Passive Treatments for Pain Don't Help

TL;DL – Massage, chiro adjustments, and typical PT treatments alone are not going to solve your pain problem. They might help reduce some short term pain sensations, but they are not addressing the root cause of why your back hurts or why you have pain in your knee.?

If you want a strong and resilient body that doesn’t need weekly treatments, I’m filling spots for a brand-new VIP Case Study Group called Unstoppable After 40. If you want to shed body fat, boost energy, and get out of pain, reply or DM me with “VIP” and i’ll get you details.?

First a story of what not to do..

2018: Tamarindo, Costa Rica

It’s Wednesday morning at the local tennis clinic, a high level mix of drills and points. I’m having so much fun but about 60 mins in, my back says no more. Pain shoots down my leg. F*ck.?

I have to step off the court and watch as others continue to play.?

4 hours later I’m sitting at home at my computer and my back starts sending me pain. Every little movement hurts. I call up my chiro and he squeezes me in for an appointment. A few cracks later and I feel better.?

A friend texts me asking if I want to play the next day but I have to say no because my body won’t allow it.??

I feel depressed and ashamed. I’m a fitness guy, a personal trainer, this is what I help others avoid and here I am unable to play a sport I love because of back pain.

Sure, tennis is physical. It’s tough on the body. And I’m 38, not 25.?

But I think to myself - this can’t be it. I don’t have to pick up the pickle ball racket just yet..

There Must Be a Better Way

So I went on a mission to find out what the hell was going on.?

I'd been learning and studying with some of the smartest physical therapists and strength coaches over the last decade to better understand the connection between joint health, movement, and pain.?

This was a different approach that looked at the big picture.?

Up until this point in my life, I put all my faith in my doctor.

Doctor knows best, I thought. But as I learned more about how the body works, I realized my doctor’s advice at 17 to stop lifting weights was probably the worst advice I ever received.

There had to be better answers to the following..

• Why was my back always hurting??
• Why did so many of the guys I was working with at the time have chronic back pain??
• Why did all my tennis friends always complain of sore knees, painful feet and tight shoulders?

Here’s what I found..

Old injuries from an athletic childhood and standard wear and tear of almost 4 decades of life left me with a body that had glaring limitations in specific joints which led to nearby joints taking on extra stress and getting overloaded.?

The problem was that I was never addressing the reason why that back was getting overloaded and causing me pain.?

Once I found out that my hips were locked up and weren’t doing their job, it made sense why my back hurt all the time. My poor low back was doing all the work that my hips weren’t doing.

So the massage and adjustments helped solve the immediate problem of relieving the low back of pain, but it did nothing to address the hips. So I was dependent on passive treatments.

Improve Joint Movement Surrounding Painful Area

Fast forward to today and my back doesn’t hurt after I play tennis. I still get massage and passive treatments but I’m not dependent on them.?

The key piece is that I’ve improved my hip function so that I’m stronger and have more range of motion - and that has put less strain on the lower back. The back might flair up from time to time but I know what I need to do.?

The point is that passive treatments alone will not solve your problem. In fact, I would take it even further..

The dependence on passive treatments without doing anything else creates a fragile, more injury-prone body.?

My goal for you is the exact opposite – to create a strong and resilient body that doesn’t need to rely on massage, PT, or adjustments.?

Of course there is a place for these treatments, but the key is that you need to combine these passive treatments with active movements like stretching, mobility work, strength training, balance training, etc.?

Passive + Active = magic sauce of pain-free movement?

The first step is to address your current situation to see what’s going on right now in your body. If you play any sport and you have pain during or after, there is most likely some kind of limitation that is causing that pain.?

• Can you rotate your hips??
• Does your shoulder work like a shoulder should work?
• Do your ankles move well??
• Can you rotate through the middle of your back??
• Can you squat without pain?

Once you know the answers to those above basic questions, then you’ll have an idea of where that pain might be coming from. Then you address the limitations in the joint or joints with active practices to build strength and capacity, that is the solution to playing pain-free.?

Without this knowledge, you’ll be flying blind and spinning your wheels..

The active approach will also elevate your performance in whatever activity you engage with - more speed, better quickness, increased power, etc.??

That is the strong, robust and resilient human that I want you to become. One that is not dependent on others to fix you. You are strong, flexible, and bulletproof.?

You are Unstoppable After 40.

What To Do Next

If you want to get out of pain and stop relying on passive treatments, Unstoppable After 40 is starting up in September and I’m filling spots right now. The first thing we do in Unstoppable After 40 is to implement a Root Cause Assessment that will highlight key limitations in your body so you can start moving pain-free and getting back to living life unrestricted.

I’m limiting this VIP Case Study Group of Unstoppable After 40 to only 10 guys so everyone get the results they deserve.?

All you have to do is reply with a “VIP” and I’ll get you details..

That will do it. Thanks for reading.

Nick