There is a reason you are supposed to change the oil in your car every 3,000 miles. I am not saying I do, but at least that is what they tell you. Let’s be honest, I am not perfect. However, in my physical therapy clinic, I make this reference to my patients all the time. They come in complaining of pain, yet, structurally there is nothing wrong with their joints, tendons, or muscles. Structurally, they are completely healthy, but they are suffering from chronic lower back pain. They have tried every stretch and exercise in the book with no luck.The reason goes deeper than the tissues and joints. It even goes deeper than movement patterns and muscle activation. The cause of their pain is inflammation of the nervous system and the compression of the nerves that run throughout your body, neural tension.
Nervous System Sludge
Your brain and spinal cord fire directions to your body through neurons. The body is filled with receptors that accept the messages, perform the actions, and then report back to the brain how the body feels. This process is happening millions of times throughout the day without you thinking about it. Stress, or any external stimulus that your body must combat, creates inflammation in the body. This inflammation is stored in the tissues. As the inflammation grows, it compresses the nerves that run through and around your joints. The result is called neural tension and acts like oil sludge clogging your nervous system. Compressed nerves block neurons from reaching their end receptors and your brain recognizes danger. The brain’s response to danger, since it wants you to be safe, is to stop you from completing that action. The easiest way to do this is send the pain signal and make that movement hurt so you do it less. At The Low Back Fix, my online rehabilitation project, my colleague Anders Varner has taken a deeper look into neural tension, its relationship to pain, how you can lower inflammation in your body.
It is so simple to get stuck in a downward cycle of self-doubt. You set our expectations high, aim for the top, and when the results are not exactly what you expected, you start to think you did something wrong. It was your fault and you are the failure. The mental stress that you carry throughout the day is stored in your tissues. The brain and the body are not mutually exclusive, they are partners. A healthy mind combined with a healthy body creates an empowered life of wellness.
As a doctor of physical therapy, I see the results of mental stress exposing itself in physical pain daily. Far too often, low back pain is the symptom of excessive stress stored in the body as inflammation. This inflammation wreaks havoc on nerve structures, connective tissues, and the way the brain communicates with the body. As the problem compounds, the physical pain becomes its own source of mental and emotional stress, increasing the physical pain is a vicious cycle. The brain and the body are a cohesive unit that flow together through the communication channels designed by the nervous system.
Physical and Mental Freedom
The brief, “I can’t, that hurts my back,” Is the very first step in a slippery slope of tearing away your freedom of mind and body. The Warrior way is the way of freedom. Freedom of mental and physical suffering. To achieve this freedom, you must start at the base of the Physical Freedom Pyramid, start with healing the mind, body, and its communication device, the nervous system. By beginning with the nervous system, focused on the breath and down regulation, you can eliminate the inflammation created by the mental and emotional stress.
As you gain confidence, developing an understanding of tissue and joint health, strength, and conditioning will empower you take accountability for your health and wellness. The Warrior way is wellness in mind, body, and spirit. My colleague, Anders Varner, has published an article discussing the healing process in search of physical and mental freedom. The path starts with wanting to be your best self, not perfect, but showing up truly caring about your self-development. This article is mandatory ready for connecting and healing the mind and body.
Warriors, mental and physical health is not done individually. Wellness requires a full team. Dealing with chronic pain requires a back pain exercise treatment plan that is more than just the physical, but mental too.
What is your first reaction when your body or mind experience trauma or injury?
Of course, you go to Google to find the answer.
Have you ever found an answer you liked? For me, I instantly get freaked out by the pictures or the harsh language as attempt to “self-diagnose” my symptoms.
Injury + Google Self Diagnosis= FREAKED THE “F” OUT!
It only took me a short, five years, but I have solved the curse of the Google self-diagnosis. The answer to fixing 96% of all musculoskeletal injuries, general anxiety, or depression is mindful movement. Only 4% of all injuries are traumatic and non-preventable (Dr. Kelly Starrett). Your injuries and anxiety have been lurking in the background for months. They did not appear overnight. Repetitive, poor movement patterns and lack of self-care creates increased injury risk and chronic stress.
If you had a weak link on your team, would you say something?
Would you transfer them to a different department and push the problem to someone else?
Or would you sit down with them, find out why they are not doing a good job?
In my business, I want to lead from the front and would create an action plan to help fix their behavior.
Back Pain Exercise Treatment Plan
Your body is the same way. When injured, do you want to rest and do nothing, put a band aid on it with pills and injections, or take action and find out why it happened? If you want the latter, keep reading.
It is not the pills, rest, ice, massage, e-stim, needles, adjustment, or endless talk therapy that is going to give you long term healing. It is identifying and fixing the faulty movements and thoughts. From there, taking physical action to fixing the cause of your mental or physical injury.
Read more to find out what the research says about movement, mindset, and YOUR low back by clicking here.
I was recently asked to go on the Don Lemon show on CNN nightly news and discuss the current Marine Corps scandal of a facebook group of active duty and veteran male Marines exposing without consent naked pictures of their fellow Marines who happened to be women. I agreed to do this, and therefore have formed my opinion with thought as well as deep emotion as the Marine Corps is supposed to be part of my family. In this case and many cases prior, my family has failed me and many other few men and many women who have been the target for sexual harassment, abuse- online, at war, and in the comfort of their own country. Whats is going to take to change this?
Here are my main thoughts on the issue and how this issue of extreme sexism, group think, criminal activity should change. Send all the Marines involved to an island by themselves and let them rot. Anyone who gets involved with exposing another human being for the sake of “getting off” can also go to this island. Yes, I realize this is an extreme opinion, but would it change things? Actually, here are some of my deeper thoughts on this scandal/issue that must be addressed…..
First, the Marine Corps and all military services are a small entity of society. All its members are pulled from our civilian ranks at some point. What has happened with the face book group and nude pictures recently is NOT new news, and honestly is a direct result of how we see women in our society- sex objects, less than, weak, not as powerful, easy to abuse. Most boys are raised to be macho, brave, and are trained to think throwing, jumping, being like a girl, or beat by a girl in anyway is stupid , weak, and not acceptable. Most girls are raised to feel more fragile, in need of more protection, and not brave. If a girl does beat a boy in some physical battle, she is seen as heroic, if she loses it is seen as typical.
It is no different in the military, just more exaggerated as there are far few women in the military than men. It has been ok for a very long time to undermine, put down, and see women as the weaker gender (and I am not talking just physical). Look at the battle of the integration of women into combat roles. The Marine Corps drug their feet for a while before they accepted this change. With the group think mentality that is STRONG in most military services, the domination, degradation, and mentality of putting a seen weaker gender down is the norm. When this does NOT happen it is an amazing thing. Unfortunately few leaders have taken initiative to actually make it a priority to change this way of thinking.
#1: Changing this sexist mentality towards women must start with how we raise our children. You better believe I will raise baby Larson to respect women and see them as an equal.
Second, this current episode of online criminal activity is due to a lack of troop welfare in the military, specifically the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps takes mission accomplishment seriously, yet troop welfare not so much. Last year, the Marine Corps and all other services integrated women into all combat arms units. This integration has not been easy. This is history in the making, yet the Marine Corps has not taken it seriously and fought tooth and nail to not have this integration happen.
Inevitably by not making the integration of women priority, such as having specific training’s Marine Corps wide on the importance of equality, counseling individual Marines and units on the Code of Conduct and creating space to work on the integration of women was and is a huge mistake. The Marine Corps and even our society still does not fully respect the abilities women have to make a company or unit successful. Studies show having women in executive or leadership roles lead to more diversity which also lead to higher performance and increased return on equity.
Despite the success women bring units and companies, the most important thing to think about is women are human beings; human beings who want to serve their country, company, or provide for their family like everyone else. If the Marine Corps truly did care about the human beings they say they are making into leaders, then they MUST put the well being of their Marines first. I would hope that the Commandant of the Marine Corps General Neller has personally reached out to every woman who was exposed in this latest criminal activity. If not, he is NOT brave in my book and has no regard for the human beings who fight and work for him.
#2: The Marine Corps – like our society – needs to make equality and the care for the human beings, more specifically the women, who represent them a priority. If they do not do this, they will continue to fail and hurt the very people they promised they would take care of.
Third and final point, I am personally saddened and feel betrayed by my own family -o the Marine Corps. These 30,000 men in this facebook group have no excuse (and PTSD is NOT an excuse). I am a health professional who works with those who have PTSD and mild traumatic brain injuries from their time in service. Unless they have a frontal lobe dysfunction or level V on the Rancho Los Amigos TBI scale of function then there is absolutely no reason for this behavior. As a matter of fact, someone with a PTSD, depression, service connected disabilities other than what I have mentioned previously have no excuse. They have full control of their ability to demean others and do ignorant and hurtful things.
#3: Having PTSD is NOT an excuse. I am personally saddened as the Marine Corps is a part of my family.
Sadly, the young women exposed will suffer severely with or without the comorbidity of PTSD due to this gross act of injustice. So what about these women? Has the Marine Corps reached out to them? Has there been extensive effort to get these women the MENTAL health care they deserve? If not, the Marine Corps has failed yet again.
While this latest episode of injustice is NOT surprising to me, I do believe change can happen, but at the motivation must come from God or faith, bravery, and the respect for human kind at its core.
Photos/ References:
1. Little Girl: http://bit.ly/2mjYYRH
2. Business Insider Article: http://read.bi/1V19GU7
3. Woman at Conference Table: http://bit.ly/2n42PRi
Women in Iraq/Afghanistan: http://bit.ly/2ncfTDo
Have you ever felt out of control, lost, stuck, self-conscious? Have your emotions been on a roller coaster, had constant heart burn, the inability to use your abs or move the way that makes you feel good, and the inability to eat normal meals due to your stomach feeling squished?
These are just some of the things that have come up during my pregnancy. You are probably thinking to yourself, “how fun!” For those of you who are reading this who loved being pregnant I truly am happy for you, that is a gift. If I said that I am in love with being pregnant…well, I would be lying. Going through pregnancy has been one of the most challenging internal struggles I have had in a long time. While I am excited about the outcome, I feel a bit out of control which is a very vulnerable place for me.
You see I am a go getter, a breaking the glass ceiling kind of woman, doing her own thing, who suffered with body dysmorphia and an eating disorder called bulimia for many years in her 20’s. Thankfully I had reached a place of self- love, a healthy eating pattern, and a healthy body. I had developed a rhythm of life that kept me healthy.
Then pregnancy hit. At 35 after trying for 1.5 years, my husband and I did get pregnant, but ended in a miscarriage at 8 weeks. While this was a challenging experience, I knew deep down that I COULD get pregnant which was a really nice feeling and a total blessing. 3 months later, I was pregnant again.
While my husband and I were so excited and thankful, the challenging journey of pregnancy began for me. Changes happened that were not all comfortable. In the first trimester I was hungrier than I ever had been in many years. It was a kind of hunger that could not be satisfied, and this was uncomfortable for me as a former food addict. I had felt this kind of hunger and craving for food as a suffering bulimic. However, this time it was different. I knew that I needed to eat, and that I was keeping my food in, not letting it go. I knew I was feeling this way not because I was seeking a release (purge), but had a growing being inside me that needed nourishment too.
As you can probably imagine, I also started gaining weight rapidly from eating more which did not help my feeling of being out of control. When I would throw hints at friends or colleagues about the eating, most of the advice was simply, “just let yourself eat Theresa; this is the time you are free to do what you want; don’t worry about it.” While I appreciate this advice, this is tough for a recovering food addict. I do not want to just eat whatever or let myself go. I want to be healthy.
In my 2nd trimester my appetite returned to normal, at which point the food fears were replaced by a different obstacle. During our 20-week ultrasound, the sonographer and physician could not see a number of necessary brain structures. The prognosis was a strong likelihood of significant development disabilities, and we were then shepherded to a room where our termination opens were presented to us.
I wanted to kick myself because going into this ultrasound I was almost cocky, just as I would be going into a game that I was over prepared for and knew I would win. Knowing how healthy I was I felt nothing could be wrong with my child. Needless to say, this news threw both my husband and I for a loop and caused great sadness. While we held hope, there was so much varying medical information out there to read; it was overwhelming. I often didn’t want to get out of bed. Feeling that a loss may happen, or may not, left me feeling very low. I had already lost both parents and a lot of my extended family, I was not sure what another loss would do to me.
Thankfully the next set of tests we requested at 23 weeks were deemed normal and the chances our child was healthy improved significantly. The cloud of stress and sadness was nearly lifted. A level of anxiety persisted, and we forged onward.
My 3rd trimester rolled around and my belly got big, the clothes much tighter, and my maternity wardrobe grew. My movement slowed, I could not eat very much due to limited space, and my mind scattered. The demands on me at work have not slowed, but have increased due to some exciting opportunities that add to my anxiety. In a time that I need to be preparing for birth, I am not. When asked in my birthing class how I bond with my baby, I made up my answer. Because besides random pokes or rubbing of the belly, I had not been spending ample time on this, which was in stark contrast to all the other Moms in the room.
As a new Mom with an unborn child, I realize that even with not feeling as prepared as other Moms, struggling with the highs and lows of mood, the discomfort of eating at times, the weight gain, the anxiety…this is an amazing time and opportunity in my life that is a gift. Despite all the struggles, what is happening is a gift. While I do not LOVE the process of pregnancy, I love the opportunity and the end product – a child. I love what this child will offer the world and to my husband and me, and what we can offer it unconditionally.
While loving the process of my pregnancy is not realistic, loving the purpose behind it is!!
It is the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and there are lots of 5Ks being run and walked, new PR’s in the Barbell for Boobs ‘Grace’ workouts, and many other events that raise money and awareness for breast cancer research. As someone who lost her mom to this disease, I am a huge supporter of this month’s activities that get people out sweating for something meaningful. As a Human Performance and Physical Therapy professional, I am a huge supporter of individuals performing at these events with proper techniques. Since so many of us will be showing support with our feet this month, let’s talk about keeping those puppies healthy!
At Movement Rx, the majority of our clients are tactical, adaptive, CrossFit, and higher level athletes. Some of our patients’ normal days are to walk 10-15 miles, run miles in the sand, or carry awkward objects and bodies. But it doesn’t take these crazy lifestyles to wear your feet down. Whether you’re a mother of three, a gym owner, an adaptive athlete, an office worker, or a navy SEAL, if you’re reading this you can understand why feet are a huge deal. In my parlance, keeping your feet healthy means having good foot mobility. Specifically you want the capsule, sliding surfaces of the muscle, connective tissue, nerves, arteries, and veins as mobile as possible. So here is the question:
How do you know if have good foot mobility or not?
The answer:
You can see it in your own movement, and you can probably feel it as well. Perhaps you are already feeling the lagging factors of pain such as shin splints, a tight or tender Achilles tendon, plantar fasciitis, bone spurs, or tingling/numbness in your toes. If you have ever experienced any of these, you should probably check your foot mobility. (Important note: If you are having nervy symptoms in your feet, such as numbness and tingling, it may or not be coming from your spine, so that is something you would want to get checked out if it remains after trying the tests below.) Below are five easy tests we use at Movement Rx that you can use to see if your ankle and feet are ready to carry you pain free through life.
1. Test your squat! Can you squat, feet forward- butt to feet without having your feet turn out?
This shows you which side might be more limited. It’s not uncommon for one foot to turn out the lower you go in the squat.
2. Can you sit at the bottom of a pistol with your foot forward and hang out for at least 30 seconds without falling over?
This indicates whether you have full ankle range of motion on a single leg
3. Pinch your toes and see how quickly the blood flow comes back into the toes.
This is a quick test for capillary refill of your feet. This test can show the rate of which blood refills empty capillaries. To measure, place your foot above your heart, which prevents venous reflux and press the press the soft pad of the toe until it turns white. What is important is the time it takes for the color to return. If it takes longer than 3 seconds to refill with color, it may be an indication you are dehydrated, so drink some water, give it 10-15 minutes and retest. If still longer than 2-3 seconds, then see your primary care physician.
4. Can you Jump Rope for a minute without any discomfort in your feet, knees or hips?
This stresses the dynamic nature of your feet and the elastic ability of your connective tissue – such as collagen, muscles, and tendons – that work together around your leg and foot. 5. If you perform the fight club stance (Dome your feet or lift your arches to let feet flatten), does one move more than the other?
This tests whether you get full pronation and full supination.
What is vitally important to understand is what reduced range of motion means for your performance over time, and how it will turn your feet against you! a) Proprioception – Neuromuscularly, you have nerve endings in your joints and soft tissue that relay all information about the muscles, bones, and ligaments to the central nervous system (your spinal cord). These are called proprioceptors or mechanoreceptors, and your feet and ankles are full of them. Proprioception is your body’s ability to understand your own position and movement. Your feet are the one area of proprioception that is in contact with the ground, meaning they are crucial in detecting any changes in physical displacement (movement or position) and any changes in tension or force within the body.1 Immobile feet mean worse balance and reaction time, lower speed, and less load amongst other things.
b) Pain – Pain is a lagging factor, and usually what we see in the gym or on the field are more chronic conditions of immobility or lack of stability and motor control that can lead to acute sprains, strains, dislocations, and tears. The most common chronic inefficiency is limited range of motion (immobility). Even if the pain goes away, you still need to help the tissue to heal properly and improve the underlying immobility. Whether it is capsule, muscle, or ligament, you need to heal the tissue through performing movements under appropriate loads, over an appropriate time, with appropriate mechanics, or that pain will come back. If you are diligent you can make gains quickly and improve, but that does not mean jumping back into the same loads, prior to injury. You need to work up to it!
Here is what Movement-RX prescribes to take care of your feet on up! 1. Go after your foot’s joints first, hours before your workout, and or often during the day.
Note: There are 33 joints in the foot, so you do not have to tackle them all at once, and actually just go after positioning, following KStars lead:
2. Downward Pressure of hand on heel with foot in a neutral position
:
2. Go after the soft tissue that impacts the foot: You want to do this after your WOD/exercise or after a hot shower or soak in the hot tub
3. Perform proprioceptive neural facilitation techniques throughout the day
Contract and relax of the calves. Activate the front of your shin (anterior tibialis) by pulling your foot up towards your shin for 5 seconds, then relax and physically pull/push your ankle further into this position (dorsiflexion).
It takes time for tissues to change, folks. Most people will see immediate short-term improvements with the above, but don’t expect that your immobile tissue will change quickly if you sit at a desk every day or have moved with poor form for a long time. On the other hand, the more you get out and work on yourself, your positioning, your form, the better.
So enjoy running, walking, and lifting for the Cure and remember to take care of your immobilities before they become the chronic pains in your heel, foot, shin, and knee.
To learn some good stuff about pose running, check out Brian Mackenzie’s videos. Maybe you can start next months “Mo-vember” off with some pose running drills!
The reason goes deeper than the tissues and joints. It even goes deeper than movement patterns and muscle activation. The cause of their pain is inflammation of the nervous system and the compression of the nerves that run throughout your body, neural tension.
