“I’ll come in once my back settles down.”
I hear that one constantly. Talking to people at the grocery store, sideline of a kid’s game, a text at 9pm. And I get it… it sounds like the responsible thing to do when your back hurts.
But… It’s also backwards and it’s costing people years of quality living.
Yes, exercise can help low back pain. For most people it’s the thing that actually fixes it. It can also make you worse if you do the wrong thing too soon, which is why “just rest” and “push through it” are both bad advice.
We’re going to spend a couple weeks talking about pain here in our blog, because it’s the number one reason people tell me they can’t come train. It’s also the number one reason people “take a break”… ie: quit.
If you’ve had an MRI, read this part twice
Technology is pretty cool, and it undoubtedly has advanced longevity and quality of life… but it can also be a detriment if you use it too literally. And here’s where I’m going with that: Doctors have scanned the backs of people who feel completely fine. No pain. Nothing wrong. And they still find signs of degeneration, slipped discs, worn down joints… even arthritis.
About 3 out of 10 people in their twenties are walking around with a bulging disc and have no clue. By the age of 80 it’s more than 8 out of 10.
Those people aren’t always in pain. They just have a back that’s been living on this earth for a while.
That doesn’t mean your scan means nothing. People who do have pain and are hurting do tend to have more findings than people who don’t. But it does mean that the picture doesn’t always explain the pain, and it definitely doesn’t mean you’re broken forever.
I’ve watched too many people read a report full of words like degeneration and bulge and quietly decide they’re DONE.
But an injury shouldn’t mean you’re done…. especially since life isn’t done.
The part that actually surprised me
Being scared to move is one of the biggest things that turns a sore back into a “bad back.”
Researchers have chased this phenomenon for years. People who are afraid to move hurt longer and do less over time. Because avoiding things makes your world smaller, and a smaller world means less movement, less resistance, and less resistance makes a weaker back.
Which is why “I’ll come in once my back settles down” is such a trap. It sounds smart… it sounds like you’re being careful… but it’s actually the slow version of quitting.
What I see in the gym
Some back pain is structural and needs a doctor, full stop. Think: broken back, crushed disc, severely pinched nerves, etc.
But the same two culprits show up again and again… in both the gym and in life:
Your hamstrings. Tight and weak at the same time, which most people don’t realize is possible. They pull on the back of your pelvis, and when they’re short and underpowered they drag on your pelvis until your low back is doing a job it was never built for. Stretching alone won’t fix it. It needs both mobilization AND stability. Think stretching AND strength. Together. Working in concert together.
And your core. Everybody hears core and thinks abs, and thinks sit ups. Your core is the whole middle of you, and its job is holding your spine steady while your arms and legs do things. When the midsection can’t stabilize your spine, your low back will fire up instead. Every single time. Because your body is infinitely wise and efficient.
Neither one improves by resting… both need mobilization and stability to improve… which is the hard part.
Why resting stops working
Rest is great for a day or two when pain or an injury is fresh.
After that it turns on you. Muscles get weaker. Tissue gets stiffer. Whatever was already tight and weak gets tighter and weaker, so the next time you reach for the laundry basket you’ve got less to work with than you had last month.
So you tweak it again. And you rest it again. And every loop drops you a little further back.
That’s how a rough week turns into “my back is just like this now.”
It is not just like this. It just has a poor motor pattern now. For most people this is fixable. It’s just not fixable by doing nothing.
The lifting conversation
Somebody’s doctor is worried about them lifting. Fair. That’s the doctor’s job.
But they hear “be careful with your back” and translate it to “never pick anything up again.”
You’re going to pick things up anyway.
A laundry basket.
A bag of dog food.
A grandkid.
A bag of mulch at the store.
Life keeps handing you heavy things at bad angles, and it does not care what your MRI said.
A deadlift is that exact movement, trained. It’s the most useful thing you’ll ever learn in a gym. So the goal was never to get you to stop. It’s to find the version you can do today, and build from there.
But to build, we need to do the work. To train. To exercise and strengthen. We just need to do it safe, and smart. Which is EXACTLY what we want to help you do.
Bring us your PT plan
If your doctor is worried, work with your doctor. If you’re in physical therapy, keep going.
Then bring us in too.
Hand us the plan your PT gave you and we’ll build your gym work around it, so what you do here backs up what they’re doing there. We adjust as you change. When something isn’t ready, we train around it and keep building everything else.
Your doctor, your PT and your coach on the SAME TEAM. That’s when this stuff actually moves.
Don’t wait until it feels better
That’s a trap. It doesn’t fix itself, and every month you wait you’ve got a little less to work with.
Book a No Sweat Intro at Cobra Command in Basehor and tell us what’s going on. Bring the PT plan if you have one.
You don’t have to be fit, or fixed, or ready.
-Jill
