Making Your Body Injury Resilient

Jessica Bento, Physical Therapist

To be honest, I was kinda surprised how interested people were in my video last week. I got a TON of emails from people who are battling pain themselves. My story of overcoming 5 disc herniations definitely struck a chord for many and it also reminded me sadly how so many people go through life with pain that really impedes the quality of their life. 

Unfortunately, the internet is not the place where I can help everyone, but I can share some of my knowledge and experience with you. Hopefully some of these ideas you will take to heart and try them for yourself. Honestly, there aren’t too many secrets, but there are many realities. 

Give It Time

One of the hardest things to really get comfortable with is the fact that making big time changes takes some time. That isn’t to say you might feel really good after performing some oft these DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training drills, but you also might find that it doesn’t last forever. Sometimes people have unrealistic expectations to how fast the body will heal. 

The reality is that if you feel “better” chances are strong you are on the right path. Even if it lasts a few hours we know with consistent work we can cement these effects over time. That is the difference with these DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training exercises and let’s say other modalities like stretching. 

Stretching isn’t a bad thing, but often doesn’t make permanent. That is because many alterations to our flexibility is due to instability somewhere else. It then reasons that if we can build better stability and strength in those weaker areas we can make changes more long-term. 

Be patient, but also be aware of what is working for you. Changes can be faster than most will expect! 

A New “Normal”

All too many times people want to return to “normal”. That may be possible, but depending upon the issue there may be a new normal for you. When Josh went through his three spinal surgeries he had to go through the process of aiming to feel better, but also realizing normal for him was going to be different. 

It was possibly the hardest thing for myself to accept as well. After being a competitive athlete and use to being strong, finding it hard to get out of bed was really a wake-up call. My goal wasn’t to go back to competitive athletics, but to be able to function without thinking about my low back every time I moved. 

Now fast forward to today, that is my normal. My goals have grown, but I am smart with my back. Constantly I try to practice good movement concepts so that I can do the things I love, but also be healthy. 

Goals with my patients was typically to get them to aiming for “better”. Have better as your goal and you can keep going down a positive path. If you told me eight years ago I would be able to do the things I am able to do today, I would say you were crazy. That is because I didn’t aim for perfection or try to relive who I was, but I aimed for better! 

Do Good Things

I know this sounds obvious and simple, the hardest thing to do is to know what the “right” thing is for you. So many times people make an exercise or a workout program sound like the “you HAVE to do thing”. The truth is NOTHING is a must.

Pain is always your guide! If something hurts, stop it. Don’t worry about what guru said it was good for you, chances are they were talking in general terms and pain is such an individualistic thing that it is impossible to predict how each person will respond.

Having said that, good things are those that build upon one another. There are no magical exercises, but over time, building good movement habits should result in less pain and better movement skills.

Our neighbor has been complaining of back pain since they moved in about four months ago. She had been going to a chiropractor twice a week, seen a physical therapist, and received soft-tissue work. All in all, generally good ideas.

Not wanting to overwhelm her with things to do, I waited until she seemed like she was frustrated by lack of results. Finally I showed her three DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training Restoration exercises. After performing them her hips went level and she said her pain was dramatically down.

The relief has actually been maintained since because she has continued to do her homework. We identified that core stability was a big reason that she was having problems and we designed a simple workout program that would train her body to use the right muscles. As she feels better and better the more enthusiastic she has about doing many things. Her result is like many, you feel good, you want to be more physically active.

Here are some ideas of good things, the key is don’t do too much. Select 2-3 exercises to do and see how you feel. If you like these ideas I hope you will join us at the renown Results Fitness for our DVRT Restoration program HERE