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

Number three on the list brings up a fairly common theme with New Year’s Resolutions…

They tend to be empty words.

It’s pretty easy to jot down a few goals for the new year. It’s even easier still to just say them out loud without even bothering to put ink to paper.

Unfortunately, that’s about as far as many resolutions go.

No permanency. No plan. No accountability.

These written words or uttered saying never evolve beyond being vague, open ended wish lists without a specific targets or timelines in mind.

Worse still, there are no corresponding behaviours that are linked to any of these.

In health and fitness, one of the most common resolutions is the oft proclaimed  and rarely scripted “This year I’m going to lose weight!” goal.

But what does that even mean? Is that 5, 10 or 15 lbs? Is that going to take you 3 months? 6 months? All year?

Will you forget about this resolution the next time temptation is placed in front of you in the form of warm, gooey brownies drowning in hot fudge sauce and topped with rich, creamy ice cream?

That typical resolution list sure doesn’t seem equipped to handle the task at hand.

It doesn’t list the simple behaviours you’ll need to consistently follow to accomplish your lofty goals. It doesn’t direct you to exercise 4-5 hours a week. It doesn’t tell you to cut out calorie containing drinks. It doesn’t list the number of veggie servings you will be eating every day.

Like I said, empty words. With too much room for excuses.

Yours in movement.

Dev Chengkalath

“Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail”

Continuing on with the discussion on why most New Year’s Resolutions fail we now find ourselves at number 2  on the list:

No plan or system to follow: In most cases, resolutions are made without any thought of how they will be executed. No planning is put in place, there are no systems to follow, and no distinct steps to take. Without these, it’s easy to fall off the resolution path and back into the familiar status quo.

Take for example one of the more common themes that crops up around January 1st.

“I’m going to lose weight this year”

That’s the resolution, the end-game.

But nowhere in the resolution are there steps to take or blueprints to follow to actually achieve the end result of losing weight.

Within that statement there are no distinct steps to take such as exercising at least 1 hour a day, or cutting our sugary drinks, or not eating processed food.

If there is no plan, it’s much easier to shrug of accountability as well. It’s much easier to just skip out on your efforts one day and tell yourself you’ll start tomorrow. Or day after. Or the day after that.

If there were a blueprint to follow you’d see exactly what you’d need to do next. You’d know where you may have fallen off  the wagon and where you need to hop back on.

Having a great plan or system to follow takes the guesswork out and leaves less room for error.

All you have to do is make sure you complete each step.

Paint-by-numbers if you will.

Yours in movement.

Dev Chengkalath

In my last post I listed 7 reasons why I believe New Year’s Resolutions fail.

Over the next little while I’m going to explore each of those reasons and relate it back to movement, injury rehab, fitness and health.

First on the docket is accountability.

What does accountability really mean and why does it even matter?

The definition above is taken from Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary and I think it encompasses the main idea quite well.

Are we really willing to accept responsibility for our actions or lack thereof? Are we ready to admit that our results are based on what we have done or not done? That these results are based on what we’ve chosen to do or chosen not to do?

Are we willing to put the blame from lack of results squarely on our own shoulders? Are we willing to accept that our achievements were our very own?

Basically, as stated by Merriam-Webster, are we in a position to accept absolute responsibility?

At this point you’re probably scratching your head and wondering how this ties in with movement, injury rehab, fitness or health?

If you want to lose weight, it’s simple. If you want to gain muscle, it’s simple. If you want to rehab your injury, it’s usually quite simple. If you want to improve your health, avoid diabetes, obesity, heart disease or any other life-altering ailment, it’s definitely simple.

(For the record, simple DOES NOT mean easy).

But are we willing to say no to the extra serving of pasta and increase our activity levels regularly? Are we willing to slam down those extra 2000 calories a day and hit the gym when we just want to crawl into bed and sleep? Are we willing to take the appropriate recovery breaks or practice the same “boring” rehab exercises over and over again to retrain our faulty movement patterns or fix our mobility issues when we know there is something more “interesting” on the TV? Are we willing to take charge of what we put into our bodies, eschewing the toxins, the chemicals, the processed crap we call food? Are we ready to take responsibility for what we subject our bodies to, or how we treat them every day?

Then we have to ask ourselves, who are we responsible to?

Who would we be letting down if we fail?

Is it ourselves? Our friends and families? Our parents? Our children? Our neighbours? Society? The healthcare system?

Is is to all of them? Some of them? None of them?

In the end, I guess I’ve asked more questions than I’ve answered and they’re questions that only you can answer.

Just realize that if there is no built in accountability to your health and fitness goals or resolutions, the odds that you’ll follow through on them diminish dramatically and all you’ll end up with is a written wish list which will leave you in the same place you were in yesterday.

Yours in movement.

Dev Chengkalath

Since it’s that time of year again, the one that shows up about every 365 days, I thought it would be fitting to dig a little deeper into some of the reasons why I think most New Year’s Resolutions almost always fail. While New Year’s Resolutions may not be directly linked to human movement, the reasons they fail are the same reasons that injury rehab programs fail, that weight loss programs fail, and why health & fitness goals are so hard to achieve.

Here’s my list in no particular order…

1. No accountability: For most people, there is no accountability built into their resolutions. Think about it. When’s the last time you were accountable for any of the New Year’s resolutions you’ve made? Who were you accountable to? Yourself? Your family? Your friends? What was/were the repercussion(s) of not following through?

2. No plan or system to follow: In most cases, resolutions are made without any thought of how they will be executed. No planning is put in place, there are no systems to follow, and no steps to take. Without these, it’s easy to fall off the resolution path and back into the familiar status quo.

3.  Just a list of words with no time- constrained behaviours attached: Often, New Year’s resolutions are a vague, open ended wish list, and not a goal oriented target. Most resolutions made have no structured timeline (if any at all!), and they most often don’t have any corresponding behaviours attached. Essentially, they are just a list of words.

4. No value placed on goal: Basically, what does the goal mean to you? Why do you want to achieve it? What’s your pain if you don’t achieve it? What’s your reward when you do achieve it? How will your results change your life?

5. No “reminders” of resolution: Once a goal is made, it’s often tucked away in the back of the mind. This allows the business of life to come to the forefront and take over the all important mind-space. How often do you think of your resolutions outside of the few days around Jan 1st? How often do you remind yourself of what you wanted to achieve?

6. Easy to lie to and sabotage ourselves: We as humans are REALLY good at lying to ourselves. Think about it. How many times will you tell yourself you’ll do something, but then put it off until the tomorrow that never comes? How many times will you tell yourself that you’re going to get up early, set your alarm clock and when it goes off in the morning, your first response is to press snooze? Maybe even press it a few times. Or how about when you fall off your nutrition plan by sneaking a dessert (or two) and then justify quitting it completely because of that one blip? Sometimes we lie and sabotage ourselves because we’re afraid of succeeding.

7. Not taking action: The main reason that most resolutions fail is because no action is actually taken. Without any action, resolutions remain as words without meaning. These actions don’t need to be huge, life altering changes. They just need to be consistent. Ask yourself the following simple question, does this take me closer or farther away from my goal?

Yours in movement.

Dev Chengkalath

Let’s face it.

Back Pain Sucks.

And it really does get in the way of life.

But it doesn’t have to!

Over the past few years in my physiotherapy practice I’ve had the pleasure of working with some wise and insightful clients on their journey towards a back pain free life.

For some of these individuals, the constant irritating pain has been a loyal companion over long stretches. At times abating to a dull nagging “friend” that tags along for the ride. And at other times rushing to the forefront of their awareness in crushing, life-altering waves of excruciating spasms.

Through their pain, suffering and journey towards salvation, each of these clients has taught me something new about living life with back pain.

Without further ado, here are the top 5 things that my clients have taught me about back pain:

1. You can do something about it: You don’t need to live with the pain. There are solutions out there. You may just need to dig a little deeper and search a littler harder. Ask around. Find out what others you know who have had back pain have done. This doesn’t mean their solutions will work for you, but at least it’ll give you someplace to start.

2. Keep moving: Exercise almost always helps. In most cases of low back pain, appropriate movement will help. It will keep joints lubricated, muscles working and mental outlook up. If you’re carrying a few extra pounds, losing those will ease the load on your spine and other joints. Even dropping 10 lbs will significantly decrease the wear and tear on your body. Getting in shape will dramatically improve your capacity to tolerate various stresses, mental and physical.

3. Empower yourself: Be your own best advocate. Only you truly know how your back pain impacts you. Only you are the “expert” on your own life. It’s easy for someone else to sit across a desk from you and say “stop doing ____.” They aren’t the ones living your life. It’s much better if the people who are supposed to help you, work with you, to generate workable solutions that can be implemented in your “real world” and not in some imaginary or unattainable “ideal world”.

4. Consistency is key: Stay on track and keep at it. Don’t give up. Be relentless. There will be peaks and valleys on your journey towards relieving low back pain but in the end, you will find a solution that works for you, a solution that will let you get back to the business of enjoying life.

5.  Know and respect your body’s limits. The body is capable of some pretty amazing feats. It can heal and repair itself from some pretty incredible situations if given the opportunity. This does not mean you can’t push the limits or even reset them. By all means, this should be the goal when looking at reaching new heights of human movement and performance. Just do so safely within the tolerances of your body structures.

If you have any insights on relieving low back pain, I’d be interested in hearing about them. Drop me a comment and let me know.

Yours in movement.

Dev Chengkalath