Relieve Low Back Pain | Reduce Low Back Pain | Canada's Leading Authority in Human Movement | Dev Chengkalath

“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.”

Chinese Proverb

Have you ever noticed that the first item on almost every list of anything related to health or wellness is “get educated”?

This is by far the most important aspect of any successful program, no matter what the program deals with.

This basic tenet can be found in effective weight-loss programs, injury rehab programs, heart-health programs and even nutritional systems such as my personal favourite “Precision Nutrition”.

The easiest way to reach a certain goal or achieve a certain outcome is usually to get educated.

Why get educated?

The answer is simple.

There are two items that are paramount for achieving success in relieving your low back pain: having a plan and taking action.

Getting an education will give you the foundation you need to decide what your plan is going to be.

Once you have a plan, all you have to do is take action.

This is a sure-fire recipe for success.

When it comes to low back pain, education can mean a whole bunch of things.

From my experience as a physical therapist, here’s my take on the 2 most important things getting an education with respect to your low back pain will give you:

1. The problem
2. The solution

Again, it’s that simple.

If you’ve followed my posts for any amount of time, you’ll recognize that I’m a simple man that believes strongly in the basics.

This goes back to my introduction to Occam’s Razor years ago.

When dealing with low back pain, almost everything we do can be summed up in that duology: we have a problem (low back pain) and we want a solution (stop the pain).

Getting educated will help you define your problem and will help you formulate your solution: The whos, the whats, the wheres, the whens and the whys.

Getting educated will let you figure out the steps you need to create your plan and then set you up to move on to the next stage: Taking Control.

In the next post, we’ll dig a little deeper into what taking control really means.

So until that time, poke around my blog to learn all you can about the causes, sources and solutions for your low back pain.

Yours in movement,

Dev Chengkalath

As you may (or may not) have noticed, I’ve been a little lax on getting new posts up in the last little while.

And for all of my readers out there who missed me, I apologize.

I had the opportunity to take my first vacation in a couple years  (only 5 days-which was waaaay too short!) in the warm and sunny Mayan riviera. If you get a chance to go, I highly recommend it.

Beautiful beaches, friendly people and amazing food.

I have officially decided that nothing beats fresh Mexican salsa!!!

Now that my vacation is over, I’m back…More refreshed and energized than ever.

Over the course of my trip I had a chance to chat with some pretty amazing people from all over the world.

When they found out that I was a physical therapist from Toronto who happens to do a lot of work with low back pain, the conversation would eventually turn to back injury and back pain treatments.  

As you can see, back pain is a global issue and affects people from all sorts of backgrounds.

Anyway, once we began chatting away I noticed that everything I suggested  in terms of treatment options revolved around three major ideas. In fact I repeated them so often, you might say I almost sounded like a broken record.

And here they are, borne on the sunny beaches of Xcaret, Mexico:

1. Get Educated
2. Take Control
3. Get fit

Over the next few days I’ll break each one of these down in greater detail so you too can relieve your low back pain. In the mean time, if you’re looking to see what I’ve said about the causes of low back pain before, you can check it out HERE.

Yours in movement,

Dev Chengkalath

Mornings can be a tough time for people with low back pain. 

Often, this morning stiffness can make it challenging to start your day and get the ball rolling.  

So if you find your back pain acting up in the mornings when you wake up, try this quick physical therapist approved spinal mobilization movement to get things loosened up.

Just aim for 6-10 reps and always work in a pain free range of motion. 

For a written description of the Cat and Camel exercise, check out the Exercise Video section of the blog. 

Yours in movement, 

Dev Chengkalath

It's all about the inches...

During a break at work today between treating clients, I had a chance to sit and chat for a few minutes with my buddy and colleague, Dr. Marco Tocco. 

Now Dr. T as we call affectionately call him, is no ordinary chiropractor.

Behind those massive (yet gentle) mitts used for Active Release Techniques (ART)® and that polished pate, lies a mind full of ideas worth checking out. 

His forearms are actually bigger than my thighs.

In fact, due to his imposing physical proportions and his uncanny resemblance to a certain Hollywood celebrity (Vin Diesel anyone?), he’s the go-to-guy when anyone asks the question: “why won’t it grow?”. 

No, he won't prescribe you the little blue pill.

All joking aside, I was fortunate enough to chat with Dr. T about why some body parts seem resistant to muscular growth and development when compared to others.  

From our discussion, we whittled it down to two areas that our clients seemed to have the most difficulty coaxing to grow: the calves and the forearms. 

We then whittled it down further to a couple of likely reasons why. 

And without any pomp or fanfare, here they are:

1. Don’t train them properly (frequency, intensity, type of exercise, timing of exercise)
2. Don’t eat enough. 

The two most likely reasons why some of your body parts (e.g. calves) haven’t attained their full potential. 

If you don’t believe me, have a look around when you’re out and about in your neighbourhood.

Check out the size of the calves on almost anyone who would be considered overweight or obese who still gets around on their own and has been doing so for some time.

What do you see?

For some “unknown” reason (think training principles), these individuals seem to have some of the most muscular, most defined calves around. 

You would too if you were always in a caloric surplus and carrying the extra load around 24/7. 

To your cranked up calves and formidable forearms. 

Dev Chengkalath

Millions of people around the world have all reaped the benefits of a good push up. 

Photo courtesy Arlen Roche

Now you too can join in the fun.

For free.

With no pokey underwires, no skin-scarring straps and no constrictive constraints.

All in the comfort of your own home. Or even out at your local playground, if you so desire.

In keeping with the theme of body weight exercises, this post will discuss what is probably one of the most basic of human movements: the push up. 

LIke all other body weight exercises, no external load or vast amounts of space are required. 

In its simplicity, it will confer numerous benefits which include a buffed up bust, souped up shoulders and tantalizing triceps.

This movement is also a fantastic core control and stability exercise. 

It can modified to suit absolute beginners or progressed for even the most advanced trainee. 

As a physical therapist, I use these from shoulder rehab programs to relieving low back pain to general fitness and health.

With this list of positives, you have no reason NOT to be doing these often. 

The Basic Push Up:

Start in a plank position with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.

Keeping your head in line with your torso, hips and legs, lower your chest towards the ground, under control, as far as you can.

Don’t let your hips sag to the ground or arch up to the ceiling (always maintain that straight line).

When you’ve lowered yourself as far as you can, reverse the movement and push your body back up, using your arms and chest, to the starting plank position.

And there you have it, the basic push up!

If these are too easy or too boring for you, just use your imagination.

The variations are only limited by your imagination. These include close hand position, off-set hand position, feet raised, hands raised, one arm, one leg or any combination of the above. 

Long live push ups!

Dev Chengkalath