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

Quadruped Rocking.

This is one of those exercises that almost anyone can do without much difficulty. It takes very little time, doesn’t require any equipment and as most of my physical therapy client’s say “it’s easy”.

If you’re suffering from low back pain, give it a try the next time you’re slumped on the couch watching TV and a commercial comes on (please note sarcasm here…if you’ve been reading any of my posts, you should not be slouched when watching TV!).

As an added bonus, when executed properly it’ll improve your posture, activate your core and help stabilize your shoulders.

Yours in movement.

Dev Chengkalath

As you’ll often notice, I tend to write a lot about the backside.

Call it what you want (glutes, hips, posterior chain, derriere …), but always remember how important hip function is for not only protecting or fixing your back, but also for numerous other joints and tissues in your body.

Since I’ve already written at length about how the hips impact spine health, today I want to branch out a bit into hip function and knee health.

Over the course of the last little while I’ve had quite a few clients come into the clinic with fairly sudden onset of atraumatic knee pain. Basically, the pain came on without any falls or trauma to the knee itself.

I tend to see injuries in bunches. I’ll have periods of  people with neck pain, a week of ankle sprains or a week where everyone is suffering from low back pain.

In this case, I wanted to figure out the commonality between all these people and their knee pain.

Sure enough, they were all runners.

Enjoy your run, pain free.

As I’ve written before and as I’ll write again, people should get fit to run and not the other way around.

That is GET FIT TO RUN, DON’T RUN TO GET FIT.

What’s the problem with running to get fit?

There are huge numbers of issues with the above.

The most concerning is that running is a highly repetitive, extremely high volume, high impact activity.

Think of it this way: how many foot-falls or foot strikes will you have in a 10 minute run? In a 30 minute run? In a half-marathon? Marathon?

Now think of each of those steps as a repetition.

Now add in the fact that an individual may have been completely sedentary prior to starting to run.Or may have some bio-mechanical fault or compensation.

To me, that just seems like a dangerous mix.

High volume, high impact activity with an often poorly coordinated (lacking motor control) and de-conditioned body.

That, my friends, is a sure recipe for disaster, pain and injury.

The human body is an incredible marvel of engineering. It will adapt to almost any condition or stress placed upon it, with one major caveat: only if given the opportunity to adapt.

Runners, unfortunately, tend not to take heed.

Above all else, they will keep running.

Now, if you build a strong, sturdy foundation, there’s no problem with going out for a run.

In part 2 of this blog post,  I’ll discuss why the hips and glutes are so important for runners and how just a few simple exercises can protect your knees and spine at the same time.

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

As you all know, I’m a huge proponent for movement as a safe, effective and dangerous-side-effect-free “cure” for many of the health issues faced by a large percentage of the population. This includes relieving low back pain, treating diabetes, lowering cholesterol and conquering obesity and its related deadly disorders. 

In this post, I’m going to be switching gears a bit from discussing low back pain to discussing body fat.

Don’t get me wrong. The two are still intimately related and that’s why, if you’re carrying extra body fat, you need to get rid of it. 

Potentially Fatal Body Fat

 As I subscribe to dozens of physical therapy, health and fitness newsletters, I’m always looking to pass along information that will benefit you in relieving your low back pain or just getting you in the best shape possible (which is one of the best ways to avoid low back pain!). 

Here is one such newsletter I recently received that caught my attention:

[ Editor's Note:  Fitness author Jon Benson shared this letter with me and gave me permission to share it with you. ]

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I agree with Jon. You can keep waiting on the sidelines or you can suit up, take action and take charge of your health and fitness. 

Yours in movement.

Dev Chengkalath

the core?

In contrast to popular belief, the core not only encompasses the abdominals or the six-pack muscles on the front of the body, but also some smaller and larger muscles that are involved in stabilizing the lumbo-sacral-pelvic region, or as more commonly known, the torso (which includes the low back).

This includes muscles in the back, hips, pelvis and trunk. Furthermore, this includes the passive structures that help transmit or dampen forces such as fascia (connective tissue network), bones, tendons and ligaments.

Functional Core

And let’s not forget, all of these fall under the control of the nervous system. For our purposes here, this includes the brain, spinal cord and the nerves that activate those core muscles.

All of these systems must work together to form a fully functional core. 

And a fully functional core is what will protect you from low back pain and optimize your performance.

In my book, those are both worthy outcomes!

So to help you continue on your journey of back pain relief and optimal core performance, here is another short video clip.

This one shows the proper execution of the side plank, which will really hit the obliques (love handle area) while minimizing potentially dangerous compressive loading on the spine.

To your optimal core function and performance.

Dev Chengkalath