🔙 Throw out your “bad back”

Welcome to the follow-up post to last week’s newsletter about “knees over toes” and other scary myths about using our bodies. This week, we’re going to explore the topic of, “Oh, I just have a bad back,” “my old man knees,” “I’m not an exerciser,” and other self-defeating labels we all-too-often assign ourselves.

This post is a bit longer, but it’s integral to the Move to Improve philosophy. I strongly encourage a read all the way through. Let’s dive in 🏊️ 

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Remember last week when I talked about injuring my lower back after squatting too heavy and not having proper range of motion in my ankles? I could have, from that day forward, said I had “a bad back” and consigned myself to a life of fear and inactivity.

I know of more than a few people who have sustained some sort of musculoskeletal injury and been told—by healthcare professionals or friends & family or themselves—that they just have a “bad {body part}” now.

What usually follows that is ludacris advice such as, “Never deadlift again,” “You can’t run anymore,” “You have to stop playing soccer,” or something of the like. Hearing these statements can be devastating to a person’s morale and hope.

Let me introduce the nuance early and strongly in this article. Sometimes, yes: injuries are too severe and result in permanent damage that will alter someone’s physical ability for life. This post is not about those types of injuries. While I (and countless other people who’ve overcome some of the “you’ll never ____ again” statements above) believe growth is possible and movement can heal us, that may not always be the case. This newsletter edition is about the acute (meaning sudden, like a torn ACL) or chronic (“wear and tear deterioration” over time) injuries we sustain that all evidence indicates can significantly improve over time with proper rehabilitation.

That said, I don’t think labeling ourselves as just having a “bad” anything is ever self-serving. It’s one thing acknowledging our weaknesses and sensitivities, but it’s another to slap a label on a pain or issue and consign ourselves to a life of “Oh well, I just have to deal with it. 🤷”

To paraphrase Michelle Shapiro on a recent Quiet the Diet podcast, these are snapshots of how we are in a given moment. A temporary state of being. It does not have to be a permanent life-altering diagnosis written in ink on our medical record.

We are nothing if not in flux. Constantly changing. Cells turning over to replace old, dying cells. Our skeleton completely remodels itself every decade or so (that means I’m wrapping up my third skeleton!). Our bodies adapt and change all throughout life.

So I believe there are very few diagnoses or issues that we should permanently assign to ourselves. Why put yourself in that prison when change is possible?

Many of today’s greatest names in health and fitness are where they are today because they once sustained an injury or diagnosis that was supposed to permanently damage them. But they refused to accept that fate and have learned to live with their scars and work around and through these issues to come out stronger on the other side. Desperation breeds innovation.

You don’t have a bad back; you have a lumbar flexion problem.

Reframing our injuries can be key in our recovery. We live in a pretty technological world. When something “breaks,” we fix it or throw it out and replace it. It’s much harder to do that with parts of our bodies.

If I view a part of me as permanently damaged, my expectations are going to be that it will never function properly as long as something is “wrong.”

However, if I shift the label from the noun (bad back) to the verb (low back flexion sensitivity), then I suddenly don’t have to identify with the injury. It’s no longer a part of me that is bad. All of me is good. I just have issues and difficulties with certain actions. Because my body can always change, I can move and train my body in ways that help it adapt to whatever issues it’s facing.

If sitting for hours on end makes my back hurt, I can take action to address that. If stairs make my knees hurt, I can take action to address that. If throwing a ball makes my shoulder pop and grind, I can take action to address that.

Our bodies adapt to the stimuli we give them. Given the appropriate amount of stress, coupled with proper nutrition and recovery, our bodies will improve. This is sometimes known as the “SAID principle,” which stands for “specific adaptations to imposed demands.” A fancy way of saying the inverse of use it or lose it: Move to Improve!

We become who we believe we are.

There are studies that have shown that when people believe a certain outcome will happen, that is more likely to happen.

We’ve probably all heard of the placebo effect. In clinical trials, there is often an experimental group, who is given whatever is being tested (drug, exercise regimen, diet intervention, etc.) and the control group, who is told not to change anything or given a placebo (some form of pill or treatment that should theoretically have no effect). At the end, researchers compare the experimental group to the control group and see if and how much they changed.

But researchers often find that when people think they’re being given an effective intervention, they achieve their desired change to some degree! This is the placebo effect. Even if there technically was no intervention for these people, the effect was real. You cannot discount a measurable change in someone’s life. A change is a change!

One study looked at hotel cleaning staff to see what effects their beliefs had on their bodies’ outcomes. One group was told that all the movement and exercise involved in cleaning would help them be healthier and lose excess body fat. The other group was just told about their job. In the end, the group who believed their work would help them become fitter actually saw significant changes in their health and body composition! Whereas those who viewed it as just “work” saw no changes.

To quote a recent Morgan Housel piece:

This goes to show the power of believing. One could even get a bit more woo-woo and hat tip to manifestation and the law of attraction. Whether you believe in those specifically or not, we will become who we believe we are, even more than who we want to be.

Great, so how do I “believe” my back into not hurting?

Glad you asked :)

It’s important to mention here that if you have injured yourself, please seek proper medical attention and care. If it’s a musculoskeletal issue that would benefit from physical therapy, seek out a great PT—preferably one who believes in movement and resistance exercise for rehabilitation, not just passive modalities that might only decrease your pain in the moment.

The key to building back up from injury or insult is progressive overload. In the initial stages, you just want to control the pain and protect the injury properly. But as that fades and you’re ready to build back up, proper movement and reloading are key.

You basically want to move as much as you can with minimal pain. If you’d rate your pain over a 3 or 4 out of 10 while doing something, back off a bit. Some discomfort is okay and expected, but you don’t want to overdo it and reinjure yourself. I think more people need to hear, “don’t be afraid to push yourself a little” rather than, “don’t overdo it.”

Back squats are not bad! Deadlifts are wonderful! But compromised form leading to overloaded stress on a joint can produce bad results.

Remember that motion is lotion. As you reincorporate movement, begin to re-expand your pain-free range of motion at the joint/pain site and work to increase your strength through that range. Be patient and continually work yourself back into normal function again as your pain subsides.

And if I don’t?

Well if motion is lotion, the opposite is also true… When we think we have a bad body part, what do we do? Protect it. Immobilize. “Favor” or “baby” it. And 9 times out of 10, that only makes things worse. We lose strength. We lose mobility. We lose function. So when we do have to use it (because, you know, life requires it), the pain is still there.

Blood carries nutrients. Tissues need nutrients to heal, repair, and function. Movement brings blood flow. The discs in our back, for example, only get blood flow from compression and relaxation on them that comes with repetitive movement (like walking). Without movement, our tissues’ supply lines are cut off.

Throw out your “bad back.”

Don’t throw out your back. But do throw out the belief that you just have a bad back and that’s how it’s always going to be.

I started this newsletter because I believe that movement can and will heal us. And I care enough that I believe movement will make a significant improvement in the quality of life for every person who reads these newsletters and believes the same.

Positive self talk for our mental states has grown more mainstream. You talk yourself into completing goals and ambitions. You can also talk your body into healing itself and overcoming challenges when you remove negative labels and believe change is possible.

My back doesn’t always feel perfect. It’s not in as pristine shape as it once was. But with the proper knowledge of how to train around pain, I can take steps to prevent re-injury and restore my function when things do go south. You can too.

✅ Take Action

Every newsletter's Take Action section will invite you to take small steps to improve your health. Recognizing that we all have different capabilities, I'll offer three different levels of action you can choose to take.

Level 1: Ask yourself what parts of your body you’ve labeled as “bad.” Investigate why that is, and explore reframing that to identifying as having a temporary movement or function issue, not a permanently bad part of you.

Level 2: Take that part of you that’s achier than you’d like. Explore what it feels like to gently move in that area’s full range of motion, fully contracting and fully stretching it. Notice what you feel in your body, and find a mostly painless rhythm to move in and bring fresh blood flow to the area.

Level 3: Learn about rehab and retraining after injuries. Do some research about exercises to strengthen any of your “problem areas.” Strength and power are the greatest tools to overcome your body’s current weak points.

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✍️ Drew's Picks:

• Article: Suddenly, I want really good butter (and a French croissant).

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Keep moving,

Drew

The content in Move to Improve is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. It is always a good idea to consult with a trusted health professional before making any major lifestyle changes that could have a significant impact on your health. This is not a medical resource, and any opinions and articles are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. They are not substitutes for consulting a qualified medical professional. Please think critically and take what I say with a grain of salt (aka don’t sue me).