The biggest secret to back pain recovery
Do you avoid daily activities such as
✅ gardening
✅ playing with your kids, grandkids, nieces or nephews
✅ biking
✅ walking your dog
✅ tennis
✅ yoga
✅ pickleball
because of back pain? Unfortunately this might be making things worse.
When you have back pain it can be helpful to rest in the beginning, but you really shouldn't avoid daily activities for too long. By avoiding activities, you don't build your strength and resilience against back pain. The reason your back pain might not be improving could be because you're not moving it.
Sometimes the way to overcome your chronic back pain is "in pain", unfortunately. By being physically active and exercising, you will condition your body and mind to build more tolerance to pain and your back pain may reduce.
Start where you can:
✔️ do your daily activities within your pain tolerance
✔️ take short walks
✔️ go on short bike rides
Any amount of physical activity within your pain tolerance is beneficial for back pain. Every minute counts. A 10-minute walk is better than none. 10 squats are better than none. We can help you achieve a pain-free life, but you have to do the hard work. Passive treatments are not good long-term solutions.
Here's a testimonial from a client and an emergency room doctor, Dr. Twanmoh:
I was fortunate to never had experienced back pain until about 2 years ago. My back pain was debilitating. It would take me hours to get dressed in the morning. I could only put on my sockswith great difficulty and pain would wake me up in the middle. An epidural injection got me out of pain, but I was not able to lead an active life. When facing a third epidural injection in 12 months, I decided that I needed to try something else. That’s when I started Pilates with Danielle.
I couldn’t be happier with the results. I’m back to where I was before the onset of my back pain. I can workout, play tennis, ride horses, and perform farm chores without back pain. I had neverdone Pilates before but would recommend it to anyone now. Joe Twanmoh, MD
Research shows that exercise is a major treatment for chronic back pain, along with health and lifestyle changes such as getting good sleep, spending time with friends and having a positive mindset. You are stronger than you think, physically and mentally.