Carrie’s current physio intervention for her back isn’t working!
- Related Injuries: Feet, Ankles & Lower leg
January 11, 2017
Hi
I have wear and tear and several disc bulges in my neck plus damage to lower spine all of which I manage with physio intervention from time to time and I keep moving.
I do Tai-Chi, pilates and I walk a lot but for about2 years I have had this strange sensation, not quite pain, in the middle of my back which seems to move if that makes sense. I use heat and I have been told my thoracic area is too stiff but despite probably 10 visits to a physio it is no better and I don’t understand it as there has been no image taken to confirm if anything actually there.
Can you help please.
Carrie
January 11, 2017
Hi Carrie
Most people have a stiff thoracic spine – but when something is stiff it doesn’t actually produce many symptoms (you don’t feel very much) apart from the joints being stiff….
So when you have discomfort in a stiff area, the chances are that the discomfort you feel isn’t actually “coming” from the stiff joints.
Instead you’re feeling referred pain from your neck into your thoracic spine – you’re neck (on MRI) shows a myriad of things due to being forced to over work because you’ve got a stiff thoracic spine or vica versa. It’s chicken and egg, but as long as you roast the chicken and scramble to egg, you still get fed.
So getting your thoracic spine more mobile is only part of the issue. Changing your discomfort is about taking the excessive pressure off of your neck.
Get your physio to treat your neck to see if there’s a difference – better or worse (and depending how they do it, it might be worse…but it’ll prove a point!)
Have you been given anything like this to do? #worldsgreateststretch
Give it a go for the next week or so – it taking the pressure off of your neck so should help.
The Guru
Carrie appreciated the response:
Thank you so much for this very helpful reply. I really wasn’t expecting a personal response given that I’m not a client so I am very impressed but wish you were nearer to Woking. The philosophy on your website is very hopeful and I am trying the exercise you suggested with a towel but  I wonder whether those yoga roles would be better?
I can see that you’ve expanded your clinics and wonder whether you are planning one near to Woking?
Kind regards
The Guru replied:
Hi Carrie
Bad physio is not on – full stop. So I’m delighted to help anyone and everyone.
The issue with yoga is that it just stretches the bits of your body which are already pretty bendy or mobile, like your neck will just stretch more and the bits that need to move more, won’t (because the bendy bits are doing all the movement).
I prefer things like Pilates, where the initial results may be slower but the long term changes are more impressive. This is because Pilates focusses on keeping the bits that move too much stable and controlled and the bits that don’t move enough (your middle back) are encouraged to move more – there are however good and not so good Pilates places….
We’d love to come to Woking – great place full of super people. Fingers crossed….
Keep on the rolled towel, get your thoracic spine moving and keep an eye on the prize!
The Guru
