ResolveYourPain website is a dedicated Active Isolated Stretching Blog.
The benefits and applications of Active Isolated Stretching and Strengthening are discussed.
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- Sciatica treatment in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii
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- Bursitis testimonial. How do I cure my bursitis?
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- Tips for low back pain.
- Tips for neck and shoulder pain
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- Lower back pain causes - psoas tightness and sitting.
- Back pain in Honolulu, Hawaii, Oahu
- Golf stretching. Improve your golf swing thru Active Isolated Stretching
- My neck is killing me! I have chronic neck pain
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- Flat Back Syndrome & Chronic Low Back Pain
- Cluster Headache Pain in Honolulu. Finally! Treatment that works.
- L4 L5 S1 low back pain treatment and the psoas muscle
- C4 C5 C6 C7 Cervical Disc disease. Resolving Chronic Neck Pain.
- Migraine Headaches and C5 C6 Cervical Disc Disease and the digastric
- Corrective scoliosis treatment. Is scoliosis curable? Yes!
- Forward-head posture: Tightness in the pectorals & sternocleidomastoid
- Shin splints treatment involves the feet
- Ankylosing Spondylitis: Stop fusion through advanced stretching therapy
- Cervical neuropathy | Nerve pain in the arm | C4, C5, C6, C7, C8
- Kyphosis treatment: returning curvature to the thoracic region
- Dysphagia Treatment For Trouble Swallowing: Focus on the digastric.
- Frozen Shoulder treatment is more than just the rotator cuff muscles.
- Neuropathy pain - remove muscular inflammation to resolve nerve pain.
- Sciatica nerve pain - affecting the deep six muscles, the hip rotators.
- Cure for scoliosis. It's called Active Isolated Stretching and Strengthening.
- Stroke treatment Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii
- Parkinson's Stretching
- Bursitis cure. How to solve bursitis.
- Arthritis: joint inflammation and cartilage deterioration.
- Best treatment for musculoskeletal dysfunction and disorders of the nervous system
- Bunions, Hammertoes, Plantar Fasciitis. Foot and heel pain.
- Neck Pain in Honolulu, Hawaii, Oahu Treatment
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Do you do all exercises each side one after the other?
Hi Seana,
Yes, I recommend that you do each exercise on both sides of the body. Then proceed to the next exercise. For example, do the triceps exercises on your left side. Then, do the same triceps exercises on your right side.
I’m not sure if you can help me since I am in California but maybe…
I think the AIS approach might be the hidden key to what has been a nightmare these last 4 1/2 months.
Sorry, but this has turned into a long letter:
I have a long history of working out and a super strong core. I was considered hyper-flexible: laying my hands flat on the floor in a forward fold and very good spine rotation. For the last 3 years I’ve been experiencing low back tightness and pain on and off. In the past when I stopped working out the tightness would dissipate, but each time it flared up the symptoms were be a little worse and last a little longer.
In February, I did 3 days of back-to-back Pilates (all were isolated glute classes), while my back was still tight, the following day (Friday) I drove a car for 3 1/2 hours in traffic. The next morning I tried to work out but couldn’t do a downward dog or sun salutations, even a plank caused pain. For the next 2 days I sat all day for a conference and then drove home for another 2 hours. The pain was becoming an issue-mostly through my glute and low back. By Monday morning the searing pain down my glute was so bad I couldn’t use my leg to stand, squat or use the muscle without pain.
Unfortunately I thought I was dealing with a torn glute muscle or piriformis syndrome. Being the hard worker that I am I spent the next three days training in a new position which involved heavy lifting and bending to the right. I was taking ibuprofen to try and get by but it just worsened. It turned out I had sciatica that started setting up in my shin and foot. I have been off work since March 7th, unable to function for the job requirement.
Before I had an MRI diagnosis I sought out the usual forms or relief: 3 chiropractors, PT, acupuncture, massage, ART. I was eventually diagnosed with a herniated right paracentral disc at L4/5 and a small bulge at L5/S1 with mild degeneration and spinal stenosis. Things progressed to the point where 2 trips to the emergency room in one weekend and almost every opioid available only temporarily dampened the acute pain by 30%. On April 9th I had my first epidural with only about 30% relief.
The sciatic pain got so bad it was referring pain into my rectum, and sometimes my groin. It was so flared up any type of stretching or manipulation had to be stopped because it just exacerbated the problems further.
On May 7th, I had my second epidural with 50% pain relief and a referral to meet with a surgeon. I did meet with the surgeon on May 29th and since I was holding steady for 2 weeks prior to my consult we agreed to wait and see how things progressed.
On May 22, I started with a new acupuncturist (with thai massage background), he felt my tight glute muscles were contributing to my flat lumbar area and pulling my pelvis out of rotation thus putting the discs in a vulnerable position. I was seeing him 2x/week. I trusted him-even attempting to lay on my stomach and try some simple elbow cobras and re-try piriformis and glute stretches. Some progress was being made-to the point where one night I could remain in bed for 8 hours without incurring additional pain (June 11), that was with some over the counter painkillers and muscle relaxants because my torso would go into spasms when I changed positions. Prior to this point I could only sleep only right side and the pain would wake me up-anywhere from 50 minutes to 2 hours (rarely), no matter what I took. Once I got up it was often hours before I could attempt to lay down again, and the grueling cycle continued nightly for 4 months. I was averaging 3-4 hours of sleep a night, collectively, the rest of the night was spent pacing around the kitchen-when the pain calmed down enough to allow me to walk. Sitting was another luxury I could rarely do.
I was feeling well enough to go to an evaluation with the Spine Zone last Thursday 6/14. Through the course of the exam: flexibility evaluation, full cobras (very uncomfortable) to try and a back machine that measures your back strength I felt a little worse.
The next day (last Friday) I had my 8th acupuncture treatment and when I went to push up off the table from my left side I felt the sciatic fire up again in my glute, shin/foot. Usually after his treatments I feel better but I noticed the pain in my shin had not diminished much. By the end of the evening I had to stand for an event for over an hour because I could not comfortably sit, and then the cycle of pain waking me up during the might, not being able to sleep any other way than on right side started again…I came very close to going to emergency again just for some relief from the intense pain in my foot/heel/shin/L5 areas. I opted for 800 Ibuprofen again until I could speak with the pain management Dr. last Monday. She put me on another low-dose steroid (my 4th round).
I had another acupuncture visit on Tuesday 6/18, fully expecting relief only to find I felt worse when I got off the table. By that night again I was close to going to emergency for some relief. Fortunately I looked at my inventory of prescriptions I’ve tried and decided to give Tramadol a try (only tried it once prior). It took enough of the pain away so that I could at least function-and get a little more rest at night.
I had acupuncture again today and he was concerned it was the position of me laying on my stomach that was interfering with the treatment so he had me try a pillow under my hips. While this was comfortable for my back my sharp nerve shin, ankle and side of foot pain were worsening. Again, when I went to get off the table the pain was worse, and I had already taken a Tramadol just an hour prior.
I also noticed driving caused a lot of L5 pain and sharp nerve pain in shin and foot. I was only able to start driving myself around again around May 9th.
As a note about myself: I am a 54 year old woman who only saw the Dr. a couple times a year, otherwise healthy and considered very strong. my resting pulse is 55-62 with a lower range BP, BMI under 25%. Even through all of this I try not to take any narcotics-unless absolutely necessary. To give you some idea even Norco barely touched with the pain relief, and I would limit that to 1-2/day and only on extremely bad days. I’ve been prescribed all the nerve meds but the side effects are too strong (and I did not find nerve relief), several muscle relaxants, Valium and Tramadol.
I am now scheduled for another epidural to try and calm down the nerve again, this will be the last available to me for another year. If I cannot keep from re-injuring the disc or find the underlying cause I may have no recourse but to have a micro discectomy.
There have always been little pieces of the puzzle that don’t make sense to me, especially based on my physical strength. Everyone says cobras are the best thing for your back and especially disc issues, and they are supposed to give you immediate pain relief and help you feel better. For me It is very uncomfortable, although I was getting to the point where I was appreciating just the few second ones I would try several times a day on my elbows. *Sidenote: Prior to this episode I could do a full backbend if I wanted to.
I do believe the muscles are a contributing factor but so far I have exhausted all avenues as to the actual cause and effective long-lasting treatment plan. I came across your website after doing some research for flat backs and everything you say makes total sense to me.
Also, when I got to the point where I could stay in bed for longer periods of time the spasms would be worse when I tried to change positions, stand up or even straighten my legs. They would be involuntary shudders of mostly my torso (bottom of rib cage through glutes).
I have spent thousands of dollars, and had to cancel 2 family vacations this summer since I can’t fly (one was to Kona) and have been enduring a life of pain and limitations I wouldn’t wish on anyone.
Of course this only covers the basics, but…
Thank you,
Cat Okamura
Hi Cat,
Sorry to hear about all the troubles that you are experiencing with your low back and glutes. Unfortunately, your story is all too common for what people experience with low back pain. You have a herniated disc and sciatic nerve pain. They do not always go together. And when those two issues are together, the problem can be harder to treat because the practitioner has to be more careful and try to avoid the herniated disc from flaring up.
You mentioned that certain positions (cobra pose) will hurt your back more, this is probably happening because certain positions are causing irritation to your herniated disc due to the area that the disc is protruding. So avoid doing those positions until the inflammation goes down.
There are lots of practitioners that work on this type of problem, and whoever you see is trying to do the same thing: decrease inflammation.
The epidural injections are also trying to decrease inflammation. Sometimes they work, and when they don’t work, the doctor will say that your only choice now is surgery. Well, that’s not entirely true. You have other options: seeking out other practitioners that may be better than the ones that you already tried.
Unfortunately, the process can be expensive. So getting a referral from a trusted source can help reduce the costs, but it doesn’t guarantee success.
Physical pain issues are a difficult problem to solve. Physicians and surgeons are not the end all when resolving physical pain. This confuses people as we have come to trust physicians and surgeons as the highest authority. Part of the problem is that the medical profession wants the answer to come from their perspective which is drugs, pills, injections, medical devices, and surgical instruments. If there are answers that can help your issue that are not coming from the pharmaceutical or surgical device industry, than the physicians and surgeons are not interested in learning about it.
To solve your problem, you have to be a seeker. You have to be open minded about trying alternative methods. And you have to be willing to spend money. Not everything is going to work. No one method is going to work every time. And part of the solution lies in the practitioner that you go to, not just the method that the practitioner is employing.
I congratulate you that you started to do an internet search on low back pain issues and you found some articles that deviated from the traditional medical view. Now you have to stay positive and keep on searching. Or you can just do the surgery. In microdisectomy surgery cases that I have seen, even if it doesn’t solve the problem, it doesn’t seem to make the damage worse to the existing problem. Which is not the case for all back pain surgeries. The usual procedure in low back pain cases is similar to your story. First injection seems helpful. Second injection helps but not as much as the first. Third injection? The patient feels like the doctor missed the spot. Then if the patient keeps going back to the doctor, then the doctor says that now we have to consider surgery.
My criticism of physicians and surgeons is that they are not impartial advisors. They only advise you in areas that lie within allopathic medicine. There are lots of other options. And many of those options are coming from the field of advanced massage therapy. You can search for trade magazines in massage therapy like “Massage and Bodywork magazine” or the magazine from AMTA (American massage therapy association). Do a google search on those organizations, contact them and ask for recent issues of their magazine. You can do a google search for Active Isolated Stretching in your city. I offer to help people find a practitioner in their area for a fee.
If you are interested, here is the link.
https://www.resolveyourpain.com/practitioner-finder-locate-an-ais-practitioner-in-my-region/
Thank you Anthony for taking the time to reply to my “essay” in an informative and helpful manner. I would like for you to find me a practitioner but I’m having trouble submitting the finder form. Is there another way or link?
cat
Hi Cat,
I received your payment for practitioner fee consult. I will begin researching who is best in your region to help with your issues.
Please give me 72 hours so I can give you good recommendations.
Hi Cat,
My story is very similar to yours. I was wondering if you have since found relief as I’m on a similar journey and currently. Also live in California. SoCal.
I just purchased this video and I received relief from a back pain I have been struggling with for the last 3 weeks. A big thank you to Anthony for creating this!
Hi Warren,
I’m glad that you are getting good results from the video. Remember that more force (more exertion) does not equal more results. There is only so much stretch that the body can take. That’s why the AIS approach is to lengthen the target muscle gradually and through repetitions (eight). Not one long stretch held for thirty seconds. That’s the old way. AIS is the new and improved stretching method.
If I have issues C1-C3 would these stretches be considered dangerous? Also, what is your opinion on bouncing on a therapy ball to “pump” blood to buldged discs to help them heal?
Hi Jodi A.,
My upper body video series would be appropriate for the cervical issues that you are experiencing.
There are some exercises on the upper body video that may not be good for someone with herniated discs in the cervical region, including C1, C2, and C3.
On the instructional video, I note in the subtitles, which exercises you have to be cautious of doing. On those exercises, you can ignore those exercises or do them very lightly to avoid any problems.
I understand entirely the stretching of the supporting of the neck muscles first before strengthening. Would I include strengthening after those supporting muscles have been lengthened which could be weeks, or within the same session following stretches?
Hi Veronica D.,
I would recommend doing the AIS upper body video first and seeing how you feel. Check to see if you are sore the following day. If you are sore the following day, then that means that you exerted too much force on the stretching exercises. Give yourself some time to find that right balance of lengthening the target muscles without over stretching. Also, please note: the ideal number of repetitions to do on each exercise is eight; not six as stated on the instructional video.
Then depending on your range of motion, you can start immediately with the strengthening exercises. The motto is: lengthen then strengthen.