An all too frequent situation when someone talks about their back pain is to focus on what movements they can’t do. This leads to FEAR AVOIDANCE. Fear avoidance is the devil! The fear of re injury, turns into a fear of movement and this is what stops individuals participating in activities and movements. It makes sense how fear avoidance happens. Back pain is flared up with certain movements or activities so this becomes the point of focus when you think of your back. The problem is, these movements become part of your back injury, so that means you have a sore back and you have a sore squat movement and a sore bending to pick up something from the floor movement. It sounds a little silly when you say it like that but that’s how your brain views it.
A popular approach to rehabilitating lower back pain is to focus on activating and strengthening individual muscles ie. the glutes or more specifically the glut med. Activating and strengthening your gluteus medius will assist in improving overall glute activation and stability when standing on one leg, however this alone will not fix back pain. The main focus should be on training the movement. Functional body movements completed in a stress free, relaxed way is the key. Once you can train your body to move freely, you start unlocking the fear avoidance behaviors development and the sensitivity to certain situations. It’s almost like meditation for your back.
I have a proposition…What would happen if everyone with back pain changed their focus away from what they can’t do and use it as an opportunity to find cool new movements they can do? There are so many cool things we can do with our bodies, all you need to do is find one movement which can be completed stress and anxiety free. Be creative! Today I re-visited my ballet days from 20 years ago as a way to explore new movements. If you feel stuck and need suggestions I am more than happy to help you find new cool movements that don’t flare up your back.
Building up a base of movements will give you a safe zone and creates a conditioning experience for your body. Once this is achieved the next goal is training movements which are currently being avoided through gradual exposure. However, this is something I will break down more in my next blog.
Keep moving, your body will love you for it 🙂
I would love to hear about any cool movements you can come up with.
Send through any comments or questions to claire@tailoredhealth.com.au
