{"id":23639,"date":"2019-02-18T08:39:17","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/?p=23639"},"modified":"2019-02-18T08:42:21","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:42:21","slug":"exercise-not-helping-back-pain-not-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/all-mfn\/exercise-not-helping-back-pain-not-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Exercise Not Helping Your Back Pain? It\u2019s Not You, It\u2019s Your Strategy!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe whole is greater than the sum of its parts.\u201d \u2014 Aristotle<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You have back pain, and you\u2019re determined to beat it.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been to your doctor and received pain and anti-inflammatory meds.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been to massage therapy to relax the tight muscles.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

You searched the Internet for \u201ccore\u201d workouts guaranteed to relieve back pain.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been to physical therapy, and you were given exercises to help strengthen the area where you feel the pain. One of these methods is bound to do the trick . . . you\u2019re feeling hopeful . . .you\u2019re on your way!<\/p>\n

Fast-forward a few weeks or months: you find yourself still managing the same pain, the same tightness, the same problem. You\u2019ve diligently performed your exercises and stretches on the area that hurts, but it still hurts. Or even worse, maybe the pain has \u201cmoved\u201d: now your hip hurts, too. The problem is clearly not being solved.<\/p>\n

Sound familiar?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a frustrating situation. I\u2019ve been there, too. I see it every day in my practice as a Muscle System Specialist\u2122 at Physicians Fitness<\/a>. I hear new clients\u2019 frustrations, anxieties, and fears on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

Maybe you\u2019re wondering, \u201cWhat do I do now?\u201d<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been prescribed medication, exercise, and a myriad of methods to \u201cstretch\u201d and \u201cloosen\u201d your muscles . You\u2019re already doing all you can to solve the problem . . . right?<\/p>\n

Maybe not.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not your effort that is lacking; perhaps it\u2019s the strategy <\/em>of solving the problem that\u2019s in need of some tweaking.<\/p>\n

The Systems Approach<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The human body is a miraculous vehicle, certainly greater than the sum of its parts. Part of its genius, in my opinion, is in its sophisticated setup for communication within itself: <\/em>the body is one continuous, cohesive system with a built-in mechanism that allows for every part to be aware of, and work with, the other parts to achieve the goal of operating efficiently. The field of engineering refers to this as the \u201cSystems Approach\u201d.<\/p>\n

Your body is not simply a set of individual parts, welded and bolted together, with each operating blindly to the others. Your body grew together from its conception; it is impossible to tease out one part from the next without disrupting another part in some way. The body operates by interconnection, interaction, and interdependence<\/em>. The operation and movement of your body is based on extensive collaboration. Brilliant!<\/p>\n

This concept is amazingly powerful when applied to an analysis of the human body, especially as it relates to pain, dysfunction, and movement control.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example: Which muscles are responsible for you raising your arm into the air\u2013 the way you intend it to\u2013 <\/em>and waving to a friend nearby? Trick question . . . they all are. Even though your arm is the part of your body that\u2019s doing the active motion, all of your body\u2019s muscles need to work to pull off the movement: your shoulder and trunk muscles work to support your arm; the muscles of your neck, back, hips, legs, eyes, and feet are working to keep you upright and stable while negotiating with the forces of gravity and the ground; your other arm stays down at your side. In executing any movement, you need certain parts to move well, and you need the other parts to do the job of not moving<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Every body movement is a whole-body task<\/em> that requires an internal, whole-body solution<\/em>. Your muscles are an interacting, interconnected, interdependent system, constantly communicating back and forth to work together to create and control movement. All of your muscles are involved in one way or another in any bodily event.<\/p>\n

Conversely, an issue with low-quality muscle function in any area of your system has the inherent potential to affect the performance quality\u2014and your brain\u2019s conclusion about how you feel\u2013 in any other area of your system.<\/p>\n

This concept of understanding the body provides the underpinnings of my approach as Certified Muscle System Specialist\u2122<\/em>. When I apply the Systems Approach to the human body, it opens up a new set of options in how to work, and negotiate, with the body in order to identify and resolve problems that cause nagging pain and low- quality physical movement.<\/p>\n

But I digress . . . you still have back pain. Let\u2019s discuss a new strategy.<\/p>\n

Part Two Coming Next Week!<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Originally published on Physicians Fitness. Republished with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Jessica Cahen, M.S., CMSS, ACE-CMES, RTS is a Course Facilitator for Exercise Professional Education<\/a>, a rapidly-growing Continuing Education company for exercise professionals, offering the Certified Muscle System Specialist\u2122 course as well as custom-tailored CEC courses for groups upon request. <\/em><\/p>\n

Jessica holds a Masters Degree in Clinical Exercise Physiology and the Certified Muscle System Specialist\u2122 designation. She has also earned the distinction of being one of only a handful of ACE Certified Medical Exercise Specialists in the Midwest. She practices as a Certified Muscle System Specialist\u2122 at Physicians Fitness<\/a> in Columbus, OH.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You have back pain, and you\u2019re determined to beat it. You\u2019ve been to your doctor and received pain and anti-inflammatory meds. You\u2019ve been to massage therapy to relax the tight muscles….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":278,"featured_media":23529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[172,54,134,193],"class_list":["post-23639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-mfn","tag-chronic-pain","tag-exercise","tag-fitness","tag-healthy-aging"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/278"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}