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

He who opens a school door, closes a prison.

Victor Hugo

Over my lifetime in sport and fitness, I’ve picked up many lessons and missed out on just about as many. I’ve gone through the same ups and downs you have. I’ve been injured. I’ve had near misses. I’ve been lucky. I’ve set new personal bests. And I’ve failed more times than I can remember. Or care to remember. 

Through it all, I’ve learned many lessons.

Though the soccer pitch or the dingy gym called the “armpit” may not be a place of learning in the traditional sense, the lessons learned were no less important.

It may not be “school”, but teachers are all around us, if we care to learn.

Not all lessons are taught in the classroom

Coaches, teammates, opponents, physical therapists and trainers. Each has contributed in some way. Some forcing me to prove them wrong. Others forcing me to prove them right.

“Sorry Dev, you didn’t make the team, you’re not big enough, not strong enough.”

“Dev, we need you to nail that penalty kick. Don’t let us down!”

Sport granted me the basic tenets to continue to be active throughout my life and how to interact with others. It taught me basics such as discipline, determination and teamwork. It made me work my ass off to compete with those lucky or gifted or tenacious enough to be stronger, better or faster.

The iron taught me something different. 

It taught me to look within myself. To dig a little bit deeper, to go beyond losing fat, building six pack abs and big bench presses.

It taught me to defy gravity.

And isn’t that the purpose of being human? 

To move and fight against that unseen force?

When we stop moving, we start dying.

So keep moving.

Dev Chengkalath

During the holidays, there’s always an abundance of feasting with friends and family. By sticking with the following tips, you can curb the excess weight gain that always seems to crop up around this time of year. 

Eat whole foods over processed foods, they are more nutrient dense.

Eat high quality protein with every meal.

Eat more healthy fats such as Omega 3’s. Eat less or better yet, no trans-fats.

Learn the difference between fibrous carbohydrates, complex carbohydrates and simple carbohydrates.

Get most of your carbohydrates from veggies and fruits (in that order).

Eat the right kind of carbohydrates at the right time (fibrous carbohydrates over all others when possible).

Ingest all other carbohydrates (simple or complex) post-workout; your body will use them better.

Eat more fiber.

Learn to read labels and critically analyze them.

Sound nutrition is the best method of losing body fat, increasing metabolism and buoying energy levels.

This is the best foundation for healthy living.

Educate yourself; it will go a long way.

To your health.

Dev Chengkalath