Low back pain and hip pain are as common now as Prius cars in Portland or trucks in the country.
You may think, “Well, this is just my life now.” because you’ve had the low back, hip or sciatic pain for so long. You’ve probably seen doctors about it, and they’ve given you the ol’ “You’re fine. Take this muscle relaxant or pain medication and get on with your life.”
The pain and discomfort probably distracts you though; at work, when trying to exercise, while having sex, when you sit or stand for long periods of time. It’s just like a nagging relative who won’t leave you alone! What can you do?
Firstly, you’ll need to understand why you get these pains in the first place. Either you had a major accident and damaged your spine (which your doctor could confirm with an ex-ray or MRI) or it was a slow development over time. This is most common.
Human bodies are not robots! They’re not designed to sit or stand in one position for hours and hours on end day in and day out. If you were to do that a few thousand years ago, you’d be eaten! Or you’d starve to death. Human bodies are designed to move!
Here’s a secret I learned after years of thinking about this problem, meditating on the solution and working with hundreds of massage clients. My solution is trade-marked though, so you’ll need to pay royalties to use it. 😉
If something hurts, MOVE IT! Very simple.
It might hurt to move, so move gently. But move! What happens when you don’t is the tissues (tendons, ligaments, fascia and muscles) become tight, stuck and rigid.
This lessens blood flow, oxygen and lymph flow to those areas of the areas of the body. This means nobody is there to bring the poor area food, water or air or to take out the trash (cell waste).
The poor things get more and more tight and stuck, and that starts to damage the joint function. It becomes The Neverending Story.
Hip and low back pain turn into neck pain because the spine become stiff. Getting massage sessions, chiropractic care, acupuncture and physical therapy help a ton, yet you must move your body in the meantime!
Do some gentle movement rocking your hips back and forth on your chair or a yoga ball at work or as you stand at your standing desk. Move your hips in little circles. Do some belly dance moves. They were originally designed to support the pelvic floor, not to be a sexy dance (though it does look sexy). 😉
Do your movements for the sake of your own body. It’s not about how you look. It’s definitely not about doing it “right”. It’s about tuning into your body (noticing its sensations) and exploring movement for it.
Once you get out of acute pain (on a pain scale of 1-10, this is a 6 or higher), you can start to push your body a bit more. Squats, lunges, yoga moves, etc.
The thing I want to leave you with is that you have more power than you know to take excellent care of your body every day and get out of pain.
What questions do you have? Leave them in the comments below, and if you want support from me and my staff book a massage now.
