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

Well my friends, I know I said that I would write about strategies to improve hip mobility and spine stability in order to buffer against the deadly effects of low back pain.

However, I would like to switch gears a little bit just because I’ve had a pretty incredible weekend and wanted to share it with you.

The old dog in the title of the post is me. And boy did I learn some new tricks this weekend!

Here’s the background story:

I’ve never been a big winter sports kinda guy. For most of my life, I’ve been telling anyone who would listen, and many who didn’t want to listen, that I’m allergic to the cold. It’s more than likely that this is the reason that I have only skied once in my life, on a school ski trip about 16 years ago.

Now fast forward to this past weekend:

It all changed!

I hit the slopes as an adult beginner trying to learn a sport that has at its foundation some of the things I most detest: ice, snow, cold.

For the record, this is NOT me

Would I be willing to deal with those frigid elements to learn how to balance precariously on a two, incredibly thin, parabolic boards strapped to my feet, while hurtling down the side of a mountain in the name of fun?

My weekend at Mont Tremblant started with a beginner skiing lesson with a very patient, and understanding gentleman by the name of Jean Landry, on a hill that at best had a max altitude of 40 feet with a kind and forgiving slope. He started with the basics: how to balance, how to stop, how to turn, and most importantly, how to get up when you fall.

And that was probably the most important lesson.

Because in life, there will be falls.

There will be tumbles.

Some worse than others. Some a little softer.

Some, like the ones I experienced at Mont Tremblant, which gently kicked up clouds of fluffy white snow. Some, like the ones that my body aches remind me of, which had enough force to smack my helmeted noggin into the icy hillside.

But after every fall, I learned to awkwardly shuffle, twist, turn and twitch until I was standing again. I would stumble robotically towards my skis which were designed to liberate themselves well before the point where my ankles snapped. I would clip them back on to my feet, and then dust off the snow that had made its way through my four or five clothing layers.

And before I would start down the hill again, I would take a quick, wide-eyed peek up  the busy ski hill and see the other skiers coming down towards me with the control akin to a rally car that missed a turn and at speeds that I’m sure the human body is not designed to experience outside of rocket-ship travel. When the coast was clear, I would point my skis back to the bottom of the abyss and start my journey over again.

And that’s when something amazing happened.

I learned to ski.

This old dog, learned a new trick.

Yours in movement.

Dev Chengkalath

We are all students of life. Or so we should be.

Here’s a list of 10 things I learned (or re-learned) this week as they pertain to physical therapy, human movement and sometimes even life.

1. Human anatomy hasn’t changed, but our understanding of it has. The interconnectedness of the body is astounding and we’re just really starting to realize how this plays a much bigger role in physiotherapy, injury rehabilitation and performance training than previously thought.

2. Surrounding yourself with people who are passionate (and much smarter than you) is a great way to get inspired. And getting inspired is a great way to become better at your craft.

3. Always try to learn something new from every situation encountered. Once you learn it, apply it often so that it becomes internalized. This is also another great way to improve your craft.

4. Know your anatomy inside-out. And I don’t mean just the origins, insertions or innervations. I’m talking about functional anatomy, force couples, co-contractions, synergists and antagonists. Although knowing these won’t unravel all the mysteries of the body, it sure will help when trying to diagnose or treat complicated, multi-factorial and confusing cases.

5. Seek out the cause of the dysfunction, don’t just settle for treating the source of the pain. I wrote about cause vs source previously, but it’s always good to be reminded to differentiate between the two. Our current medical model often stops shy of actually discerning the root cause, while we look to deal with the source. This is not only short-sighted, but leads to poor long-term outcomes.

6. Always question why you do what you do. Don’t be happy with the status quo. But don’t complain either unless you’re willing to be the one to step up and initiate change. As Gandhi once said: ” Be the change you want to see in the world.”

7. The body is an amazing piece of biological machinery that can adapt to the most extreme conditions, incredible stresses or seemingly impossible challenges we place upon it. The mind, however, doesn’t always possess the same fortitude. Fortunately, this can be corrected.

8. Straight from the mouth of Shirley Sahrmann: “You get what you train.” To expand upon that elegant statement think about how you spend your days? Slouched? Slumped? Flexed? Why are you in pain? Think of it this way, your body is constantly under training, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. How are you training your body? That is the importance of the everyday.

9. When considering all that you know, it’s quite amazing to realize how much it is that you know you really don’t know.

10. I have the best job in the world as a physiotherapist in Toronto. I’m free to think critically, I’m constantly challenged and I love what I do. How many people can say the same?

Yours in movement.

Dev Chengkalath