How I Conquered My Back Pain and Regained My Freedom

I was in my early 20s and starting to get into lifting, maybe too much so. Combine that with the fact that I was doing physical labour for my job and doing repetitive twisting and lifting in awkward positions. Eventually, my back completely gave out, leaving me with a disc herniation at L5 S1 (the very last bottom disc in the spine) and sciatica.

I could never imagine doing something like this when I was recovering from my injury

Living with back pain

My worst symptoms came when I was stuck sitting for long periods, like when I was driving. I remember driving from Toronto to Hamilton to visit my then-girlfriend, now wife, which took an hour on a good day. And by the time I got there I felt crippled. I was stuck hunched over because standing up straight hurt, and I was shuffling forward because swinging my leg to take too big of a step caused sharp pain in my back.

This was my reality. So I sought out help from a chiropractor who had been seeing my mom for years to treat her back pain. He was the one who ordered the X-rays that confirmed the disc herniation diagnosis.

He told me that I was lifting too heavy and that deadlifts were largely unnecessary. My posture was terrible, and I was told to focus on keeping my spine neutral at all times.

That, combined with coming in for weekly chiropractic adjustments, would supposedly give my spine a chance to heal while being put back into proper alignment.

I gladly accepted the plan because, at this point, I was willing to do anything and pay anything to get myself feeling better again. At the rate I was going, I was 20-something going on 80-something.

The downfall of traditional back pain treatment

After a few months of treatment, I didn't feel much better. I came out of every adjustment feeling sore and tender, and because I was avoiding workouts for fear I would make something worse, I was getting weaker too.

Part of me was thinking that I had to be patient, but the other part of me felt something was wrong. Being as stubborn and persistent as I am, I started digging into the most up-to-date research on back pain.

From my studies in personal training, I understood that tissues adapt to the stress put in front of them. If you do bicep curls, you'll eventually get better at doing bicep curls. But I came across research by a leading spine and back researcher, Dr. Stuart McGill, who argued that certain movements put too much stress on the lumbar spine and cause herniations. I bought and read his entire textbook, looking for answers.

Upon digging deeper into his research, he came to these conclusions by repeatedly flexing a dead pig spine for days at a time. No, I'm not kidding.

Then I came across research that showed no evidence that lifting heavy weights or even lifting in awkward positions caused back pain and herniations. When you put the pieces together, it was less about specific movements being dangerous and more about whether those tissues could handle the load or not. If you did too much too fast, there's no amount of posture fixing and stretching that would help you. Of course, if you flex a spine repetitively with no rest (or ability to recover, because it was dead...), you'll cause damage.

In other words, you could train your spine to move in all directions and lift in funny positions, and as long as it's prepared to do so, it's no more risky than any other movement.

Another more recent piece of evidence that further poked holes in traditional beliefs was an article titled, "Sit-Up Straight: Time To Re-evaluate". It showed that there was no relationship between posture and pain. They found people who supposedly had poor posture, and only some of them had back pain, while many didn't.

What I started to understand was that the traditional belief about back pain and the fear it created was doing more harm than good. It was keeping people from the exact thing that would not only help their back pain now, but prevent it from returning.

And I started to connect the dots. My mom had been seeing this chiropractor for as long as I can remember, and she still had significant back pain. There are people with "good" posture who still have back pain. The people who avoid lifting seem to be in more pain and have less functional ability than those who work out.

I realized personally, I was simply doing too much. Ego lifting in the gym, combined with lifting in awkward positions for 8-hour shifts over and over, was what caused my problems. I wasn't out of alignment, because there's no such thing as perfect alignment. It wasn't the postures or the exercises themselves, it was me.

It was all starting to make sense.

How I started to feel better

I stopped doing my chiropractic adjustments (saving a lot of money in the meantime) and hit the gym. Based on my research, the best thing you can do for your back is get it moving, but it was equally important to find the best place to start to avoid irritating things further.

So I started conservatively, doing light movements like back extensions and glute bridges. Eventually, I built up the courage to do Jefferson curls, which purposely put my spine in flexion and "poor" posture. Even though I knew what the research said, I was still hesitant and had some work to do to purge the old narrative surrounding back pain from my mind.

Once I started expressing the full movement and mobility of my spine, my back immediately started feeling better. No longer was I avoiding flexion, twisting, and awkward postures. And who'd have guessed it, my spine started to adapt and got better at handling these positions.

Sitting was no longer agony. I could touch my toes. I could bend down with a rounded back and pick up a heavy box and not worry about my back. I started deadlifting again and even competed in a Powerlifting competition, lifting over 500lbs pain-free.

I did no costly treatments, no surgery, just simple movement that I gradually exposed myself to over time. It didn't happen overnight, and it took around 6-8 months to hit my groove (with a lot of trial and error in between), but once I understood fully what I needed to do, I've never looked back.

Falling through the cracks

This is exactly how I got into the coaching and pain management business. I think too many people in pain fall through the cracks when it comes to treatment. You suffer pain and injury, you go to your doctor, they tell you all the things you can't do, you get sent to a chiro or physio, they give you some stretches and manual therapy, pop some pain pills and hope it goes away.

For the large majority of people, at best, this level of treatment is going to help temporarily because it doesn't address why the pain is there in the first place. If we don't move our spines and build up our capacity, our backs are left vulnerable. It's an old adage, but if we don't use it, we lose it.

That's where I aim to fill the gap. To show people what they can do. To help them understand that their spine isn't fragile, and that band-aid solutions ultimately aren't going to help them in the long run. That's why I tell my story.

I also truly enjoy watching people get really freaking strong.

I'm not special

I've seen a woman in her late 50s go from a herniated disc to lifting over 200lbs and be able to do hours of yardwork at home completely pain-free.

I've seen a man who had undergone spinal fusion surgery who had been told he'll never lift heavy again, lift twice his bodyweight.

I've seen a man who was told to quit his job or his back pain would get worse, completely flip the script and compete in weightlifting while keeping his job.

If I can do it, and they can do it, so can you.

Your back isn't fragile

No matter where you're coming from, if you do the right things, you can and will improve. It requires work and consistency, but it can be done.

To your good health,

Coach Stephen

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Thanks for reading.

P.S.

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