commitment that that that is worth allowing yourself to take the time because this takes time.

Ben James 22:58

Yes, yes. Really well, you know, you shouldn’t be looking at this as a short term fix anyway, this should be something that you really buy into for the rest of your life. You know, this is something that you know, like with with healthy eating and anything else, you know, this has to be a long term lifestyle decision rather than it just been I’m going to do this for a while because I want a six pack for a holiday for example, you know, that’s not that’s not the aim is the wrong call. You know, it’s focusing on laying those foundations and be not been been healthy and strong over the longer term. So I guess at this stage that that might seem a little bit frustrating for some people in that, you know, there’s there’s no clear answer in terms of the the approach to take with with your gym or a CrossFit gym or wherever it may be. You train in terms of getting that advice because it is going to differ. There are going to be different levels of instructor within these environments, and really it’s up to you to, to do a little bit of learning and educate yourselves a little bit like with with some of the resources, we have to at least give yourself the confidence that the exercises that you choose in a correct and give yourself that bit of knowledge that when you’re in a gym setting and you’re asking advice from an instructor, or you’re getting an introduction to a gym, that you have that level of knowledge to just ask them some questions and get advice that you can trust. Rather than just take their advice as as gospel as it were, without a level of knowledge because it’s too easy to rely on others. And as we say, there’s no accountability or formal kind of guidelines. It seems out there. For gymnasiums to kind of onboard or introduce people to the gym, particularly with regards to back pain and back and back exercises and back health so you got to be careful out there. And I think the same you know, questions can be raised for for someone that is going to see a practitioner because again the assumption is they know exactly what they’re they’re talking about whether it be osteopath, physio or chiropractor? Yeah, so are there I guess some questions there that people can ask when they’re going to get advice because if you’re going to go and see someone someone and that is trained as a chiropractor, osteopath, physio you’re you’re you’re likely going to be suffering from back pain. So let’s say I’m, I’m suffering from back pain. I’m going to approach a practitioner because I need some help. Quite often the case will be on suffering. Can you fit me in? Yes. Can great, I’ll come and see you. We wouldn’t buy any other product in that way.

Jacob Steyn 26:06

No, we were thinking about a little bit more.

Ben James 26:09

We’d ask questions. I think, you know, if you think about buying, exactly, you know, if you’re going to buy a car, if you’re going to buy a Telly, if you’re going to buy a laptop, you’re always going to ask a lot of questions, you know, and the difference there is you might not be desperate, okay, some people are a big TV fans and the TV might break in the next episode of their favorite shows on and that’s that might seem desperate to them, but let’s be honest, that’s not desperate. But if you’re suffering with pain, then the likely response particularly if it’s a significant, you know, disc injury that’s just a sudden onset, you’re going to want to see someone immediately as quickly as possible and you kind of don’t care who it is. I think the advice at this point is, do care who it is, and ask questions at the outset. In terms of how they’re going to approach your back pain.

Jacob Steyn 27:04

Yeah, I think, what should those questions be? I think for a start it you want to get an overview of the person’s way of working. And you want to ask them, for example, what what is your plan? And is there a movement approach, a movement based approach in the way that we’re going to get the better? I think before you even start with that, you need to ask the person or the therapist, please, can you tell me more about the mechanism of my injury? In you understanding what actually is going on with your problem or your back? gives you a lot of power as a as a patient? Yeah, then I think, I think the next question you can ask, understanding what’s going on is, you know, can you tell me more about the prognosis and And once the prognosis is established, is established, then I think good next question would be, can you tell me more about the actual treatment plan? What What is your approach as a therapist? And I think if you have this information, then you also know what you’re buying. And, you know, more or less what to expect. Yeah. And I think, I think this is very important because if you if you just go with the flow, and especially if there’s nothing being told to you about the mechanism of the injury bus, you don’t understand what really is going on and don’t know much about the prognosis. Then, of course, there’s always a chance you will get better but you don’t really have any power over your problem.

Ben James 28:51

No, and I think, you know, unless you get that clarity, of, of prognosis and direction, you know, there are a percentage of people that They’re gonna suffer from back pain that are just going to naturally get better no matter what the intervention is that they’re just going to get better. Now, that’s not to say that they’re going to stay better over the longer term. And so when you suffer that recurrence, and you suddenly think back, how did I get better? You know, what was the problem? You don’t know. And then it becomes frustrating. And then you start to worry about the risks. And then this problem been there over the long term. So you, you need to, you need to ask those questions. You need to get that insight and you need to get that confidence. Rather than as you say, Jake, going with the flow, you know, it’s far too easy. You suffer from back pain. So from an acute episode, particularly, you’re going to see somebody and you just run with what they’re saying. And actually, you’re not challenging and thinking, well, are they telling me what the problem is or the likely problem, and exactly why we’re taking this approach to get you better.

Jacob Steyn 29:58

And also, if you know what The problem is if you know what’s going on at the injury site, and you understand the treatment approach, and, and prognosis, you, you’re also able, at a certain point if you’re not getting better to, to say that this is actually not working. And I think that’s, that’s where a lot of the power lies. So, you know, this approach is not working for me, based on knowing what’s going on with my back, knowing what we’ve tried. So maybe we should, we should change the approach. And that’s been not only the therapist or practitioner keeping all of this number one as a secret but also not only him or her making the decisions, but it’s actually more a joint a joint venture where both of you make a decision you can discuss these things.

Ben James 30:56

Yeah, no, you know, and treat it you know, as it as it Any other transaction really in terms of a product or service that you’re buying, you know, ask those questions get that insight getting the clarity that you know that the product and service that you are buying is is right for you. And I think, you know, there there isn’t necessarily any easy way to start this journey. Some of it is going to require an investment in in your time to get a at least a baseline level of knowledge. That’s going to that’s going to give you the confidence to challenge instructors and practitioners and ensure that you get the guidance that you feel you need to ensure that you’re taking the right steps doing the right exercises, taking a movement based approach that will undoubtedly help with your back pain in the short and over the longer term. Because this movement prey based approach is very much evidence based and it It works. It’s not a quick fix, but it works. So I guess the take home there is, you know, we were very much focused on the core, we need to get that baseline level of knowledge around the core and the exercises that we need to be doing. And then there’s the early steps that we need to be taking. And that gives you some direction but it also gives you the knowledge to be able to challenge challenge those people that you might be working with, to get help and support. So next time we’re going to be talking about some of the foundations to movement resiliency. Do you need equipment to start with for example, do you actually need to even go into a gym or see somebody for advice? And, you know, what are some of the the exercises that you can be doing? And you know, what happens if some of those exercises are causing you pain because that then will help you to start the journey yourself and give you the call? confidence to start the journey yourself without feeling the need to get somebody else’s input. And that really is, is kind of our purpose is to give you that knowledge and give you that confidence and empowerment to be able to, to do it yourself. Because we know there’s a lot of information out there. We know there’s a lot of bad advice out there. We know there’s a lot of practitioners out there that are not taking this approach. And without taking some ownership yourself. You’re never going to be 100% sure.

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