I think I’m suppose to start off by saying I’m not a licensed physician and cannot be held responsible for whatever happens in your own hands. Something about getting professional expertise before changing your life drastically.
Quality of life is something that is important to me and how I feel day in and out plays a role in that. There are physical pains we go through in life that are unavoidable but today’s everyday life breeds a lot of unnecessary pain. The beginning of high school I set myself up for years of unnecessary pain. I wasn’t playing sports anymore and video games and NETFLEX had taken become my life. A life filled with eating and a lot of sitting. The body adapts to its environment 24/7 and it was starting to adapt to my current lifestyle of a gamer. Through my everyday habits I was training my body to perform less efficiently.
I developed big knots on the right side of my back from how I was laying down to watch TV. From my neck down to my traps allllll the way down to the booty, I had a crazy amount of referral pain. If I massage one part of my back another part of my back or muscle reacted, almost like electricity running through body.
By massaging myself and using lacrosse balls I had drastically less referral pain. My problems had only just begun, I was now stuck massaging the right side of my body when ever I had the chance throughout the day. Sitting for long periods of time, looking at my phone and sitting at a computer or driving would aggravate these symptoms. Due to these nagging pains up and down my back, focusing was near impossible.
“Flo why didn’t you go to the doctor or get your backed checked” at the time I financially couldn’t seek treatment, so I relied on my Ph.D in “Google-Fu” – Christian B.
Google-Fu;
Definition: An art/skill that is developed, the ability to find any answer you’re looking for using Google.
With the habits that I formed from sitting majority of my day and not doing anything to counteract those affects (ex. stretching/working out) led to me having something called “Anterior Pelvic Tilt”.
Meaning I had tight hip flexors/groin and that I had inactive or weak, glutes/quads/abs. The way I was posturing myself while walking, sitting, running had gone from good to bad through my daily habits. The pain appeared mostly on my right side. My lower/mid/upper back had knots and looking back, I can say I tore my meniscus in my left knee because of the imbalances I had.
Long term, to fix the problem/pain I’ve been working at strengthening my inactive muscles listed above. Mainly focusing on isolation workouts. If I ultimately want the pain to go away I have to fix the root cause, my posture and now my imbalanced muscles. I’ve also been focusing on stretching my hip and groin.
Short term fix to my pain is trigger point therapy. The reason muscle knots are formed is due to constant stress. The fact that my hips were out of balance from my daily habits, caused stress on other muscles in my body. Those muscles now have to adapt in an abnormal way, never giving them the chance to relax, causing trigger points aka knots. All major muscles have specific spots that if you apply pressure, which help the muscle relax. It’s a short term fix because IF YOU CONTINUE LIVING LIFE WITH THE SAME HABITS THAT FIRST CAUSED THE PROBLEM THAT YOU’RE TRYING TO FIX, YOU’RE ONLY GOING TO GET THE SA… *clears throat* you’re only going to get the same results. Change your habits, change your life.
At the end of the day or when ever my muscles are spazzing out I use this Trigger Point tool I bought off of Amazon; Click here. This tool itself has improved my quality of life productivity drastically and is worth the money. Very useful when no one is available to spend 3 hours on your back like you deserve. X MARKS THE SPOT
These are just some common points. You can use a tennis ball/lacrosse ball or that massage tool and you apply pressure to an area where you’re feeling “referred pain” and try and find it’s trigger point. Some of the pain we go through life can be prevented with proper HABITS; walking, sitting, standing. Plus stretching and moving. The human body is made to move and be put through obstacles on the brink of being uncomfortable. Things go wrong if you create imbalance through your daily habits. Take time and energy to take care of your body and your everyday will improve. I wonder how many people take medications for things that can be resolved naturally. (A book can be written on that topic, let me chill)
What I did was figure out what symptoms I had and researched what the problems could be. Once I figured out a self-prescribed “diagnosis”, I went to a professional to see if I was right. Once I had concrete info (chiro x-rays) that I had anterior pelvic tilt I researched the treatments and worked on them myself. I still have some minor imbalances but I’ve come a long way. I have a client who’s a physical therapist who’s confirmed everything i’m doing in terms correcting my muscle imbalances and stretching are on point.
IN CLOSING, I definitely think I know more than I really do so that’s why it’s up to you to do your own research. Improve your Google-fu! You can find the answer to almost anything by playing with phrasing and using your local Youtube. There are things that I’ve left out and thing i’m probably only half right on, so do you research. I don’t claim to be a professional, just someone who had a problem and how I went about solving it. I know there are many who are experiencing what I did so I had to share the knowledge. Never settle, don’t be lazy when it comes to health. PEACE
Flo's Journey 