His theory and method are rooted in psychoanalysis I believe.
Me too. I had to overcome my innate skepticism, but after two weeks of physical therapy I am nearly free of pain. When I first injured the back and could barely walk or sit, I had x-rays, MRIs, injections, and prednisone, which at least enabled me to function. But some level of nerve and muscle pain remained. The PT eliminated all of that. Remarkable.
P.S. Your post motivated me to make my first appointment.
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The attia video is brilliant. Really interested in the comment that early hip replacements are mainly in men who overdid the deadlifts and women who have done 30 years of yoga.
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The conversation explains at great length why the psychosomatic argument is mistaken. I’m surprised to see so many people bring it up here without actually listening to the episode.
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Seems to me that an MRI provides empirical evidence, even if the images are sometimes misinterpreted.
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I listened to the podcast, and they discussed the distinction between acute pain, which arises from injury, and chronic pain, which results from repeated injury and the body’s anticipation of pain. This anticipation contributes to the development of chronic pain.
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For anyone wanting to see stuart mcgill’s “Big 3” exercise recommendations for lower back pain. I’ve decided to do these prophylactically:
“Research has shown that the most common cause of years lived with disability (YLD) is low back pain.”
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Stuart McGill’s company video channel, and top 3 core exercises:
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I have never had back pain in my entire life. Ever. I’ve given birth to 11 babies, 8 pregnancies, all healthy and I’m very active in way of exercise, walking etc. I’m now 63 years old and I’ve had my first MRI for lower back pain I’ve had for the last few months that is so damn painful. Doc says degeneration. Multilevel lumbar degeneration disc disease and facet spondylosis. Grade 1 anterolisthesis of L3 on L4. Moderate central canal stenosis at L3-L4, Mild central canal stenosis at L4-L5. Neural foraminal narrowings detailed level by level. It’s so freaking painful and sciatica is a biotch on my right leg. What can help doctors??? Surgery or Rapa? I don’t really want surgery. My bike helps sometimes but seems to cause muscle spasms. Are there more videos I can learn from to make myself feel better? Thanks much.
Hi Susan we seem to have the same back! Thought I’d share where I am in the journey. I found radio ablation therapy to virtually eliminate one of my three pain locations. Steroid injections have been moderately successful for one other area. The third - the sciatica from pressure on the spinal nerve, has not improved with PT, an orthopedist, upping my core work, or anything else. I tried 100 mg. Gabapentin for pain three days this week but had so much brain fog the next day I’m stopping that. I’m going to try acupuncture next. More likely to help, in my opinion, is a paid in person consultation I have scheduled with one of Dr. McGill’s trained practitioners in a few weeks. I expect him to give me targeted exercises, tell me what I can and can’t do in Pilates, etc., and give me ways of moving my body less likely to cause a flare up. Also, I am consulting with a surgeon on minimally invasive surgery to remove the arthritic spurs and the synovial cyst pressing up against the nerve. I’m going to try very hard to never go down the spinal fusion route.
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Hi Devon, It sounds the same! Thank you for sharing, it really helps a lot to know what others are doing with similar symptoms. The sciatica pain is awful.
But, I’m on my 3rd week with Rapamycin and I’ve got to tell you the first week it took away SO much of my pain, it was almost not believable! It just amazed me. But by Wed/Thurs my pain starts coming back and Friday I take my rapamycin again - and it starts all over again. It also helps my carpal tunnel too.
I’ve tried the acupuncture, PT and haven’t done the steroid injections yet or the radio ablation, that sounds interesting. Almost like the red light therapy I use on my lower back, it’s equally wonderful! It’s called Lume Box. Pain pills are the worst and really mess with my life too. I occasionally take a muscle relaxer when I can’t sleep at night. I’m with you, staying away from any spinal fusions! The rapamycin is really helping a lot!
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Hi Susan. I wanted to give you an update on my back journey, as I am totally pain free at last and hope maybe my experience can help you. Like you, I was super reluctant to consider spinal fusion, partly because of the recovery and partly because I had read it can create a cascading effect of weakening up the spine. But after consulting with top doctors at Hospital for Special Surgery (considered one of the best if not the best in the world), and being told I was an excellent candidate with strong bones other than the facet, etc. issues, I went for it. There is some risk of weakness cascading up the spine for everyone, but less for people with no osteoporosis and it tends to happen after 10 years so I figured at my age I’d enjoy life while I can (age 69). They removed the facet joint that had been causing the sciatica and built a new one, and installed a sort of cage in that area to keep everything in place. Post surgery there has been very little pain. I only needed Tylenol after two days and stopped that after four. Immediately post surgery, my sciatica was completely gone. I have no back or leg pain at all anymore. For 3 months you’re not supposed to bend, twist, or lift more than 20 pounds but I’ve been doing loads of walking fast and stationary biking. I know everyone is different, and surgery may not be for you, but as we both seem to have tried so many different things, to no avail, I wanted to let you know that this has worked for me.
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Hi Devon, that´s great for you.
I did ablation and PRP for back pain 2 months ago w/ little relief. Maybe further up will try something “new” for that. Maybe can you share the you doctor’s name that works for you? Thank you very much.
Back pain for years:moderate (38 degree curve) lumbar scoliosis and facette joint deterioration. But, somehow I realized that despite these real issues, the cause of the pain was doing core exercises on my back. Had been doing these for decades! Stopped them, and instead started a series of “standing core” exercises – on Peloton – and was amazed the pain ended and my core was stronger. After doing these for a while started using one of those little wheels with a handle on each side – this has also helped but could not use it until having done the standing core for a while. Still some pain from the residual issues but totally manageable now.
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