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Back Pain Relief

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As a massage therapist and yoga teacher I’ve had my own share of back pain over the years and a steadfast passion in helping people learn how to work on themselves and others. Much back pain seems to be rooted in a keyed up nervous system that’s told a muscle to contract and hang on for dear life. Most of my work involves helping you and others say hello to that muscle hang out in it using pressure or stretch and allowing your body time to relax release and unwind.

You can access a Free Back Pain Relief course here. You’ll get an idea of how to work on yourself and others whether you’re a pro or just an amateur who wants to help your friends and loved ones.

Most back pain goes away on its own. If you have searing pain that lasts for longer than a week I’d suggest seeking out a medical professional.

Pain Clinic

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My whole practice has been helping people understand what I do. At its core I practice Nuad Boran. My practice is a mix of Thai massage, yoga, yoga therapy and 13 years of practice on myself and others. I can usually help other pain sufferers because I’ve worked through those same issues in my body and those of my clients during that time.

Robert Gardner Wellness Pain Clinic May 11th

 

The clinic will allow you to observe for Free, get 30 minutes hands on work for a $40.00 fee and also allow you to do some yoga therapy and stretching while seeing how I work. There are only 10 spots available and you can register using the online scheduler here on the website.

What do I do? Something no one else does. Come see and find out why.

Spine Care and Disc Herniations

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Disc bulges and herniations are horrible to deal with. Having worked with clients with chronic back pain I feel the utmost compassion for those in pain. Typically there are soft tissue components to disc herniations and those are the ones I help with as a bodyworker. By stretching and helping align the soft tissues we help the spine come back to normal movement and mobility and hopefully take pressure off of that herniated disc or bulge.

In the above short video I discuss spine care with my friend slim. Long term the key is to lengthen the spinal column and backbend gently.

Thai Massage Is More Effective For Low Back Pain

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Thai massage is more effective for low back pain. Of all the things I’ve used nothing else comes close. I can go into explanations but come get a session and find out. Here I have another discussion with Tyrone Chuang about Thai massage and some of the differences between it and deep tissue or swedish massage.

Long term as a teacher I try to give students more tools. My goal is to help educate and refine students options so they have longer more lucrative careers in massage and bodywork while helping their clients. Metta <3

Complementary Medicine

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Complementary medicine is the term I would choose for what I do. There are many reasons for this but one major factor is that I don’t feel I’m in competition with the predominant western model of healthcare. Before we get too deeply into this discussion I have to set the record straight. Western medical doctors have done nothing to help me heal. I’m not saying they can’t help you I’m saying they haven’t helped me. All of the damage I sustained was made worse under their care and I had to drop out of school and go my own way to find people who could help me.

Most of those who did help me are quite frankly considered snake oil salesman. A cranialsacral therapist, a yogi named BKS Iyengar, a yoga teacher in the U.S. named Bikram Choudhury and a Thai massage teacher doing some odd stuff I now do for a living. I got more help from asian bodywork and care than I ever did from western doctors after a horrible whiplash. Drunk drivers aren’t on my love list.

Within this complementary medicine that I’ve tried over time there’s been a whole list of things that have not been studied my western science as it should. I’m not saying that it has Not been studied but the depth just isn’t there. There’s a reason I take antibiotics if I have a root canal needed, antibiotics work. I’m not interested in the slightest in inefficacious medical care. When I was 22 I had a choice, I could figure out how to get better on my own, or I could become a junkie. Think about that for a minute and how my life must have looked. Chronic pain, every day, intractable and the people who presume to know the human body look at me and say, “You look fine according to the x rays. We can’t give you pain medication because you will become addicted. You’re too young.”

All these years later I still ache. I work on it, I’m better, my health is better than most I know but it’s taken years of hard work and dedication, not to mention sampling what others consider snake oil. The only thing I did pick up as a philosophy student was looking at the big picture and asking questions. When it comes to our current medical model let me explain this so you understand. There are two major issues when it comes to what is considered science. The scientific method works, there’s a reason we hold it in such high regard. When we study something we can prove and show repeatedly that something works then delve more to find out why.

The gap is that on the one hand we only know so much so we need to look at specific things. What we Choose to study is just as important as the results. The other factor and hold onto your hats, medical research must be funded. Funding=$. Do you or I have money to dedicate to the study and research of complementary medicine? Homeopathy, acupuncture, Thai massage, massage, cranial osteopathy, yoga, tai chi? These things are difficult to study but not impossible. The catch is who will pay to have them studied? In the U.S. alone we spend more money dropping rockets and bombs on other countries than goes into research on these things. Maybe they don’t work and if they don’t, let’s find out and move on with life.

The fundamental issue is that insurance and pharmaceutical companies now own medical care in this country. They pay for research. Does anyone care to prove that I can within a single session help someone feel better for an entire week even if they suffer chronic low back pain? There’s no money in it for anyone but me. Pharamceutical companies have no interest in my helping people because they can’t profit. Please remember, I Love western medicine, our emergency care is superb and if I get hit by a bus please rush me to the ER. Afterwards, I’m seeing all of the complementary medical personnel who’ve kept me off of the needle.

The questions are: What do we study? Why do we choose to study it? That’s science and science is ruled by $. The $ is in the hands of insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies who have a vested interest in you taking more of their products and sealing the deal on their market.

If you see me and have back pain, try a few sessions. I’ve been conducting “research” for 11 years. 😛

Back Pain

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I’ve seen so much back pain over the years it’s become a joke. I don’t take others pain lightly but having had so many structural issues myself then seeing clients complain about being in an office chair for 60 hours a week becomes tedious. If I could do anything for middle America, it’s showing them how to use gravity to help open their rib cage while back bending their thoracic spine. I see too many office warriors collapsed and growing old before their time.

The above video shows you how to use a foam roll to help you passively back bend through this area and soften the stretch. If done daily, what back pain? will probably become your mantra. Correct the posture, pain often goes away. We don’t cure things but what if you’re symptoms go away?

It’s so simple most people miss it. Correct the posture, align your body, physical freedom happens. Gravity is your friend in this back bend.

More pills?

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I’ve heard many people complain over the years that doctors tell them they have a condition then begin prescribing a long list of medications. They’ll tell me they’re tired of taking pills and when discussing their pain I’ve seen a full gamut in my 11 or so years. TMJ, thoracic outlet syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome and back pain are just the beginning.

I use to ask clients where they felt back pain but honestly, I don’t need to ask many anymore. I can look at you and tell you where you’re likely to feel pain. How? I look at your posture. One day I saw a woman and looked deeply at her posture then asked, “Do you feel tingling or numbness in the ring and pinkie finger of your right hand?” Having no idea who I was she looked at me puzzled and said, “Yes, how do you know that?” I wandered off as if busy to avoid answering the question. It was a guess but I’ve noticed my ability to help people with chronic pain issues has grown over the years.

Doctors and medication are great. I’m happy to live in the 21st century and to be in a country where if I get hit by a bus the doctors will do everything within their power to keep me going. After they’re done however, I’ll be heading right back into what I already do, yoga and bodywork.

I’ll never speak ill of those in the healing professions but doctors have done next to nothing for me. I’m really good at what I do because I had a choice, I could figure out and heal what a doctor could not or I could become a junkie and make sure opiates eased what I could not control. I think you can tell which path I chose.

Always consult your doctor but healing comes in many forms. My mantra to new clients is this, “Every time I work on you I’ll give you 110% but if you want to grow old gracefully, start practicing yoga.”

What is freedom?

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In 1999 I took my first steps to becoming a bodyworker. A car accident left me with a bad whiplash and subsequent body issues that loomed like a gnawing gremlin for years. After announcing to a new client that I was mostly pain free after my ordeal she asked how long I was in pain. I announced, “ten years or so.” Her jaw grew slack at the announcement I’d dealt with pain for ten years but I kept working with a smile.

Pain, once it’s gone is forgotten. Much like a mother giving birth there is a memory but women do not stop having babies due to it. It becomes something you remember but no longer holds your emotions or life, it’s been processed. Recognizing where I’ve come from it’s been an extremely long journey. Just let it be known that I was miserable, depressed and couldn’t get help through the standard channels.

I’d always been somewhat against the grain but my injuries made me quit, drop out and move on. Receiving no help I had two options. I could become a junkie and medicate the pain away or I could get better. I chose the latter.

I’m still working on my pain but it’s marginal compared to where I started from. I was recently working on downward facing dog pose and using a small block to open my cervical spine. No one has taught me this but I’d seen a photo of BKS Iyengar doing it and as soon as I tried I had the usual response I have to his yoga, “that crazy old man knows! Wow, I can’t believe it’s that simple.” As I open up this portion of my spine realize that now this has been closed for 13 years. A 13 year old wound is being healed, something no bodyworker, no one but myself has been able to access. I grow in my admiration for Iyengar with every yoga practice. He’s considered a master for a reason.

Iyengar doing a demonstration.

Watching this video I continue to be in awe. The physical limitations we have are encultured and not encoded by genetics. Is it nature or nurture? At issue is we’re not really sure where the edge is when it comes to nature. Nurture in turn has hardly been explored, let’s continue working another hundred years until strong AI and the nanobots take hold but for now, there is yoga.

I continue to be amazed at what can be tapped into. I feel good. I’m energetic. A client asked me recently if I ever take a day off. I honored the mirror placed before me and have no desire to burn out but explained that my yoga practice has helped me have a level of health that allows me to keep going. I nap like a cat and sleep is my superpower my wife jokes. When you work for yourself, love what you do, run your own business and are trying to heal not just yourself but those around you, what else can you do but work ceaselessly?

Freedom, true freedom can only be known when it is experienced. Our path is using our body to release physical restrictions, remove pain, maintain health and feel spacious, open yet grounded. Once you’ve channeled your focus, tamed your mind, slowed your breath and begin mastering your body, you’ve only just begun. Freedom of movement, lack of pain and health of the human form is enough of a start.

Iyengar knows what this is about, far more than I do. He’s devoted most of his life to the practice of yoga. May his light continue to shine and dispel the darkness.

Ma Roller for back pain pt.3

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This is the 3rd installment in our series of easing back pain with the Ma roller. I know these videos seem simple but this is deep tissue massage you can do at home. A single investment in this tool and a little time will ease lots of tension in muscles related to posture.

If you’re a massage therapist share these videos with your clients.

To purchase

Ma roller for back pain pt.1

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The Ma roller is the best tool I’ve found for working with tight muscles in your back. These often cause back pain and nothing is as consistent in easing this muscle tension as this simple tool. Follow along with this video and go slow. This is part 1 of a 4 part series of techniques and tips on using the tool.

Link to purchase