I want to discuss movement. I want to discuss function. I want to discuss injury and pain. But first, let’s talk about puddles.
In your quaint (okay, tiny) NYC apartment, you discover a puddle of water on the kitchen floor. You clean it up. Problem solved. The next day, you shuffle out of bed and into the kitchen. You’re about to have a sip of coffee when you feel the cold water seeping into your socks. You clean the puddle again, cursing this time. The day after, a new puddle claims yet another pair of socks. Now, in your infinite wisdom (and frustration), you decide to discover if the puddle is: (A) from a broken pipe in the ceiling, (B) from a broken pipe in floor, or (C) a small gift from your cute, but behaviorally challenged dog. Wisely, you’ve chosen to seek out the SOURCE of the problem. Inevitably, whether you fix a pipe or train the pup, the puddle problem will be solved.
And here is my point. Your back pain is the puddle. It’s clear where the SITE of the problem is – think of your low back area as the kitchen floor. But unlike the decision to search for the source of the puddle in the analogy above, most people assume that back pain – or neck pain, hip pain, wrist pain – has nothing to do with anything but their backs.
You know there’s a problem and where you feel pain, but the SOURCE of the problem is still a mystery, and too few therapists are making efforts to answer that question. They work to ease your pain, but what good is immediate relief when you’re ignoring the very reasons why this pain exists?
At Physiofitness, we know how to locate the source to fix the overall problem, changing your body for the long haul so that pain never comes back. To do this, we conduct what’s called a movement screen, which will help us determine whether your low back pain is actually the result of a stiff knee, an unstable and weak hip, or even some tightness in the neck. All of these issues can lead to the same symptom, just as the ceiling pipe, floor pipe, and dog can all cause puddles.
If you don’t have your movement patterns screened, you will spend a lifetime “cleaning up the puddle,” so to speak. Only when the source of the problem is identified can it be rectified, and only then can you be confident in long-term, pain-free function.
The team at Physiofitness treats and manages painful and tight tissue in the body for immediate relief, but we also understand that this is only half the battle. This is why our team also treats and manages dysfunctional movement patterns, acknowledging that this is the key to optimizing your health and wellness for the long run.
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