Lower Back And Knee Pain Relief

back and knee pain relief today I'm doing  a comment on a video by Evan Carmichael and  

he solved his back and knee pain by doing five  things that I'm gonna list and talk about so I  

want to explain the mechanisms of what is it  that happening in the body that created those  

changes for him so make sure that you stay  tuned to the end because if you understand  

the big picture then you can see if this is  something that you could benefit from and  

if you understand the big picture you can get a  complete solution instead of just a partial fix

so Evan said that he had years and years ago he  had a lot of back pain and knee pain and he would  

go to a chiropractor and it wouldn't really help  but then he took things into his own hands which  

was very proactive and he found some solutions  that worked for him but why did they work so  

here's what he did he said the main thing was to  use a stand-up desk so instead of sitting down he  

created a stand-up environment where he could  work standing and then his back pain went away  

so what happens here is it's all about posture  and if you stand or sit there's two completely  

different movement mechanisms involved and humans  are designed to do all sorts of different activity  

to be functioning in all kinds of different  postures and positions but not for eight or  

twelve or fourteen or sixteen hours a day  so we can sit for a little bit we can stand  

for a little bit but when we sit for very very  long times we change the signals in the body so  

everything in the body is controlled by the brain  the brain regulates the body it regulates muscle  

tension it regulates pH it regulates blood flow  it regulates muscle tone that controls the joint  

and the stability that prevents injuries but in  order for the brain to do that the brain needs  

information from the body this this information  these signals are called proprioception so  

proprioception paints a picture for the brain  so that the brain knows what the world looks  

like and if it gets enough of these signals then  it has a true picture a sufficient and correct  

picture of the world and it can make correct  decisions and it can balance and regulate your  

body but if we sit for 8 12 14 hours a day then  we are we're skewing we're changing those signals  

we're generating less signals and we're creating  very one-sided signals because we're setting up  

tension in the body in specific places and we're  maintaining that tension for hours and hours and  

hours so not only are we reducing the total amount  of signals we're also depriving the brain of the  

correct signals and we're creating too many of  signals that are one-sided we skew that pattern  

by using a stand-up desk and improving the posture  you improve the signals you're you're allowing a  

different motion so that when you stand up and  you had your head straight over your shoulders  

now there is a a subtle motion in the spine  that's generating signals that's benefiting  

the brain and creating this picture we're talking  about as soon as you sit down you're losing that  

lumbar curve so you're you're rounding out your  back and as soon as you've round up your back  

your your head juts forward and now you're  creating tension and you're reducing motion  

in the back and the entire spine back number two  is go barefoot this is the thing that saved my  

knees the second thing that he did was he said  to go barefoot and he said that this is a more  

natural way and I totally agree so shoes need  to be stable so I'm not opposed to shoes even  

though as soon as I come home I take my shoes off  I always walk barefoot wherever I'm going except  

when I'm at work I wear shoes but I wear very  firm shoes I wear shoes that are properly built  

up so that my my foot can act as if it's if it's  on solid ground I don't believe in these mushy

soft shoes that feel good for five minutes and  then they don't give you any kind of support  

that's not what we're looking for so again by  walking barefoot you're increasing the motion of  

the foot you're increasing the natural stressors  on the foot and you're increasing the signals to  

the brain so now the brain has a better picture  of what that foot is doing and you're maintaining  

these signal pathways better number three have  your arms just over 90 degrees at your desk he  

said to keep your arms just over 90 degrees so  what that means is when he's standing at his  

desk the surface of the top surface it should  be just below the elbow so that the hand is  

pointing down just a little bit and again this  is a relaxed position because if it's any higher  

you're gonna shrug your shoulders you can create  tension you're gonna create more of this one-sided  

pattern information that skews and distorts and  creates tension so it's another thing that has  

to do with improved posture and improved signals  number four make your monitor higher then he said  

the next thing he did was to position the monitor  higher and this is critical because there's so  

many things that we do in our lives where we  look down so we have kids walking around with  

their cell phones we have people on their tablets  we have people on on laptops and we live a whole  

life with this enormous tension in the neck and  when we have our computer it's a little bit better  

because it's kind of up in front but it's not good  enough because you want to be where you can relax  

in a normal position like you're looking out over  the horizon and that's where your monitor should  

be so you want to raise the monitor up you want  to keep the the keyboard down where your arms are  

comfortable you want to raise the monitor up so  that it is where you would be looking out so the  

next thing that he had was a rebounder this is  like a mini trampoline and this is a fantastic  

tool as long as you're fit enough to use it and  what it does is when you're jumping on it first  

of all you're performing a little bit of exercise  physical activity but more than that it compresses  

and releases and compresses and releases so when  it's in the down position you're increasing the  

gravitational pull on your body and when you're  up then you're releasing the gravitational pull  

on your body so it's like you're going you're  changing the g-forces back and forth back and  

forth which is a tremendous stimulation for your  brain because 90% of what your brain does is to  

monitor your physical movement and your position  in a field of gravity so when you start bouncing  

that's like fireworks for the brain he would  sometimes stand on it when he was working and  

just kind of move around and I don't really  have an opinion on that but the way I would  

use it would be to keep it next keep it close to  where you're working if you can and then just get  

on it for 30 seconds every 30 minutes or every  hour and get that boost get that juice get that  

fireworks going and then you get on with your day  and you've had like a boost of energy from that  

so everything that he was talking about has to do  with with posture stimulation and with increasing  

signals to the brain that's why these things work  because they increase signals to the brain but  

let's take it one more step and talk about this  because if you want to sum this up it's really  

about natural versus unnatural all humans have  evolved where our DNA or physiology our brain  

has evolved and developed and it's dependent on  certain factors it's dependent on these signals  

it can't do without them it can do all right  for a short time but it can't thrive without  

these things so the natural way for the body is  to move the natural way for the body is to have  

a varied lifestyle of varied position so that you  sit for a little bit you stand for a little bit  

you change things up I don't think sitting is evil  but we got to think back what did our ancestors do  

they they were out on the hunt they were walking  long distances they were working planting growing  

digging they were working on things then they  sat down for a rock on a rock they sat down on  

their heels but they never sat in an office chair  for 14 hours so the body is made to do all these  

different things but it's not made to do any  one thing for a very very long time it it needs  

change the unnatural part is the lifestyle that  we have created where we have static movements so  

if you're sitting and your head is jutting  forward that's a static movement if you're  

driving in the car for six hours that's a static  movement you're contracting your hip flexors in an  

unnatural short position you're creating tension  for a very long time and some other professions  

that we see a lot is for example hairdressers  musicians and graphic designers because now we  

have other professions where if they work with  the with the person's hair then their arm is up  

constantly so now even though they're standing  they have a muscle contraction for most of the  

day a musician might be a guitar player or  a violinist or something and they now they  

I use one specific posture for hours and hours  same thing graphic designers laden work with the  

computers but a lot of them also work with with  tablets and again you're you're putting your body  

in a specific position so when you do that you're  creating a one-sided pattern you're creating a  

repetitive unchanging signal that becomes a habit  that kind of gets locked in and that's where those  

tight muscles come from so if we have a situation  where we have to sit a lot where we have to hold  

our arm in a specific position now we need to do  something on a regular basis to undo that pattern  

to either do the opposite to stretch it out or to  create variety just change it around so that that  

pattern doesn't get static and stuck the only  issue that I had with his video I think he's a  

super class act I don't have anything negative  to say about it except the title itself because  

there was like a little parentheses at the end  and it says relief without exercise and I have  

some issues with that because it's part of our  of our collective awareness of our collective  

belief system that relief without exercise is a  good thing that if you can get away with it then  

you're lucky and you should try to do that but  first of all relief is not what we're looking for  

that's where so many people are getting trouble  because they have a pain and they just do enough  

to get relief and then they think they're done  but we have to understand that there's an optimal  

function in the body this is what's going to  allow us to live into our 80s and 90s without  

degenerating without having loss of function to be  able to do the things we enjoy up into very high  

years so if we have a hundred percent function  and it starts declining then we get to a point  

we get to a threshold a breaking point where the  body can't compensate and now we have symptoms and  

if we don't deal with that then the decline  continues and we get disease and eventually  

death so if we just do enough to get rid of the  symptom then we could still be kind of hovering  

at about half of our optimal function and when  people really start understanding that that it's  

the ability of the brain to regulate it's the  ability of every cell in the body to clean up  

and produce energy and for muscles to contract  that there's an optimal level and then there's  

a level below which we start having symptoms  you don't want to just get rid of the symptom  

you want to get to optimal function and I think  I don't think there's anyone that disagrees with  

that once they truly understand the difference  between optimal versus just symptom relief so  

again I have a little issue because relief is  not what we're looking for and the other thing  

is without exercise so what is exercise when you  go through and you make these changes then you're  

getting exercise you're getting motion you're  getting more activity in the body you're getting  

these little movements little changes all the time  so standing and walking a little bit is movement  

it creates signals reaching up on a shelf and put  in picking down a jar that's movement it's a form  

of exercise so it's not about going to the gym or  joining a boot camp and sweating and being in pain  

for hours that's not necessary but the body is  designed for movement movement generates signals  

so if someone can lose weight without exercise we  should pity them if someone can create pain relief  

or if they can lower their insulin resistance  where they can create a positive physiological  

change without exercise then we should really  pity them if they think that that means they  

don't have to exercise because and again exercise  isn't blood sweat and tears it's about movement  

on a regular basis using the body that was  designed to be used so we have to remember  

the health is a triangle that everything is about  signals and there is signals that are influenced  

by structural mechanisms chemical mechanisms and  emotional mechanisms so you could be stressed and  

your blood pressure goes up your physiology your  signals change because you're thinking differently  

you could eat something you're allergic to your  blood pressure goes up you could sit still or you  

could exercise and your blood pressure changes so  physiology is influenced by all of these so when  

we're talking about natural versus unnatural then  movement is natural sitting still static things  

are unnatural and feeling good is natural the  emotional aspect feeling good is natural feeling  

bad is unnatural it interferes with your health  with your physiology with your balance and the  

most important one may be the nutritional part  because that's the thing that has changed more  

in the last 50 years than it has in the previous  50 thousand so there's very very little in common  

that we have the food that we eat compared to  what with people had a few thousand years ago  

it's natural to do certain things and that the  body thrives on what it's designed for so when  

he said that he had gone to a chiropractor and  it wasn't helping that's because they weren't  

addressing the cause the cause was repetitive  postural stress so if you adjust and you relieve  

that stress but you go back to imposing the  stress with your lifestyle then you haven't  

solved the problem so he was absolutely right and  being proactive and figuring out how to change  

this and it wasn't that the chiropractic wasn't  working but he was just doing this to himself  

over and over again so we have to understand that  there's a natural way of doing things there's a  

natural structure chemical and emotional state for  the body so he called these things life hacks and  

I'm all for creating ways of making life easier  and quicker and more efficient we just have to  

understand there is no hack for biology so we we  are biology it's designed to be a certain way to  

respond a certain way and we can't change that  because your DNA hasn't changed for a quarter  

million years so we can get smarter about it we  can learn quick ways to get some exercise we can  

we can incorporate these things into our lives  but we can't bypass them because it's unnatural  

it goes against biology and it's not going to  work so kudos to Evan for putting out a good  

video with some very very helpful tips and I hope  that you enjoyed understanding a little bit about  

the explanations of why these things what they  have in common and how it works and how you can  

use those to further your own quality of life  so please share this video with as many people  

as you can because health and life is what we're  all about everyone wants to be happy and healthy  

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