Pain-Free for Life: The Power of Preventative Back Care

Welcome to the Back Pain Solutions Podcast – Pain-Free for Life: The Power of Preventative Back Care

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Episode Introduction – Pain-Free for Life: The Power of Preventative Back Care

When we’re young, we move with freedom and confidence, often resilient to injury. But as we age, poor habits can make us more vulnerable to back pain. Our podcast, Back Pain Solutions, is dedicated to offering evidence-based advice to help you regain control of your health and return to the activities you love.

Lower back pain is one of the most common—and preventable—musculoskeletal issues affecting millions of people worldwide. In this episode, Ben James dives deep into the importance of proactive and preventative care to keep your spine healthy and pain-free.

He breaks down why a bespoke recovery plan is essential, emphasising daily spine hygiene, movement patterns, and a progressive exercise routine to build core strength and stability. Ben also explores the role of chiropractic care, soft tissue work, and rehabilitation strategies in supporting recovery and long-term musculoskeletal health.

Beyond treatment, Ben highlights the hidden dangers of poor posture and prolonged sitting, particularly in the workplace, and how they contribute to both pain and lost productivity. He stresses the importance of education, regular check-ups, and lifestyle adjustments to prevent back issues before they start.

Tune in to learn:
✔️ How to create a personalized strategy for back health
✔️ The daily habits that can prevent chronic pain
✔️ Why posture and movement patterns are crucial to long-term relief
✔️ How musculoskeletal health affects mental well-being and workplace performance

👉 Take control of your back health today! Reach out at info@smartstrong.co.uk or schedule a free call to start your recovery journey.

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Summary

Ben James discusses the importance of preventative and proactive care for lower back pain and musculoskeletal health. He emphasizes the need for a bespoke plan that includes daily spine hygiene, fundamental movement patterns, and a gradual exercise plan to build core strength and stability. James highlights the role of treatments like chiropractic manipulation and soft tissue work in aiding recovery and prevention. He stresses the importance of removing pain triggers, such as poor posture and sustained positions, and advocates for regular check-ups and education to maintain musculoskeletal health. He also notes the high rates of musculoskeletal pain in the workplace and its impact on productivity and mental health.

Action Items

[ ] Reach out to the speaker at info@smartstrong.co.uk or schedule a free call to discuss direction on recovering from lower back issues.
[ ] Consider seeking preventative, proactive care from a chiropractor, osteopath, physiotherapist, or other manual therapist to help optimize musculoskeletal health.
[ ] Implement daily spine hygiene, fundamental movement patterns, and an exercise plan tailored to individual needs.

Outline

Preventative and Proactive Care for Lower Back Pain

Ben James introduces the podcast episode, focusing on preventative and proactive care management for lower back pain and musculoskeletal health.
He emphasizes the importance of a bespoke plan for individuals suffering from chronic or episodic lower back pain, highlighting the role of daily spine hygiene, fundamental movement patterns, and exercise plans.
Ben discusses the effectiveness of various treatments like chiropractic, manipulation, osteopathy, and physiotherapy in aiding recovery and preventing future issues.
He provides examples, such as the mid-thoracic spine’s role in lower back pain and the importance of hip mobility, to illustrate how treatment can help loosen tight structures and improve overall health.

The Role of Treatment and Rehabilitation

Ben explains that treatment, such as manipulation and soft tissue work, is a helpful tool but must be part of a comprehensive rehabilitation plan.
He stresses the importance of removing pain triggers, like prolonged sitting or poor posture, to achieve long-term recovery.
Ben argues that preventative care is crucial for office workers, construction workers, and others in sustained positions, as it can reduce the risk of musculoskeletal issues.
He highlights the high rates of absenteeism due to musculoskeletal pain and its link to anxiety and depression, emphasizing the need for proactive care.

The Importance of Daily Spine Hygiene and Exercise

Ben compares the regular dental check-ups to the need for musculoskeletal health maintenance, advocating for a similar preventative approach.
He discusses the benefits of core training and daily spine hygiene to improve posture and reduce the risk of back issues.
Ben suggests that regular soft tissue work, mobilization, and manipulation can optimize spinal health and prevent future problems.
He emphasizes the need for a well-rounded approach that includes education, nutritional advice, and exercise to build strength and endurance.

The Benefits of Preventative Care

Ben argues that preventative care can help individuals who have never suffered from back pain by promoting better movement habits.
He explains that education and accountability are crucial for preventing issues, even if passive treatments like manipulation are not always necessary.
Ben shares his personal experience with preventative care, highlighting the importance of maintaining good form and nutrition to stay healthy.
He encourages listeners to consider preventative care to optimize their musculoskeletal health and reduce the risk of future problems.

Conclusion and Call to Action

Ben reiterates the importance of a comprehensive rehabilitation plan that includes preventative care for long-term recovery.
He emphasizes the need for education and advice to help individuals manage their musculoskeletal health effectively.
Ben invites listeners to reach out for free consultations and initial discussions to get direction and support for their back health.
He concludes by thanking listeners for their support and encouraging them to stay informed about lower back health and recovery.

Transcript

Ben James 0:29

Okay, welcome back to the back pain solutions podcast with me. Ben James, I’m doing a solo show today, so I’m on my own, going solo. We’re talking about preventative, proactive care management for lower back pain and musculoskeletal health. So we see a lot of patients, for the majority, that are in pain. So they’re either suffering from acute pain, they’re suffering from chronic pain, and smart songs, very much around chronic, kind of episodic, repetitive lower back pain, with or without leg pain, and those individuals need a bespoke plan. We do a lot with our online program, our online coaching to support people around the world to recover, to rehabilitate from ongoing lower back issues, and as we’ve discussed before, that that involves many different elements, and we got to take the individual into account here, but a big focus on daily spine hygiene, fundamental movement patterns, and then building the right exercise plan so that we can gradually, progressively, grade the exposure to the right and relevant exercise to wind down pain, build endurance, build core strength, stability, and ultimately empower people to get back to the activities they love. The question is, Can preventative, proactive care, treatment, whether that’s chiropractic, manipulation, osteopath, physiotherapy, manual therapists can that a help on the journey to recovery. But also, more importantly, the question today is, could it help prevent an issue in the first place. And I think let’s take the the individuals that are suffering. First of all, I think there’s no doubt, and I’ve seen this in practice. Jake have seen this in practice, individuals that could benefit from some form of intervention, whether that’s just some soft tissue work in the low back muscles. Well, that’s some manipulation at the right stage applied in the right right way. For example, a good example here would be the mid thoracic spine. So lack of extension in the mid back can play a role in lower back pain and issues. So we want to, we want to look at mobility there. We want to look at mobility through the hips. So mobilizing hips, tightness restrictions through the hips can be are certainly very problematic, or can be problematic for certain individuals that are suffering from chronic low back issues. And so we want to look at that kind of distal mobility with respect to the hips. We want to look at good mobility through the thoracic spine, and then, of course, the bracing and the core strength and generating stiffness through the muscles, as well as part of of a good recovery plan. But treatment can help in that instance, in the form of manipulation mobilization, just to help to get some of those structures looser, to get some of those soft tissues looser. But I think the key here is that it’s a helpful tool alongside the right rehabilitation plan. And as I say to any patient that I speak to face to face that come into the clinic, I could treat you every day of the week, but if you’re not doing the right things outside of the clinic, then how are you going to get better? Because if you are doing something, picking the scab is the analogy, maintaining that kind of sensitivity of that irritated tissue as a result of something that you’re doing on a daily basis, whether that’s sitting in a chair for long hours, driving in a car van, whatever it might be. If we’re not removing those pain triggers, identifying and removing those pain triggers, then manipulation soft tissue work, passive treatment of any kind, is not going to help you recover over the long term. It might help with pain relief. It might give you 24 hours, 48 hours, a few days, maybe even a week or so, with the with the right kind of plan of of care, or, I say, the right plan of care, repetitive care, might give you. Relief you might find, yeah, I felt much better, felt much looser, and then it came back after a few days. Or someone will help get on top of an issue for a little while, and then it comes back again. Now that might be months down the line. In some cases, might be years down the line. If you’ve you’ve just suffered a back issue once, let’s say, or a couple of times, you might get that relief, but you are getting a disservice if you are not educated and guided on the things that you should do alongside that. And so I think that we could all benefit from some form of kind of preventative, proactive care to some extent, and I say that because we are not designed to do the things that we do. So you know, office workers sat at a desk all day in unnatural lighting, blue light coming from a laptop, all unhealthy for our for our health, and sitting on your bum all day. Glutes become deactivated. Hip Flexors become very tight, and we’re putting compressive load on the back in a sustained in a sustained way. Head starts to drift forward. Chest gets tight. We get tight through the upper, upper trapezius, and we get this kind of common pattern of postural kind of insufficiencies, balance imbalances that that are really unhelpful, and so having some treatment would probably be helpful to to help alongside an ongoing issue, but also preventatively. And if we imagine the amount of people sat at a desk for hours upon hours upon hours at a laptop, or the carpenter that’s bent over laying floors all day, brick layer bent over laying bricks all day. Van delivery drivers, lorry drivers, we’re all often in sustained positions all day, so that will take its toll. And we do know, if we look at the rates of absenteeism in the workplace, musculoskeletal pain, musculoskeletal issues are the second only to anxiety and depression mental health issues, and we also know that musculoskeletal pain contributes to anxiety and depression. So this is a fundamental issue, musculoskeletal, skeletal pain, and of course, within that, back pain, neck pain, headaches and such like. So I think we should be looking a lot more proactively, preventatively. And we often talk about the story of the dentist. A lot of particularly in the Western world, will see our dentist from a young age. Will brush our teeth, generally twice a day, if not more. We are generally looking after our oral hygiene, and we are generally getting input from a dentist at least annually, if not twice a year. How many people have ever stopped to think why they do that? And I’ll ask patients that, why do you do that? I just, I just do is generally the answer. Why are we not doing that for our musculoskeletal health? Yes, we can be training. Yes, we can do gym work and and applied in the right way that will clearly be helpful for our overall health and our musculoskeletal health, building good muscle strength. And we know as we get old, we’ll get this kind of sarcopenia. We’re going to lose muscle mass. We’re going to then be at risk of falls, and then hip fractures and then, and then we lose our independence. So we we want to be active, we want to be doing the right exercises. But the flip side of that is you’re still going to be for a large part, for many of us, doing things repetitively, day after day after day. And so I think what it involves is a a collective approach, a informed and well rounded approach to looking after musculoskeletal health. So I think what that involves is, yes, doing some preventative, proactive care, and a lot of patients that I see, particularly the upper back neck pain I will see once monthly, six weekly, to do some soft tissue work, to do some mobilization manipulation to optimize spinal health and also musculoskeletal health in the form of shoulders mobilization, hip mobilization, so that we are stretching tissues, mobilizing joints and loosening tension. That can be really helpful, but it always has to go alongside daily spine hygiene,

Ben James 9:53

good fundamental movements and an exercise plan I’ll get everybody to at least consider trying. Try and get everyone to consider doing a weekly if not, if not more, depending on the stage they’re at with pain or or not. Core training doesn’t have to involve a gym. If you don’t like that setting, can be done at home. Doesn’t involve much, if any, equipment, but start to work on that core endurance, that core strength, build better core strength, so that when you are sat, you can be sat more upright, which is healthier for the spine, and you have the endurance to hold you in that position before you slouch through your back. You know within 20 minutes of sitting at your desk of the day. So we know that exercise is important for building strength, building endurance and looking after musculoskeletal health, but preventative, proactive care could be a really valuable tool, if you haven’t considered it already, to go alongside that. So as always, our opinion is any practitioner is doing a disservice if they’re not educating you on your back, health, helping you understand anatomy, helping you understand what are the things that I can do on a daily basis that will allow me to help myself? How can I consider getting in and out of a car better so that long term, it is going to have less impact on my lower back, and that’s clearly much more important for someone that’s suffering from acute, chronic, repetitive, episodic pain, but it’s also helpful for those individuals that have never suffered. If we can be more mindful of how we move before we have an issue, clearly that’s going to be far more beneficial than waiting for the issue to arise. And this is the key challenge. When you’re not in pain, you’re not really thinking about it. It’s only when people come in the door through suffering from discomfort that we get the opportunity, often, to start to help educate them, treat them and manage their musculoskeletal health. And this is the phrase I use a lot now with patients, is I’m here to help you manage your musculoskeletal health, I’m not here to solve it with what I do alone. And you doing just exercises over the long term is fantastic, but not necessarily going to prevent you having issues if you are doing that repetitive thing, day on day on day, week on week on week, month on month on month on month, year on year on year, we’re not designed to do it. We’re not genetically we didn’t genetically evolve to do it. We’re designed to move and and be in very postures. The best posture, as we always say, is a variable posture. So getting up and moving around simple things that on a daily basis will help you to optimize your musculoskeletal health and mitigate the risks of of modern life, but having some form of input, again, whether a chiropractor, osteopath, physiotherapist, doing some manual work, is certainly something to consider preventative. Preventatively, for sure, if you are suffering from pain, possibly, but it has to go alongside that daily spine hygiene education, in some instances, some nutritional advice, and certainly some exercise advice so that you can build better Strength Conditioning and control, because without that combination, ultimately, you’re not likely to resolve an issue, but you might better prevent one, because, if nothing else, it might just be that a little bit of education and accountability that helps prevent the issue in the first place. Might not be the actual passive work, necessarily, but it might be that advice that you get alongside it, but certainly it’s something to consider. I don’t view it negatively on the I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by practitioners that I can get that preventative, proactive treatment, and I enjoy training. So there’s an element of risk when you’re when you’re lifting certain weights, which I understand. And again, my form is very good. I know how to look after myself when I am training, but as I get that little bit older, yeah, I know it’s a little bit more stiffness through the hips. So getting some mobilization, some soft tissue work, some therapeutic intervention, helps to keep me going. My nutrition is pretty much on point. That helps to keep inflammation down. That helps inflammation down, that helps to ensure that I’ve got the nutrients that I need to to remain strong, to try and sleep better, etc, etc, but I would still go and see somebody for a little bit of proactive preventative maintenance care. Should we call it? So if you are kind of sat on the fence, or you’re listening in and you’re thinking, okay, you know, I feel pretty good, but a friend’s had a lower back issue, and I’m listening, because I want to prevent that issue, then consider going and seeing someone and just getting a bit of preventative product to care and explain that to them. You know, I’m, I’m aware that I I’m not designed to sit all day every day. I. Had some back issues, just wanted to come for some advice, and maybe, you know, look at a plan that could be preventative, and also get some guidance on the exercises I do. This is what I do at the gym at the moment. Could that? Could it? Could I optimize that? Could I improve that? Could there be things I could do better if you are suffering from pain and all you’ve done is seen a chiropractor, osteopath, physiotherapist, and you haven’t got a a comprehensive rehabilitation plan plan, then I would argue on you’re never going to properly get better with just that treatment alone. So don’t be just kind of bought into being treated if you’re not getting the input and advice to help you help yourself, because that’s really, really fundamentally important. So I think it’s about getting that that well rounded plan, but for me, preventative, proactive, what we would describe as maintenance care for those that we’ve got out of pain, really helpful. Could it be a really valuable tool before anyone’s had an issue? I’m sure it absolutely could. And for those with kind of the repetitive, chronic, episodic, low back issues that really we’re dealing with in smart, strong it might help. But you definitely need that kind of that, that rehabilitation plan that’s tailored for you to get you out of this kind of whole wind down pain and get that graded exposure. But I certainly think that there is a lot of value in seeing somebody before you have an issue. Let’s better optimize, proactively manage musculoskeletal health, because it is staggering when you look at the statistics within the workplace and the impact it’s having, not on just the individual, but on businesses as well. It is costing an awful lot of money. So it’s a it’s a huge challenge. It needs to be addressed. Preventative, proactive care will definitely be something that will will help with that, alongside the right education and advice, and that’s what we’re here for at Smart strong to hopefully just spread the word a little bit more about lower back health, about how we can help individuals to recover from it, because you absolutely can. If you’re suffering and you feel like you’ve got nowhere to turn. They’d reach out to us. That’s why we’re here. Info@smartstrong.co.uk feel free to reach out. Always happy, to answer emails. Jump on a on a call, free call. Have an initial discussion. Just see if we can give you some direction. We do that quite often at no cost. And you know, a lot of those people are coming back and say, Look, Bucha, do some more input and and we’ve been really able to help them, which is, which is great for us, because it is hugely frustrating for us when we see individuals that have suffered for so long, when we know with the right plan, we can get them better. So thank you, as always for listening. We’ll be back again with another show next week, and appreciate all the likes reviews that we’re getting online. Thanks for listening. Speak soon.