How Chronic Lower Back Pain Got Better With Simple, Coached Care

Hey everyone, it's Sebastian, your host or co-host with the Restoring Hue Movement Podcast. Thanks for joining the Movement Movement. If this is not your first time to the show, you've probably realized that we've changed our format just a little bit. We're doing some shorter ones here too. We will keep long format episodes in our repertoire as well, but they just take a little longer to get to the editing table. So, if you have been around our podcast for a while, you've heard us talk about different types of injuries, low backs, groins, sports hernias. Today, we're going to talk about a story about someone who's been dealing with lower back pain.

This is a good friend of mine, and I was speaking with her the other day, and we were discussing kind of her journey of getting to a better solution. And so, this is someone who used to live around me. I used to work with her in regards to helping her with her back, and she had a long history of lower back pain, but she had a really good spurt. She had about five years of not really having any major problems. Stuff would pop up here and there as things typically do, but you nip it in the butt real quick and things get better. She's an avid lifter, very physically active, likes to go out and backpack.

Also likes to be physically active in the form of martial arts. So, these were things that she really wanted to do, and the interesting part is that, as a lot of you probably may have or know people who have moved during the pandemic, she moved during the pandemic. And so, moving to a place where she didn't really know anybody, she had to find new friends. And so, I've always said, if you guys have listened to the show, you realize I still play some recreational baseball. I've always said, if I move somewhere, I can just join the baseball league, and I'll immediately meet some friends, whether they just be colleagues or actually really good friends or not.

It's a different story, but I'll meet people. It's hard to meet people, and if you are past the age of college, it's hard to meet people outside of work and the friends you've had before. So, this was the hardest part. She moved to an area where she didn't really have any support. She can call her friends, obviously, but, you know, it's just lonely out there and not being able to find anybody new to talk to and at least be friends with anyway. So, she wasn't able to go to martial arts. She wasn't able to really go hiking. After moving out there, she ended up having her back pain increase. Maybe it was due to the move.

Who knows? Maybe it was due to a change of activity. Who knows? But it was about a two to three year spurt of just not really feeling good. And it was a stark difference, like, talking to her on the phone. And she, you know, go from being cheery and talking about all the things that she'd want to do. And it'd be more of like each time was just frustration about how much her back was hurting her. And it was, she didn't know what to do. And I think I had actually done a, I think a pretty good job over the years of trying to get people to realize their, we call it our movement medication. And so, if you've dealt with lower back pain or hip pain or groin pain or whatever type of problem before, a lot of times you can go back to your movement medicine cabinet and pull something from it.

Use it for a week or two, sometimes a couple days, and then feel a lot better. She wasn't able to do that, or at least the things that she had weren't really working well for her. But we've had a lot of people over the years where it has really helped. And that's how they keep physical activity high and keep their social circles. So, she wasn't able to find that for whatever reason. And she started to just mentally spiral. And every time we talked, she was, I mean, basically Danny Browning, just very down about things. And rightfully so. You know, she didn't feel good. And it's hard to beat chipper when you feel good.

I know I've had my injuries before, and I feel like it was harder to beat a cheerful person. You know, and so that was a very stark difference just talking to her. Like, we always like to consider the physical aspects of the injury, but also the psychology of the injury, too. Everybody has a little bit of psychological aspects to their problem, how they manage it, and if they're able to have a positive outlook and make good decisions about how to recover. So, long story short, I called her the other day to see how she's doing, catch up. You know, I'm not trying to play doctor with her. I'm just trying to be a friend, and we haven't talked in a while.

So, this one is, this call is like way different, right? This call was like, she picked up, and she said, Man, I know we haven't talked in a few months, but I feel so much better here. I went back to actually hiking. I went back to martial arts. And you never believe what I had to do. And I said, what was that? And she said, I had to find somebody kind of like you, but out here. I said, okay, that sounds great. And we had actually spoken over the years about trying to find her some help. And I know some people out that way. And I had made a suggestion, and she had said, well, I don't know. I've got really good insurance, and they won't take my insurance.

So, I don't want to pay out of pocket for this kind of thing. So, I want to find someone who's in my network. And I'm sure a lot of you, if you've been dealing with problems of various types over the years, you've probably already had this thought. And I've had the thought, too. I pay easily $400 to $500 a month for insurance that I never use. And when I do use it, it doesn't cover anything. And that's the nature of having a small business. These small business owners out there, I'm sure that you know, it's a decision of, like, do I make this policy one that is going to maybe help me with the things that I need or one that's just more catastrophic?

Personally, I've defaulted more to catastrophic because I realized I do have help from people like me that can help me with musculoskeletal problems. I also know people who can, I know a dermatologist. So, I know that they'll help me out in a pinch. And that's the power of having, you know, a lot of good friends and a good network. But if you don't have that, then obviously you want some stuff covered. But the thing with when, so she put a pause on her recovery because she was not willing to pay out of pocket. Just like the idea that good health care should be covered was kind of like the stopping point.

And so, when she came to see me, you know, we, honestly, we just worked out together. You know, I made suggestions in the middle. But it was nice for me to actually do some workout. I don't really get to work out or be physically active when my clients come because, you know, they got their own problems and I'm coaching them. But this person, you know, is someone I've known for a long time. So, it was more of like, okay, I'll help you. But also, too, it's, I'm going to do a little bit of stuff for me, too. Right? So, and that was okay. That was the deal that we made. And because of that, there wasn't really, like, we don't really bill insurances at our office.

But for this person, since I've known for a long time, like, I bill my family member's insurance. Just because that is, I don't feel comfortable taking money from them. So, I did it with her and so she got used to not really paying too much for care. And when we got over there, it was a stark difference between it. And so, it took two years for her to really understand the difference sometimes, I'm not saying all the time, but sometimes between an insurance-covered service versus one that is just cash. As we kind of say, you know, in our office, like, the cash ones, you're paying them more for better time spent.

There's literally insurance policies that I remember when I billed insurance years ago for actually more people that came in. I remember I got one check back for $6 and it was for 30 minutes spent. I mean, if you think about, like, from at least a can-I-pay-my-rent perspective, not even trying-to-get-rich perspective, how long can I spend with that person? Not that much, about, like, two minutes, right? And so, that is the service that you'll get. Unfortunately, so it is, although the insurance doesn't tell the provider what type of insurance or what type of service to provide, the lack of recovery and the lack of ability to get extra payment from the patient is what limits the care, too.

You know, it's kind of like a split decision. And it shouldn't be that way. And that's why when you actually get into a cash practice or somebody who can spend a little bit more time and just charge you directly, it opens up a lot of possibilities of things. And so, she found somebody and so, that was the first thing that she said on this call is, I found somebody and I saw him on Instagram. I saw that he did similar stuff that I was doing with you. And I thought, you know what, that's when I felt the best. That's when I felt the best was that big spurt of the years where I was doing, me and you were doing stuff and working out and things just felt better.

Like, I didn't worry about my back. And so, actually, I had an intern the other day. He had a really good saying. He's like, people say they want a strong back, but really what they want is the back they don't think about. And that's correct. It's the back that you don't have to think about or worry about that everybody really wants. And so, she got back to that point. She worked with him for two days a week. I think, I don't remember how long it was that, maybe it was a couple months or a month or so that she'd been going. But it didn't take too long, is my point. And so, she said she was surprised about how fast it was.

I said, yeah, isn't that crazy, right? Like, it doesn't have to be anything extreme. It was stuff that you're already doing. You know, but the difference was, is she wasn't really willing to do that on her own. And she also didn't feel like she was safe doing it. Because once her back started to hurt, she's like, I don't know if this is good for me to do or not. You know, so we call this reassurances. And that's part of what a good coach or a good medical staff member can do with you. I covered this on a recent short, short podcast. It's just management, knowing what is safe and what is not. And so, I don't know this other person, but it sounds like they have had a background in strength and conditioning.

They've had a background, I think, in massage therapy. And then they end up going to, this person ended up going to chiropractic school. But they could have easily gone to physical therapy school or athletic training school or MD school. Like, it could have been on any of those things. But I think the backgrounds or the skill sets that they had is what helped my friend out. And so, I'm really happy for her. And it's, sadly, this is a really common story with people. They are, like, we're not in the business to, you know, buy a jet. Like, our business here at Perform's Place, like, we, you know, we are not the cheapest place in town.

We know that. But in order to have the time spent and live in the place that we live, we need to charge a little bit of money. And that is the nature of finding good care, is that if you find a place that is willing to ethically suggest what you need, not just based upon what they get paid for, and also not over-suggest. I've told people over the years that I've under-suggested a lot. And it's mainly because I'm worried that, you know, they won't be able to afford the suggestions that I make. And, you know, as, you know, as kind of the saying goes, it's, it's, it, my suggestion's not going to change just because you can't pay for it.

Like, it's, like, the, the product is the product. It's not going to change just because you can't pay for it. And there are, it may sound kind of brash, just say, but it's, I guess it's not about payment necessarily. It's, it's more about the suggestion does not change. Like, so if you need to have, say, back surgery, and that's a necessity, just because you, you are not able to do it either mentally or, or, or financially, it doesn't mean the suggestion changes, it's still what's needed. So, uh, I'm, I always tell people that I suggest what I think is needed, not over and not under. But sometimes people need more suggestions and more time than other people because they're in a different physical state and they're in a different mental state too.

So I hope this story was helpful to you guys to understand a little bit about, um, uh, well, I guess I don't want to say it's just about the difference between, uh, uh, insurance based care or not, because that's not really the point of the story. Um, I think the takeaway and the reason why I wanted to share with you guys was to, to see how much her life changed for the better when she found someone who could actually help her. And the sticking point of her not finding that help was finances, but she had the finances. It just wasn't that she was, it was that she wasn't willing to pay for that because she believed that her insurance should pay for it.

And which is a really common thought that people have. If you're talking to people 15 years, I've noticed that and I, I agree with them, but it's, it's your health. So you do what you need to do. All right, guys, if you like the show, please give a thumbs up and subscribe. We have many other topics to come on hips, groins, low back downs, doing a good series on, um, diastasis recti and postpartum mothers or, or postpartum, postnatal. I think as Mandy has been covering some knees and plantar fasciitis, I'll probably stick to a little bit more of low back or sports area areas. We will cover like necks and shoulders and stuff like that at some point again.

But I think we've realized over the years that we really enjoy doing lower quarter conditions more so than anything else. And so I think our expertise is a little bit more so there, although we're not bad at the other things too. If you guys are looking for help from us, just call us 714-502-4243 or email us info at p2sportscare.com. We have very affordable consultations that you guys can take advantage of at this point in time. They're 30 minutes for $29, pretty good steal. So if you guys are interested, just give us a ring.