In a recent episode of the Consummate Athlete Podcast, Physiotherapist, Chiropractor and educator Greg Lehman returned for a second time to discuss several listener questions in addition to laying out a hopeful message around ‘Movement Optimism’
Greg explains, “If you look at classic physiotherapy, chiropractic, kinesiology, etc, its all about finding things that are supposedly wrong with people. It’s like you are doing it wrong and that is why you have pain. It’s such a negative view of the body. It’s such a fragile view of the human body”
This may strike you as odd, as you have likely been told your SI-Joint is bad or out, or that your ‘Glute’ doesn’t turn on.
Greg continues, “Don’t chase these things. Yes, your back hurts, so we view that as being sensitized for some reason. So what are our options to help with sensitivity? Sometimes it might be moving differently, but that doesn’t mean we are teaching someone to move in the right way. You are just saying ‘don’t do that for a bit’. We aren’t changing you to the right way but we are changing you to another way.”
So if something hurts we can take a way that it is not likely a huge deal but that we want to look at ways to modify what we are doing. Greg’s analogy of a cup give you are few more options to deal with pain that are helpful if you are not able to move right now or if you can not change your movement due to demands of the sport or work.
The Cup Analogy.
Greg Says the question I have come up with is, “What can you do to be healthier’. His cup analogy (explained in his own words on his website) is pictured below and the idea is that rather than focusing on your knee pain or back pain, you might be able to improve your pain by improving your sleep, stress, or other aspects of health and wellness.
Molly also wrote about the cup analogy here!
If you have tried everything?
Sometimes we try everything and we go 100% on therapy. If you have been chasing a fix for some time with many therapists, perhaps trying to nurse your injury through your sport season.
Molly says, “When I slipped a disc years ago, in one day I went to an acupuncturist, chiro, and a massage therapist and then I could move for days after. But I was like this is what I have to do to fix myself”
It can be very hard to take these extended 2-3 week breaks but if you have been going at it for some time, and have tried ‘everything, then these extended breaks can be the fastest way to get your body desensitized and back to moving freely.
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