From the show notes:
Join Industry Veteran Anthony Carey and Jason Stella Discuss…
1. Why he has spent the majority of your career working on how to help people decrease their pain.
2. Discuss his PRACTICAL book called: “The Pain-Free Program: A Proven Method to Relieve Back, Neck, Shoulder and Joint Pain.
3. WHAT have you found to be the best ways to help, staying within the scope of being a trainer?
4. Explain the following concepts in his book
1. The Body’s Interrelatedness
2. Our Self-Healing Bodies
3. The need to take responsibility
4. Anthony’s unique way of putting exercises is specific groups called Form & Category
– What’s the differences between them
– Show some of the exercises within each area and how they may be able to help specific people?
5. Explain and show your invention, The CORE-TEX.
a. Why and how did you come up with this?
b. Can you show us some of the common ways you use this to help clients improve
3. Explain the course that you put together called the “Pain Free Movement specialist
Corrective Exercise Programming and Readiness
November 30th, 2020What does readiness mean to you?
When designing the corrective exercise program for the chronic pain client, it means many things.
As you decide on your exercise selection, does a strategic sequence advance your objectives and build your client’s movement confidence?
The readiness in this case is based on many things, but at the top of the list is trust. Trust of their own capabilities without provoking pain.
This is precisely why we have created a framework for corrective exercise progressions.
Enjoy this clip and consider joining us on our mission to help those in pain live more comfortable and productive lives.
The Haunted House Effect, Fear and Chronic Pain
October 30th, 2020
Photos are the property of Nightmares Fear Factory
This is an update from a post originally shared October 2015
The most current science on pain, tells us pain is an experience and not a sensation. Yes, we use words to describe our pain in terms of sensation (stabbing, aching, dull, throbbing, nagging, etc.), but there are many factors that contribute to just exactly how each of us get to the point where this pain is demanding our attention. Associated with this pain event are the many biological, psychological, and social elements that were present before, during and after the “experience”.
Many of you will be familiar by now with the bio-psycho-social paradigm used to better understand the pain experience. This video interview I did will help explain if you are not familiar.
The “Haunted House Effect” is a brilliant metaphor to add insight into our own experience.
We have all heard the saying “frozen with fear”. It is that brief but profound period of time where something is so shocking or terrifying that one cannot move. The body does not respond because the brain is overwhelmed with the danger or threat of danger at hand.
Similarly, consider what happens to your body and you mind the moment you have the fright of your life in a haunted house. The image above is from the web site Nightmares Fear Factory. They are hugely popular images on the internet of visitors caught at a moment in time inside the Nightmares Fear Factory’s haunted house.
If we got a little “sciencey” here and thought about all the things that happen to the body as this photo is taken and for the short time after, we would observe:
A huge dump of stress hormones entering the blood stream (adrenaline, cortisol)
The heart rate and blood pressure spike
Blood vessels dilate
Pupils dilate
Breathing gets rapid and shallow
Muscles all around the joints contract and stiffen the body
Posture instinctively goes into a flexed protection mode
Ensuing movement is guarded and apprehensive
Language to express the experience are dramatic and emotionally charged
I purposely used boxes in the list above because I want you to think of “ticking the boxes”. In the haunted house examples, these are boxes that are “ticked” when an extreme scare has occurred. Now let us imagine these events happened within the first 5 minutes of a scheduled 30-minute tour through the haunted house. They still have 25 more minutes to take part in an experience where the tone has been clearly established as frighteningly intense.
So, what happens when they approach that next corner that they cannot see past? Are they relaxed and at ease? Absolutely not! Their body will reproduce the identical events it did from the first scare. Except all those responses will happen before they even get to the corner.
As they cautiously approach the blind corner, and their body is in full anticipation mode-anticipation of the next blood curling scare-they turn the corner to see a unicorn and rainbows.
No threat exists at this corner. Yet their body and mind went through all the same events as if the next big scare actually took place. That pattern continues through the remainder of the tour with each anticipation of the scares almost as physically and mentally real as a scare itself.
The source (which we cannot see) that created those responses in the photos is not the only part of that scare experience. Although likely not as obvious to those in the photos, the entire experience includes the people they are with, the smell of the room, the temperature of the room, the sounds and even how their clothes fit. And as the remainder of the tour continues, they all become part of the biological, psychological, and social contribution to that experience.
Now consider this scenario. After the first scare event, the participants get to put on full body armor and carry a 4-foot taser wand that can keep anyone or anything at least 4 feet away. Do you think this would increase their confidence and decrease the threat as they approached the ensuing corners? I would suggest it does make them safer and more confident. Perhaps they will have some fear, but not nearly as intense now that they have these protective “tools”.
So, what has this got to do with someone dealing with chronic pain? The scenarios can be almost identical except replace “scare” with “pain”. Let us say for example that after a long flight you felt a pop in your back as you lowered your carryon from the overhead bin. You begin to feel your back tighten up and you experience the pain ramping up as you exit the plane. Beginning with the “pop” you felt, you would begin to experience those same 7 traits listed earlier. And whether you realized it or not, the physical pain itself is not the only part of the experience. The people you are with, the smell of the airplane and then the terminal, the temperature, the sounds and even how your clothes fit all become part of the biological, psychological and social contribution to that pain experience.
These combined elements begin to form a neuro signature or neuro representation in your brain. Over the next couple of days as you are recovering from this episode, you experience those 9 traits (boxes to tick) any time you anticipate potential threat to your back. This could be something as familiar as putting on your socks. Some movements may in fact provoke pain, but others may not. Yet the net result is remarkably similar in terms of your physiological and mental response.
You can clearly see how patterns emerge that are counterproductive to your long-term goals. And the reality of this is that we can’t, and you can’t explain your way through process. Yes, you need an understanding, but your body and brain also need proof. This is where a strategic and structured corrective exercise plan can create the movement confidence you need to no longer anticipate a threat when the threat is not valid. The proper, strategic exercise program for you becomes your full body armor and 4-foot laser wand.
Pain is an extraordinarily complex experience for everyone. And many people will attempt to chase one aspect or another of their pain. The science now tells us that we must look at the entire bio-pyscho-social context from which chronic pain is experienced.
Don’t live your life waiting for the next ghost or goblin around the corner. Suit up, educate yourself and show your brain that you are not broken.
Happy Halloween!
Corrective Exercise Kneeling Aztec
May 28th, 2020Any exercise that requires you to match a force with a counter force to maintain stability, will be self regulating. In other words, you can only push or pull to a level that can be stabilized by your own internal force generation.
The opposite of this would be ground reaction forces (GRF). The limitations on force production would be strength issue because you can push through the ground. This is the case with most exercises when the force is moved vertically against gravity. But when the force applied is horizontally or perpendicular to the field of gravity, we don’t get the same benefits from the GRF that we get with a vertical load.
Instead, we must turn to our own internal stability from which to create an anchor point for force generation.
As such, this corrective exercise is an excellent core exercise predominantly for the sagittal plane that does just that. It’s also happens to have some great foot benefits too.
Leave your questions and comments below.
How and Why a Function First Virtual Appointment Works
March 31st, 2020Did you know that we have been working with clients from around the world via video since the VHS days?! Today’s technology allows us to to communicate much faster AND you get a video record of your exercises!
The beauty of working this way is that you get to follow along a video, work at your own pace and keep a video archive of your exercises. Everything on the video is 100% personalized for you and recorded AFTER a face to face video consultation.
Many people have thought we would charge more for this appointment because of the extra time we put into filming your video. But we don’t. The price is the same as the in-person appointment.
You don’t require any special technical skills. We work via Skype, Facetime or Zoom.
Admittedly, there are advantages to in person appointments as well, but with the current distancing for our local clients, that is not an option. For our long distance clients, they have been working successfully through this medium for many years.
We are here to help!
Corrective Exercise Ankle Rocking with Stability Ball
February 24th, 2020Limited dorsi flexion isn’t always a “tightness” issue. Sometimes the ability for the talus to pass through the mortise of the true ankle joint can be compromised. As the joint approaches the individual’s current limit of dorsi flexion, often the nervous system will up-regulate increased tone of the surrounding musculature, which can approximate the joint surfaces and further restrict the gliding route the talus needs to take. This can often be experienced as a “pinching” or “bunching” sensation in the front of the ankle.
Using the principle of rhythmical motion and passive self-assistance, improved joint motion can be achieved. Anybody can do this for themselves with a stability ball. An excellent option to send your clients home with!
Pain and the Guessing Game
December 23rd, 2019As your 2019 wraps up, I’ve got a valuable message for you that will pay dividends for years to come, but it may be most relevant to you right now, as you welcome the holidays in full force.
There’s a great video that has made its way around social media about what occurred when 5 wolves were reintroduced to Yosemite. There are several versions of the video, but essentially the message is how introducing these wolves even changed the flow of the rivers and streams through the park. Watch on YouTube here if you’d like to see this video.
Now we would all be hard pressed to draw a direct line from a wolf to impacting the way millions of gallons of water flow. But what it does illustrate is the profound output that emerges from multiple inputs, especially with a biological ecosystem OR a biological human=YOU!
In the case of the changes to Yellowstone, it was the interaction of all the sub systems initiated by the introduction of a predator that had been eliminated from the ecosystem. Overgrazing was controlled, smaller animals for birds of prey returned, etc. and nature took over.
As humans, when we experience physical pain-especially chronic pain-there are always multiple contributing factors that are related to the bio-psycho-social paradigm around pain. You are more than a bulging disc, osteo arthritis, spinal stenosis or anything else you’ve been diagnosed with.
Which is why it is often so difficult to determine why you are having a “bad day”. But we search for answers and as humans, desperately strive to find a connection or relationship with something so that we can make sense of it. But how come we don’t do the same with “good days”? We welcome them but we don’t drive ourselves crazy trying to determine what led to that good day.
Let me help you. Lots of things lead to both good and bad days. And there are often patterns that we don’t look for or recognize. And it is almost never just one thing, unless the pain was felt immediately (within seconds or minutes) of a physically taxing or traumatic event.
The greatest gifts you can give yourself during challenging times of experiencing pain are these (in no particular order):
Corrective or restorative exercise (ideally your Function First program)
5-10 minutes of deep, diaphragmatic breathing in a restful position
Non proactive aerobic exercise that elevates your heart rate for a sustained 20+ minutes
Quality sleep
Avoiding over processed and/or gut irritating foods
Plenty of water
Occupy your mind with social interaction or deep, meaningful work or projects
Happy Holidays from all of us at Function First!