The bio-psycho-social model to chronic pain is evidently clear in the literature and we have made great strides in applying this model to our clients and our teaching.
What is also evidently clear, is that if you do not include the “bio” in the conversation, you will have a very difficult time helping the client relate a “known”-the biology/biomechanics of the body-to an unknow-the psycho/social aspects of the model.
The bio is simply the known because that is what the paradigm has been for the hundreds of years now. The pysco/social aspect is still very new for the general public (and unfortunately many medical professionals).
The following video clip is from a presentation I did titled: 25 Things Your Client Needs to Know About Lower Back Pain. The talk was presented to address the many misconceptions our clients and potential clients have regarding lower back pain. This clip addresses a few of those misconceptions.
Tags: lower back pain
Very useful information. I’d like to share with my clients/customers but too difficult to hear. please send me the written transcript and /or power point of info and I will credit you.
thanks,
Gwen
Hi Gwen. Please check the video on another computer. We have played it on several with no audio problems. I can send you the Power Point of the presentation but unfortunately I do not have a transcript.
For years I’ve heard how bad it is to do the same exercise over and over again for an extended period of time but I have not heard anyone offer any alternatives. For example I have been doing a series of stretching exercise (not from the sixties by the way) to releave a lower back issue. As long as I do them I am fine. If this is so wrong what substitute do you recommend for the Downward Dog?
Hi Mike. Thanks for the question. An alternative is to do exercises that look beyond the mechanical issues of the back and consider the global implications of the body and it relationship to the back. In addition, all exercise programs benefit from appropriate progressions and variability. If someone continues to do the same exercises do relieve a back issue, the question is are the exercises just palliative? Stretching generally feels good for most people if not too aggressive when the stretch receptors in the muscles are stimulated. But sometimes this can be similar to a sugar fix for hunger.
Applying the bio-psycho-social model to you question-some people will develop an emotional dependency on an exercise or exercises that they associate with helping them during a critical back event in the past. Therefore, there is security in that even if it is not the optimal exercise program for them.
If you are having success with eliminating back issues with the stretches that you are doing, then there is nothing wrong with that. If you have become dependent on them, limited your scope of activity, raised your threshold to what is acceptable levels of pain/discomfort-then it may be helpful to consider a more comprehensive program that adds in progressions.
Unfortunately, I cannot offer a direct alternative for the Downward Dog without much more information on who it is being applied to.