Foundational knowledge for a pain-free low back

Common Low Back Pain —it’s about the discs

The most common type of low back pain is a result of lumbar disc damage, and it can happen to people young or old. For most people it happens initially from lifting something heavy with poor posture, and consequently damaging the discs. Once damaged, discs have a tendency to push out posteriorly; right up against the nerves of the spinal cord that run along the spine. This can cause pain in the immediate area, or along nearby nerve paths. If the disc presses against the sciatic nerve — a nerve that travels down the buttocks, outer thigh, and all the way down the legs to the toes — pain can present anywhere along this path.

Since discs take many years to fully gristle up again, painful flare ups are common. Healing is a matter of supporting these discs to gristle up and become strong again, while avoiding re-injury through bad movement habits. This is easier said than done.

Until fairly recently it was thought that spinal discs simply didn’t heal, because the process of supporting it is so exacting. The good news is that yes they do heal. It just requires keen understanding — a LEARNING process!

After hurting my own back in 2020, I suffering for two years as I searched for these answers. I went to physical therapy, a chiropractor, and even signed up for a yoga teacher training. Nothing helped, in fact with each of these experts I continued to get worse! Thankfully, my anatomy teacher in my yoga teacher training directed me to resources for the most up-to date, science-backed information and recommendations, and I dove into learning everything I could. Once I had all the pieces, I knew how to support the process and stop aggravating the discs. As a result, after two years of pain, I was pain-free within 2 days!

This information, I came to learn, is not taught to physical therapists in their training. And frankly, even if it were, it wouldn’t matter unless they could effectively share it all with you in a way you can absorb, in their brief appointments. What nobody tells you, is that you can’t just be given a set of exercises and expect to be healed. Because chances are you are doing things that are aggravating your back in between appointments. It really is a learning process, and exercises are only one piece of the puzzle.

When I finally understood this, I not only became pain free, I became passionate about sharing this knowledge with others.

To make this complex knowledge straight forward and easy to learn and apply, I’ve developed a 6-part framework for healing low back pain. I call it The LEARNS Method, because this acronym describes what you need to understand to finally be pain free. You literally need an understanding of all 6 parts; miss any one and you can quickly find yourself back in the loop of pain, even if you’ve enjoyed a temporary respite.

Here are the 6 parts:

• Limits — what movements to avoid while you’re healing. — Note that this includes many movements commonly called for in so-called Low Back classes!

• Exercise — the basics— I keep these as fast and simple as possible!

• Alignment — how to move through your day, safely and pain-free

• Relief — the little-known shortcut that works for many people to relieve pain immediately!

• Neutral Spine — an essential anatomy lesson

• Support — how to make sure your furniture is working for, not against, your healing

If you’re suffering, contact me for one-on-one movement educational training.

You can also join my substack to be notified when my online Low Back Healing Foundations class is available to the public: