Back Pain and Stiffness – Why You May Have It And How To Fix It – Part 3

Back pain and stiffness are the banes of many people’s existence. Whether you’re a competitive athlete or just want to be able to move your body freely, back pain can suck the life out of you. In this series on back pain, we’ll explore what causes it, how to fix it quickly and easily, and everything in between. If you’ve been experiencing back pain for a while without relief, let’s get started! 

In Part 1 of this series, we talked about some of the mechanical factors that can affect back pain and some corrective mobility, stretching and motor control drills you can do to elevate issues.

Then in Part 2, we discussed that back pain is not always a mechanical issue. The biopsychosocial model (interconnection between biology, psychology, socio-environmental factors) can contribute to back pain as well. We introduced two of them; stress being stored in the body and repressed emotions, and shared steps to take to combat these issues.

This week’s Part 3 explores two other biopsychosocial factors; fear of movement and dysregulated nervous system, and further steps to help you back to recovery! See what we did there?!

Fear of movement

Did you know that there is an actual phobia for this? Kinesiophobia, which means the fear of movement. It’s typically developed in response to previous issues with movements or periods with significant pain and disability–for instance someone who has had hip replacement surgery might have increased anxiety before they move around too much because their body was still healing following this operation.

MVMNT was developed to help individuals regain a healthy relationship with movement. To learn how to build trust in their body’s abilities, without experiencing any form of interruption from past injuries. This biopsychosocial factor, fear of movement, can be prevalent following recovery from a legitimate mechanical injury. Another source of this anxiety can come from practitioners who can use fear-mongering instead of client education in an attempt to keep their clients safe. I have worked with clients who had chronic back pain for years because they were convinced certain movements would hurt them or cause severe discomfort. 

What can you do if this is something you are experiencing? You can begin to learn to safely explore your movement boundaries and gently expand your body’s range of motion compassionately (we don’t want to add to those repressed emotions). I discuss this self-compassion a lot throughout our follow-along videos included in MVMNT’s Membership area. Our focus is on developing motor control and strength throughout your body’s range of motion, in a gentle manner. Pain does not equal progress in this realm and we focus on “less is more”.

A great practice to introduce into your daily routine if you are dealing with fear of movement is, joint controlled articular rotation (CAR). This can be a safe way to introduce yourself to your body’s current range of motion (ROM) and you can start to gently expand your ROM the more often you practice the movements. Throughout MVMNT programming we have incorporated CARs regularly because they are such a helpful body awareness tool and great for progressing a joint’s ROM.

Get FREE access to a Full body CARs video from the MVMNT library and help your body get back to a better range of motion.

Get FREE access to a Full Body CARs MVMNT Video

Dysregulated nervous system

Our fourth biopsychosocial factor that might be affecting your back pain (and other issues in your body) is a dysregulated nervous system. But what is nervous system dysregulation? It’s when our nervous system’s response or reaction doesn’t match what is in front of us. This occurs when we are unable to process stress in our bodies. Our autonomic nervous system is an evolutionary system that has evolved to keep us safe (ie fight/ flight or freeze) and it often bypasses our conscious awareness. Unfortunately, this means typical cognitive interventions may not be of any assistance in this one.

More research has been done with the nervous system and what has been discovered is that the nervous system is more nuanced than initially thought. We are realizing that the low-grade chronic stress of modern-day life has been hugely impacting our nervous system to become more dysregulated and thus reducing our overall functioning and quality of life. 

An area of research that has become more mainstream is the vagus nerve. Steve Proges discovered that it is more complex and nuanced – we actually have multiple states of nervous system activations (ventral vagal social engagement, sympathetic activation, dorsal vagal shutdown). But, Why is the vagus nerve so important? It really is the epicentre as the mind-body connection. We used to think of the brain as a control center that dictates what happens but in actuality, it’s a two-way path using the vagus nerve. It is always trying to keep us safe.

We don’t want to remain elevated at all times, but we also don’t want to remain calm at all times. We want our nervous system to match the response. This means it has the flexibility and adaptability to process the stress that arises from modern-day life and return to a state of safety in our bodies. The vagus nerve is the key to our emotional health.

Everyone wants to know what is the best tool to use to regulate your nervous system. Spoiler alert – there isn’t one ultimate tool. It’s more about knowing what tool to use that attunes to your nervous system. No one was talking about the importance of nervous system regulation and how it pertains to mobility, movement, quality of life and an essential part of health and wellness. This is why MVMNT was created and why I continue to study and distil that knowledge in new content to help our members, well, live better.

We are redeveloping our member’s onboarding experience to include an educational component about our holistic approach, assessment and how to best attune your nervous system. We will also be launching our first Master Class Series dedicated to Nervous System Regulation. If you want to take part in this FREE offering, sign up HERE.

Get Notified About The Nervous System Regulation Master Class

If there’s one thing to take away from reading, it’s that the vagus nerve is a key player in how your body responds and adapts to stress. In chronic pain sufferers, dysregulated nervous system responses can lead to increased sensitivity of muscles and nociceptive sensitization (pain processing). The good news is that by incorporating movement into your life through mobility exercises or tools like Mobility MVMNT–you can help regulate those processes and alleviate some of your discomforts.

To learn more about these topics sign up for our newsletter today or try our FREE 7-day trial to experience MVMNT for yourself!