Healthy Spine Part 1:

Is this happening to you?

You may be wondering how movement and exercise is essential to a healthy back…

Or you may have been told by a doctor or physical therapist to “try some stretches” or “do some walking”, or “strengthen your core”.

But what if exercising seems so far out of the equation because just simply getting out of bed, and standing upright for a few minutes is challenging enough?

It may be difficult for you to see, but there IS a solution to this problem.

If you are one of the many people out there who are trying to become more active, but are held back, or stuck because of back pain, it is primarily because of three reasons:

• The movements and exercises are too hard for your body and its current state
• The movements and exercises are not challenging enough to make a change in your body
• The pain is so bad that you choose not to exercise for fear of making it worse.

When in all actuality, you need to find a middle-ground between what your body can physically do, and push yourself just enough to gain benefits - from exercising.

A recent client of mine, by the name of Ben (age 54) had been struggling with chronic back problems on/off for years, but only until recently had things turned for the worse…

Although he is very health conscious, ate well, and made generally good decisions about his health, due to a sedentary job, his hips became tighter and his back muscles had weakened over time…

Originally, he’d been told to “do some stretches” and “strengthen his core” by his doctor and working with a physical therapist at the time, he’d been instructed in “planks” and other “ab” exercises, but it only made his pain worse…

“I was frustrated because the exercises were CAUSING me MORE pain, and doing them made me want to collapse” he’d said to me.

But he powered through, and figured he’d keep it safe doing very basic stretches, and just a bit of light walking and some pool exercises.

While these exercises definitely helped his symptoms…

It just wasn’t enough to get his back to his normal life, such as hiking, picking up his grandkids, or even just doing normal activities he’d been used to years ago.

What was his solution?

He knew something else had to be done, because he was NOT going to have surgery, refused to take pain meds, and possessed a strong desire to get back to the active lifestyle he was used to in the past…

So he found himself here at Ruzicka Performance and Mobility, and was able to capture his very own mobility profile…

What is a mobility profile?

The mobility profile is an in-depth analysis of ALL your bodies movements that will not just look at where you’re hurting, but also figure the ROOT CAUSE of WHY you’re hurting.

And to also see what exactly your body is capable of, and figure which movements are safest and most effective.

And in Ben’s ‘Mobility Profile’…

We were able to quickly figure out his problem was NOT from his arthritis, but just simply a case of an ‘overarched back’

An ‘overarched back’ is one of the most common problems we see, and is the result of a mobility of your muscles problem, instead of a structural problem which you may see on an x-ray or MRI.

This ‘overarched back’ developed from:

• Hip tightness
• Scar tissue and muscle stiffness along his lower back
• Weakness and inhibition of his ‘deep core’ muscles

Instead of rushing Mark into doing a bunch of ‘core strengthening’ exercises, we took a step back, and using the information revealed in his mobility profile.

• we loosened his hips to take a significant amount of ‘pulling’ and ‘strain’ OFF his back by using very focused stretching exercise and “trigger point” release techniques.
• And softened up tightened muscles, and alleviated pressure and tension OFF his low back with some of our hands-on manual therapy techniques.

And in doing so, natural movement, posture, and breathing started to re-emerge, and the ever so important ability for him to FEEL the right muscles engage, and have CONFIDENCE with his movement was now much different…

And what happened afterward?

With newfound mobility, and a “lower body posture” which was now corrected, he was no longer susceptible to standing, walking, or exercising with this ‘overarched back’.

And now with introduction of a custom-tailored, highly specified exercise program that matched his exact problems, within under ONE MONTH he is now:

• Able to pick up and play with his grandkids without ANY FEAR of his back going out,
• Able to walk, and socialize all day with his friends when before he’d be confined to his house because of pain
• Now able to keep up with his wife on some short hikes, and is now enjoying exercise and moving again!

It all started when he received his very own mobility profile when he’d claimed his own free ‘discovery visit’ here at Ruzicka Performance & Mobility.

This Discovery Visit is a chance for us to have an honest conversation about your health, for us to see if we are a good fit for each other to meet your goals, and for us to give you a chance to see your very own movement profile.

A chance for us to help you figure out the ROOT CAUSE of your problem, and if we feel confident to solve it, we will reveal to you exactly how we will do it.

All you need to do is visit this link right here, fill out a quick 45 second webform and we will help you get started on your path back to a happy, healthy, and active lifestyle

As always, you can contact me at jonathan@rpmwoodlandspt.com if you have ANY further questions or would like to speak to me on a more personal level.