This week's topic is walking. So I'm going to offer my tips for walking with lower back pain. We're going to divide it up into different types of back pain. Different types of diagnoses such as stenosis, disc problems such as herniated disc, bulging disc, degenerative disc disease, or SI joint pain. So I'll offer my advice and tips for walking with each one of those individually, and then I'll go ahead and share my strategy for walking. If you don't know already, I've spoken a lot about the benefits of walking for lower back pain. I believe it's one of the most healthy activities that you could possibly do for your entire body, not just for your lower back, but it is the most natural human movement. And when we're dealing with muscle imbalances, which is what I educate about in the master class and in many resources, is the root cause of the vast majority of chronic lower back pain conditions, then it is a very healthy strategy to do activities that restore muscular balance in the body. And walking is one of those activities. It's a full body movement. Its uses all the muscles synergistically working together, every single muscle in the body. And so it's training them to be able to operate together and do a functional movement. The opposite of walking would be sitting, right? So sitting is a very lopsided activity. And we are, you know, our body is training itself to be out of balance with sitting. And so if sitting is something that you have to do for your job or just because it's this modern society that we live in and we sit too much, then walking is a great way to counterbalance that activity that brings us out of balance. So here are the topics that we're going to talk about. The first one is disc problems. So degenerative disc, herniated disc, bulging disc. I kind of group all of these together because it's going to be similar advice. And, and they're all very related as well. So the next one will be si joint pain. And this includes, you know, if I've heard people call it a slip of, you know, pelvic up slip, you know, this is a very broad umbrella term for anything related to SI instability is extremely common hypermobility. Or if it's just out of position or tilted one way or you name it. So similar advice for you. And then the last one, and maybe the most important one is going to be stenosis. And so there's a separate advice for people with stenosis. And then we'll talk about my strategy for walking again. I will say I think walking is, you know, overall, probably the most healthy thing that you can do for your body, not just for lower back pain. And so I think you should be doing it every single day. It is not I really believe that it is not optional whether we should walk or not. You, you must walk because you are a human. If you have two working legs or even one, and you can use an assistive device, you must be walking because it is your human locomotion design and it is not something that's optional. No, no matter what you believe about how we came to be as humans, the truth is, is that, you know, at some point in the past, there were no chairs, a chair is an invention. And before that, we spent a lot more time moving around on our feet, and our bodies evolved and adapted to being that way over hundreds of thousands of years. And this is one of the best things that we can do is mimic that. And it's only been in very recent time that we have, you know, significantly decreased the amount of movement that we do. And now we have to go to the gym and, you know, schedule time to go do movement. But really it should be part of life. So go walk every day. That's really what I'm saying. Go walk every day and don't think of it as an option. Like should I walk today? You know, if it's possible because the weather is makes it possible and you know, there is a possibility you should be out there walking though. Maybe it's just the way that you get to the store if you live close enough to a store. So let's get right into it. Raul. That's a good question. What's a good amount of walking? We're going to talk about that. And the short answer is at least a half an hour. So we're going to talk about that with my strategy here. So why don't we get right through it. I'm going to try and get through this relatively quick in the next ten minutes. Just so I don't, you know, go on too long. And then I do have a bunch of student questions, which we always do at the end of these live streams. The Q&A portion, which I'll be answering student questions from the Core Balance Training program. And we do have a featured student for today as well. So here we go walking the first category disc problems. If you have degenerative disc disease or a herniated disc or a bulging disc and you're able to walk, you should be walking. It's going to be good for the discs to provide them with nutrients. Discs get nutrients from movement. That's how they get nutrients. They don't get nutrients from blood flow. The vast majority of the disc does not get nutrients from blood flow so it does not have a heart. It does not have a pump that is pushing nutrients through them. The pump is movement and so it is essential for healthy discs for them to get movement so that they can get the fluids that bring them nutrients to be healthy. So that is definite. And then the issue might be it could be very hard to walk if you have a flare up or an exacerbated disc. Maybe it's herniated on a nerve right now and it's very difficult to walk. And so my strategy for that would be to do what you can. And if you can only go say, you know, five minutes, then, and then your body starts telling you, you know, intuitively you're thinking, well, this is becoming more bad than good, then take a break, maybe sit down and see if you can do a little more. And the goal would be to progress over time, over a period of days and weeks to be able to go a little. Bit further and build up your tolerance and your resilience to walking. And so there is the question how far should we get to. And I don't really think that there is a downside to walking too much in our normal daily lives. You know, you can walk ten miles a day and I don't believe that would be. There would be much downside to that. You know, if you're going a marathon twenty six miles, then you you may have some soreness and repetitive issues on your feet and maybe knees, but I don't think that's a realistic distance to be going on an everyday basis. So I don't see there being much of a ceiling on distance or time, but I'd say at least a half an hour is what you want to work up to. Um, so that's, you know, disc problems is kind of the most simple one I would say is walk. It's good for you if you have trouble. Do what you can and if you're. If you are completely unable to walk because the problems are so bad, then it's most likely an issue of muscular imbalance that is, holding your body in a position where you know, the disc is is pushing on the nerve and, and just being in a standing position or a walking position is intolerable. So in that case, I would suggest getting down on the floor. And if you're in the program, I would say connect to your back anchor or potentially your front anchors and whichever one feels better or more relieving for you, typically there is one or the other that feels better or more relieving, and connect to those and get a little bit more like this. You know, use the ground, the floor, the flat surface of the floor to bring your body in a little bit more alignment. And that should typically give you a lot more tolerance to be able to walk further. And it helps potentially take a little pressure off that nerve that the disc might be pushing on. So that is number one disc problems. The second one is SI joint pain. So actually walking with SI joint pain can feel a little bit like the opposite. Almost like walking makes SI joint pain worse. And I have found that to be true in the beginning of a walk. Okay, maybe the first five minutes, even potentially up to ten minutes. But after that, when the muscles start to loosen up and get warmed up and get a little blood flow, they get a little more elastic. It tends to get better pretty rapidly and even go away by the end if you're going on a one hour walk. By the time you get back home and you're walking back up your street, no pain at all. Often Oftentimes. And I found this for myself. Also, my wife, who has had si joint problems and, uh, many students and patients as well. So this is an encouragement to you if you're experiencing SI joint pain and walking is painful for you, you can feel it irritating. Your SI joint pain is to maybe give it a little more time and see if you can push through that. And I can give an explanation for why I believe this is the case. So oftentimes SI joint pain is caused by these same muscle imbalances that are causing all these other back pain problems. I do educate about it. If you don't already know, if you haven't seen the masterclass, I highly recommend it. I explain why muscle imbalances are the root cause of eighty percent, or even more, probably close to one hundred percent of chronic back pain conditions not acute where it was caused by a car accident. But if that car accident happened years ago and you're still suffering, then you do have muscle imbalances. It's now a problem of muscle imbalances, and no longer you can blame the car accident anymore because you should heal from a car accident. What is keeping the problem going? This is typically what's underneath when we're talking about SI joint problems, muscle imbalances such as the hip flexors. That's a group of muscles. We can point to names of the hip flexors, but I prefer just to call them as a group. Attach to the pelvis and pull it forward. Pull that pelvis into an anterior pelvic tilt. Well, that's the tightness in these muscles that's pulling it forward. And the tight lower back muscles are contributing to that. They attach to the pelvis as well. And so when you stand up and you're walking, you're opening your hip angle that can pull on the pelvis even more and cause the problem to feel worse. And sitting might be more comfortable because it shortens this hip angle. It doesn't pull the muscle taut as much as standing or walking does. But then you're contributing to the cycle, right? You're contributing to the problem. The sitting promotes tight hip flexors, so you find yourself in the cycle of pain at that point. And so that muscle tension keeps you in the cycle. And the the sitting promotes that muscle tension even though it might be more comfortable, it is keeping you there. But as you walk and you push through a little bit, five minutes, ten minutes, these muscles get warmed up, they get lengthened, they get stretched out from that act of walking. They get more elastic. They, you know, the typical thing that happens when you warm your body up and they can let go a little bit. And especially with walking being a full body activity, it might bring on some of the other muscles that you don't use so much because you spend so much time sitting. So it is a healthy activity is going to bring in other muscle groups. And as these muscles, the tension decreases a little bit from the walking, you could start to feel better. Okay, so that's a long way of saying that if you have si joint pain and walking hurts, then don't give up in the first five minutes. See if you can get to ten minutes and get those muscles nice and warmed up. And you might feel really good by the end of your walk. It's typically tends to get better and better. And if it doesn't, then what that likely means with SI joint pain is that there is a significant upslope or just imbalance where, you know, the pelvis is out of position. It's may need some manual therapy to help it back into place, but I'm very hesitant to Recommend manual therapy or adjustments to SI joint pain because the. I believe the vast majority of SI joint pain is. Instability related is hypermobility related. So you don't want to adjust something that's already hypermobile. I talk about this in my video on chiropractic. You want to be very careful about what types of problems you adjust. Many problems are instability related. They move too much and you don't want to get a thrust on stuff like that. So. So that's SI joint pain. It may benefit you to push through a little bit and get past that five ten minute mark. And if it doesn't get better, then what that likely means is it's out of place. I see a couple posts in the chat. Let's do let's take a quick break before we get to stenosis. And I will address the chat here. So I see Chris and Chaz. Charles McNeese coming through in the chat. Good to see you guys here. And and a message from Holly. So it says because of my nerve damage. I can't feel my left heel and have an unusual heel strike slash dropfoot. The trekking poles help, but eventually my heel, ankle, and knee ache. Tips for nerve healing. Yeah. Uh, Holly, actually, that's one of the things not on the list. So, you know, a stenosis or a sciatic type symptoms. The advice will fall under the same advice as disc problems, and that is to do what you can. And also potentially if the nerve is being compressed, try getting down on the floor and using the floor. The alignment that the floor can provide your spine when you connect to your anchors as a tool to potentially help get that disc in a different position or out of place or even move. Help move the nerve out of place through a healthy core connection to the floor. And that can not only help with that, but also with just general bringing. You know, the muscles back into balance a little bit more balance with each other. And that might be enough to take the pressure off of those discs that might be happening from these tight muscles. So that is a strong recommendation for any kind of nerve situation is do something right before your walk. The bridge is a fantastic exercise for opening up your hip flexors and just giving your posture a bit of a reset before you go out and do that walk. Just five minutes can make a massive difference. And so, Holly, just one other thing about the nerve. You say nerve damage so you can't feel your left heel. That would be a sensory nerve. And then the drop foot is actually a different nerve. It's a motor nerve. And so that one is going to affect your gait pattern. And so that is, you know, these are two different situations going on. The sensory nerve is potentially not too much of an issue. You know, unless you step on a hot coal on your heel, then you wouldn't feel it. That's where it could be dangerous. But not being able to feel your heel can be, you can deal with that in life and tolerate that and cope with that and have a pretty much a normal life. But the drop foot is something if it's been going on for a long time, you know, you can get an AFO if you haven't already. There are really high quality afos that allow for some healthy movement, and there's spring loaded, there's even more advanced technology, and that can really help with that. Or if it has not been going on for a long time, then you could try getting rid of it through the what you know, you're in the program through bringing your body into a more healthy position. So. Yeah, thanks for sharing that. And we'll move down to a post from Chris Taylor says brand new to your program. Do you recommend posture correctors when you walk or even throughout the day? That's a good question, Chris. I typically don't because if you are using that excessively, then it can actually contribute to the problem. And you'll, you'll find that the muscles that would be doing that, the goal, whatever the posture corrector is doing, the muscles that should and would be doing that actually get weaker over time. And then it creates a dependency on the posture corrector. There is a way to use tools like that very strategically for short periods of time that can help train the muscles, but it would be something you'd want to either do, you know, with guidance or have a very well established strategy before doing it. That's not a topic I can get into today. But yeah, I don't think it's a safe thing for me to recommend stuff like that, because it would be very easy to worsen a situation. And the much better strategy is to create that posture correction through your muscles, through developing a healthy resting posture so that you don't have to flex and engage to hold yourself in a in a healthy posture, because your muscles are in balance when they are at rest, when they are relaxed. And that takes time. That takes months to change the length tension, relationship of your muscles at rest. But it's a very rewarding thing. So moving on, Chaz, thank you for sharing and really glad to see you here. Cherie. I cannot walk much more than ten minutes. Would it be best to do back anchors before going on a walk? Hello and welcome, Cherie. Yeah, I do recommend back anchors, bridge or even front anchors. And they are. You know, if you have only five minutes, pick the one that makes your body feel better. When you get up off the floor, because typically everyone has a preference and feels better. You know, you should be working on the one that's more challenging for you, but that may not be the same one that brings you the most relief in the beginning. So if you only have five minutes, you know, back anchor and bridge, or even spend five minutes doing the front anchors, and for me, that's the one I would choose. And that could potentially be a great just posture reset right before walking and ten minutes is really valuable amount of time to go walk. So Sherry, go do that. And if you can have a bench that's ten minutes away and take a nice rest break and I don't know, read, do read a little part of your book or something and then walk back ten minutes. That's progress. Right? That's twenty minutes of walking with a break. And you can even build on that. And that's the goal. That's the long term strategy over time is to make progress. We got some more information from Holly. Yep. Just more information about the nerve. Oh yes. I remember your chiropractor story, Holly. And that is a tough thing. I just did a video on when the time when chiropractic hurt me in hopes to potentially help people avoid that. You know, that is an example of adjusting a, a instability, a joint that should not be thrusted, but it should be stabilized instead. And so you only want to adjust joints that are stiff. And that's a general rule. It makes logical sense too. Okay, we're going to get back into stenosis for anybody that's waiting. And and then we'll talk about my strategy. So with stenosis, we are dealing with a bit of a special case. Although I will say all of these are related. Most people with chronic back problems have a little bit of all of this. Okay. Myself included. If you took pictures of my spine, you would see stenosis and a plethora of disc problems. And that is because they're all related. It's all degenerative. It's all a result of the same cause. And so the weakest link is what breaks. For stenosis though for people with severe stenosis, you do have a special case where the vertebrae in the back are closing down. And there's not a lot of space there for activities that involve standing up. So, you know, when you go to stand up, the it opens up the front of your hips. It creates a little bit more of a back bend in the spine, especially if you have muscle imbalances, you have even more lordosis Hyperlordosis more back bend in the spine and that further can close down this gap that's already too small. And that can cause problems and can cause friction. It can cause compression on nerves. It can, you know, it can also cause nerve pain, a little bit of a different kind of nerve pain. And so that is what we're dealing with. And my advice for this is you need to find a way to keep these spaces open. And so that will lead directly into my strategy. If you have stenosis, then my strategy is primarily guided for you. I haven't had imaging on my body in a long time, but I've probably have a moderate to severe amount of stenosis. And so this is what I have to do for walking. And it also would be beneficial for really any of these conditions because like I said, it's typically this very similar pattern that's leading to all of them. And then tight muscles pulling the SI joint out of place, the tight muscles creating the disc degeneration, the tight muscles closing down the vertebrae in the stenosis. And so it's just the weakest link that breaks first. But all of this is an umbrella of different related problems to a similar underlying cause. And so when talking about my strategy, basically, you know, if you're in the program, I have an entire week called walking week. And so we go over this strategy over a period of, you know, the entire program is leading up to week six walking week. And so I go much deeper into this strategy. But if you're not in the program and you want to get a just a general idea, the goal would be to, you know, win walking One of the intentions, one of the thoughts that you can have as just a general mindset is to keep the pubic bone forward. And so that is what can open up the spine. And in that situation, you won't be causing all the friction and you won't be causing the irritation, the degeneration to your discs, the irritation to the nerves. And so it's just a strategy that I use is pubic bone forward. I kind of keep that thought in my mind. I don't do it as much anymore these days because I've been practicing this for a long time and it's a lot more natural. But I can remember back in twenty thirteen, I believe. I believe it was twenty thirteen. I did the Camino de Santiago across, uh, Spain, across Europe. It was a five hundred mile walk and I had chronic back problems, and it was an effort to commit to my health and my body to help get myself out of the cycle. And I walked five hundred miles. I didn't take any other form of transportation over that those thirty days. What I had in my head, because I already understood muscle imbalances at that time, was pubic bone forward for five hundred freaking miles. I thought pubic bone forward and it was extremely beneficial. It got me through days when there's no chance I would have. I couldn't have done this walk without that strategy. There's just no chance I wouldn't. Not even a fraction of it. And so it was really helpful for me. I want to pass that on to you. And there is a major point I have to make about pubic bone forward so that you don't create a bigger problem, a compensation that creates a bigger problem. So with pubic bone forward, There's multiple ways to achieve that, and there is a compensation you could do to bring your pubic bone forward, which is simply just arching your lower back. And of course, since we know now you know, the problem that arching your lower back would actually make this problem worse, it would get your pubic bone forward. You could, you could kind of stick your, you know, your pelvis forward even more by arching even further, but it's going to contribute even more to the problem. And so the way that the pubic bone has to be brought forward is not through that compensation. It cannot be from the compensation, and it must be from abdominal a gentle abdominal tension. Okay. And so a little abdominal tension would bring these muscles attach to the pubic bone. It would bring the pubic bone forward. And that is the method for pubic going forward has got to be gentle because all of this stuff has to be sustainable over a period of, you know, an hour or a long walk or even a full day or a lifetime. These strategies that we use to get out of back pain can't be something that you do for two minutes. That's why physical therapy and, you know, gym, you know, exercise routines are not actually that effective for chronic lower back pain. Because if you're not able to apply the strategy all day long, then it's not going to be much more effective than except for during the time you're in the gym. And so for a walk, if you're going for an hour or a half hour or whatever, you need to have a low enough level of engagement or tension in these abdominals that you could actually sustain it throughout that time. And any movement of extension that allows your pubic bone to come forward goes through the hips, not the lower back. So you can either arch your lower back or you can get extension through your hips. The hips can open up even more and that is the motion we want to get. And so I hope that makes sense to you. And the other thing you can do if you're in the program is our strategy of breathing. So breathing into your lower back. And that will have a very similar effect of just adding a little bit of tension to your abdominals and helping hold that pubic bone forward to open up the vertebrae in your back and giving you more space to do the thing that you need to do to keep your body healthy. So these strategies actually allow you to keep your body even healthier. And then the cycle happens in reverse. It's no longer this cycle. It's a cycle that helps you get out of pain. And so it's compounding interest essentially is the things that you do to be healthy. Allow you to do more things that are healthy. So it's a really important and beneficial thing to be able to do. I'm going to address some chat questions here, and then we will get into our Q&A for the day. We've got Laura Lynn Cross. Welcome. Good to see you here. I just found out I have a spondy at L5, S1, and it sounds like I should stop running as a high impact sport. Should I walk as much as possible or limit that to a great question, Laura. So with walking or any repetitive activity, you're going to get friction. You're going to get things that may exacerbate the problem. You know, a spondy is actually, in my opinion, my belief is that it's very treatable through bringing your body back into balance. And you can take the pressure off that vertebrae that's pulling it forward. So running, I would say definitely you want to avoid high impact, high repetitive things for a while until you can bring your body back into balance. But once you get here, then yeah, you can return back to running. That's what I suggest. Do what you love. That's the whole point in all of this is so you can do the things that you love. But during the time that you're wanting your body to recover lower impact things, walking might be good if you can tolerate walking. Walk walk, walk. For sure, it will help your body. So that's my recommendation. Let's keep going down the chat. Rahul. When I walk about fifteen minutes, my upper back starts to spasm. So, you know, if we're going to apply my strategy, I would say go fourteen minutes right before your back spasms. Take a break. Sit down. Do what you need to do. And then once you get that rest period, go walk fourteen more minutes or maybe even get to fifteen. And so over time, the goal is to progress and the upper back spasms is all related to this to these muscle imbalances affect the upper back. Two. Nathan, good to see you and welcome. I used to get dizzy leaning down to the ground or look at things on lower shelves at the store. No longer happens due to focusing on pubic bone forward. Awesome. Thank you for sharing that, Nathan. Just another example of how that is a very powerful intention to have and a strategy for walking and other things as well. Shawn Green, hello, good to see you. Glad to see you here. And welcome, Robert. I fractured my sesamoid. Robert, welcome. Glad to see you here. Fractured my sesamoid in my foot thirteen years ago. Cortisone. Podiatrist. Stage two. Degenerative disc disease, cervical and lumbar functional scoliosis. Thank you for sharing. You know, something as simple as a foot injury can have a chain reaction through the body because it's all connected. That's my belief. There are people that like to separate the body into parts and address it, as every injury is an individual thing. I even had a professor in my physical therapy school who was very adamant that something in your foot could not affect something in your spine or in your shoulders or your neck. I disagree with him. I disagreed with him at the time, and that might be a case of that for you. Robert. Thank you. Laura. Yes, I definitely believe it's treatable and I definitely think you should walk if you can. Your body will communicate to you if you can. If it can tolerate that. And if it can't, it will let you know. So trust that more than anything. Shawn Green completed your first week video on getting fat helped me better understand the proper feel for connection, and I believe I'm doing my anchoring, marching, and bridging correctly. Cool. Thanks for sharing. I'm glad to have you in the program, Shawn, and glad to hear that you feel like you're doing it right. That to me, it means you're most likely going to get benefits and progress. But remember, this is a long term strategy. So that's how the benefits come in is it's over the long term. And yeah, you will feel immediate relief, but that's actually not the primary goal. The primary goal is to develop a lifelong strategy. Okay, so let's get into I caught up in the chat and I'm going to get into the pre-planned questions. So we have probably it looks like about six questions, uh, that are coming in from students in the program and they are featured. We do start with a featured student for the week. So here we go. So this week's featured student is Mary. She just finished the program and she responded to our program complete email. Let us know that she had a great experience. And she also is our most recent Trustpilot review. So thank you so much, Mary, for contributing to our five stars on Trustpilot. And we are. Let me read what she says. I am very glad that I participated in the training program, and I owe a great big thank you to Doctor Ryan for his commitment to helping people with back pain. I started the program in May of twenty twenty two, and since then have learned so much about the structure of the body, especially in relation to posture and how to function daily with low back pain. The program is very well structured and easy to follow on a daily basis. Since doing the program, I am back to doing my two plus mile walks four times a week and enjoying playtime with my grandkids. My commitment is to spend twenty minutes, four to five times a week doing the exercises, which have helped me to strengthen my core. It's not a lot of time to give, but consistency has definitely given me good results. I do recommend this program to anyone with back pain and happy I found it. Mary, I just really am glad that you are, you know, giving advice to potential, you know, prospective students reading this. It's great advice to share that commitment and consistency is the most important factor. So thank you for that. Any and all progress you made, Mary, you deserve the credit for because of your commitment. And like I always say, this program is a solution to back pain, but it really is only half the solution because the other half is you actually doing it. And it's not easy. You know, there's a lot, there's a big program and there's a lot of lessons and, you know, to stay committed fifteen minutes a day for, you know, seventy five days of lessons is a huge accomplishment. So just honoring you, Mary, and thank you for sharing. So let's get into our question first. Student question of the week. So this was posted in the back anchor progression lesson. This is day three of module one the free trial from Diane. So she says hello doctor. I must say, since I started the program only three days ago, my abs have been pretty sore. I'm sleeping better since I feel less pain, so I figured I must be doing something right. I have degenerative disc stenosis, protruding disc all on my right. Lower lumbar. Yeah, all my pain presents on my left side. So the diagnoses are on the right side. Yet the pain is on the left side and mostly in the front of my left thigh. So not even in the back, but in the front of the thigh on the opposite side. Two doctors in the same practice are perplexed by this. First one advised a steroid shot in my SI joint, which did not work. Recent doctor thinks it may be nerves so prescribed gabapentin. I just do want to say, Diane, that you did mention that your doctor wants you to start taking a higher dose of gabapentin, and I am not a doctor, but I would encourage you to look into the side effects of gabapentin. You know, and make your own decision before just, you know, I would not encourage you to blindly take that advice without educating yourself. There have been no clinical studies on gabapentin in over a long term period of time, more than I think five months is the longest study. And so for me, uh, you just want to, you know, you want to protect your temple and be, you know, that's, that's my advice. And I am not a medical doctor and I do not know a whole lot about gabapentin except having worked in, in the industry for a long enough time. I've heard I've heard about that name many times. So do my symptoms of opposite sides of what shows in an MRI sound reasonable or familiar to you? My doctor says it's usually the same side. So yes, this does make sense to me, Diane. And it's actually more common than you might think. So typically, the side of pain is on the opposite side of restriction when you're talking about hips and SI joint pain. So for example, say your one hip is hypermobile or more mobile than the other. So say my one hip is more mobile. The other hip is less mobile. The SI joint will be more mobile on the side where the hip is less mobile because they're compensating for each other. And the SI joint would be more stiff on the side of the hip that is more mobile. So it's actually a cross just like cross posture syndrome. There's a lot of crosses that happen in the body, and one side of the body is compensating for the other in terms of mobility very often. And so it's, you know, if I were to try to explain your situation, you're feeling pain in the front of your left thigh. And that is potentially, you know, hip flexors are in the front of your left thigh. So potentially they're really tight and tense. But your diagnoses, I don't know how you could have right sided degenerative disc. Typically that's just the whole disc stenosis is very similar. But the you know, the protrusion can be on the right side. And so potentially your, if your hip flexor on the right side is not as tight and it's and your left hip flexor is really tight, it's causing a torque in your pelvis and that pelvis on the right side. I hope this is the right side for you guys. Might be pushed up more into the into the vertebrae and causing the compression. And so either way, if there is a problem on one side of the body absolutely affects the other side of the body. It causes stuff like this. And it's very common, especially with SI joint problems. It's most obvious because SI joint has two big sides where, you know, your vertebrae is much smaller and harder to differentiate right versus left unless you're talking about a bulging disc. So anyway, it does make sense to me. The solution is still going to be the same is to bring your body back into balance. And so when you're going through this program, you know, in the beginning of this program, we're addressing front to back imbalances, front of the body, back of the body. And so as you're going through the program, be aware of that. And anytime you're doing an exercise, say like the front anchor challenge, back anchor challenge, spend more time on the side that is weaker or more difficult to try and balance those out. So the left and right are equal in doing the activity. And then once you get later in the program into I believe like module eight or nine, we start to address left to right muscle imbalances directly all the way to the end of the program. And so that that will help bring the, you know, side to side frontal plane imbalances to back towards balance. And it should help this whole situation. You also say, I try to keep moving and walk about eight to ten thousand steps a day, but need to take a rest between six K mark since my leg hip lumbar left side begin to hurt. So, uh, exactly the advice I recommend. She's already doing it. Everyone who is catching this, that's excellent strategy. So she gets her full steps in, but she needs to take a break because her body communicates that to her. But it doesn't stop her from getting the full steps in. It has been going on and off since July twenty twenty one after a pickleball strain in the left hamstring. So another example of how an acute injury to a different part of the body can affect the whole chain. All right. We're going to move on to the next question. Hopefully that helps Diane. And and I will go back if you're still here and waiting for a response in the chat, I will go back to the chat at the end. So let me let me just get through these student questions. This is from Justin posted in Single leg bridge. So I think this is module or phase two somewhere in phase two. Later in the program, maybe even phase three Justin says, Doctor Ryan, a little history on myself. Nineteen eighty five serious car accident, broken femur, patella, fractured hip concussion, whiplash, broken nose and lost a few teeth. Twenty nineteen for discs fused probably L4. Oh four through seven. So that's T thoracic because there is no L six or seven. So I'm assuming you had a four through T seven fused and posterior cervical laminectomy. I'm enjoying and progressing through the program until the single leg bridge. I'm feeling pain right across my pelvis and left hip area without stating the obvious regarding my damaged hip. Why the pain in my pelvis? Any suggestions? Exercises. I'm a retired golf pro. Thank you. Cool. Very cool to have a former professional golf player in the program. I do have some suggestions, Justin. First, I would say that if it's in your pelvis, if the pain is across your pelvis, it's maybe a SI joint. Because the SI joint is an extremely common area of pain in the pelvis, and the single leg bridge will stress the SI joint specifically because the SI joint. I have a whole nother story on this, but SI joint is stressed, especially by unilateral activities. Single leg activities and single leg bridge is obviously one of those and is a very high intensity activity. So that's probably what you're feeling. Justin. I would just say back off on it or give your give more assistance with your arms so that you can kind of spot yourself with your arms and help lift lifting yourself up and train your the tolerance of your body up to be able to do this, but your body is communicating right now that it's not quite ready. It sounds like, you know, it depends on the intensity of the pain, but it would be wise of you to do a little C joint stabilization. And that would be a progression of the bridge. I call the butt buster from earlier in the program. And also you could even do that right before trying the single leg bridge next time. And you spot use your hands to spot because that will really set the SI joints and stabilize them, activating those muscles right before going into it. And that should help. So that's my, you know, my suggestion based on what I think is highest likelihood. This is probably if it's, you know, if it's towards the back of your pelvis. It's probably the SI joints. And that is something you can address. And the single leg bridge does highly stress it. You know, just like anything else, you got to work your tolerance up to be able to tolerate it. And that is through progressive graded exposure. You are a former athlete. So graded exposure is just gradually increasing the stress to the tissues. And that's the strategy for all of this to make progress. Hopefully that helps. Justin Alexander we've got a question in the back anchor awareness from Alexander. So he says, gosh, this ended up being quite painful for my bulging disc both during and after the exercise. I feel like maybe I'm pressing my pelvis down in the process of trying to lower my rib cage. I'll attempt the suggestion above to do it wrong by raising and then lowering the rib cage more. That's a good idea. Alexandra. It's very common for people to compensate with this exercise in the beginning by doing a pelvic tilt. Posterior pelvic tilt. That's not as you know. It seems like you already are aware that is not what this exercise is. That is something that they teach in, you know, physical therapy clinics across the country. If that worked for back pain, back, back pain wouldn't be an epidemic. It's not the pelvis that we want to actively be engaging and tilting all day long with our glutes, because you can't function that way. You can't walk around with squeezing your glutes. So what we want to be using is more deeper abdominal muscles, which are designed to be able to function over a long period of time. They're postural muscles, so doing it wrong should help you to get that feeling of doing it right. And I would say learn from this experience. Uh, bulging disc can get more bulged by, you know, certain movements. Pressure. Right. And so that might be the posterior pelvic tilt, squeezing your glutes and smashing your lower back into the floor might be the type of pressure that is pushing on that bulge. And so we want to just go lower intensity, more gentle, learn from the experience. You got to reflect back and say, you know, what was my intensity level? Like, okay, I got to turn it down like way down. And I got to attempt a different strategy. And it may take you a little bit longer to be able to do this and tolerate this, but in general, that is what you got to do. You got to listen to your body and go at your own pace through the program and reflect back on your experiences and learn, okay, what did I do? How can I do it better this time? Usually it's turned down the intensity and then build up your tolerance and your resilience over a period of days, weeks and even months to activities. You go on to say, this is a really frustrating part of this program, just beginning and physical therapy off and on long term. It always hurt my bulging disc. I'm always in pain and it's so hard to push through that, and I don't want to push through it in a way that causes more damage. That's very true. But there will never be a time I'm not in pain, so if I wait for that situation, I'll never get better at all. So, Alexander, I encourage you to look at the body as a whole unit, full body perspective. And so you don't need to address the, you know, the disc itself is a result of other things going on. Okay. So if we can address these other things going on, that's going to help the disk to be in a better a healthier position. And maybe the bulge can decrease. Even something as simple as breathing can actively cause a decompression effect on the spine. And so you might just need to go and master the breathing for a while. And that can absolutely have an impact of adding a little tension to the abdominals and opening up the lower back and causing a little decompression. And that may be enough to allow you to do a tiny bit more with maybe the back anchor, a tiny bit more in connection without irritating, and then you can build on that tiny bit more in the next time. So, you know, bulging disc is a thing where you really got to go at your own pace, you know, of course, you don't want to make it worse, you don't want to irritate it. And of course you still want to make progress. And so that progress might be slower, but you still have your entire life ahead of you. So it doesn't mean give up because that is the worst strategy. You know, when I'm not saying you would give up, but I am suggesting specifically don't give up on this program because it works. It's not even a question in my mind anymore. It's been proven through student feedback. Bulging discs too. And it might be just that your specific bulge is in a place right now that is really irritating all the time. And so it's going to be a different timeline for you to get the pressure off. The bulge is going got to take it real slow and methodically. So I feel you on what you wrote. I agree with you. That's what I would be thinking too. And so my advice is that strategy I laid out, and then just stick with it and never give up, no matter what. You know, even if you do give up on the program, give up on never give up on go. You know, find a lifelong strategy that's going to help you bring your body back towards, you know, the position it should be in that doesn't cause the disc to bulge. So hopefully that helps. And the breathing lesson very first lesson, day zero of the free trial. Charles says, I started to feel the pain I experience in my lower back and hip as I worked through this exercise. It was as if the muscles in my back and hip were not happy. I'm forty eight, still a very active athlete. Freestyle, BMX, downhill, mountain biking, backcountry skiing are what I focus on. I've had constant pain in my right lower back, hip and glutes for over ten years. I fight through the pain. I have noticed over the years that my core and glutes are just not doing much. Also, lateral pelvic tilt. I feel like this is a good approach. Not really a question here. Just want to say thank you for sharing, Charles. Glad to have an extreme athlete in the program. I am also an extreme athlete, but not as extreme as you. It sounds like downhill mountain biking, freestyle BMX are high. You know, I do single track mountain biking, but I could imagine you are doing it on a much higher level. And, and so yeah, I feel you on loving, passionately loving sports like that and glad to have you in the program. Got a golf pro? We've got an extreme athlete backcountry skiing too. And yeah, lots of other cool, different type, all types of people from all walks of life in the program. Um, if I had any advice for you, you know, the breath is so powerful. It often does find the pain and exacerbate the pain. And that increased abdominal pressure that you're creating through the breath. Uh, can have that effect of a little bit of exacerbation, and it's up to you to decide if it's good pain or bad pain. And if the overall strategy of that, you know, breathing into your lower back feels like it might be able to help over time, I believe it will. It might take a few sessions to, you know, get over the hump. But I would say keep giving it a try and just know that the breath does tend to do things like that. The breath finds things, it finds tension, it finds problems. And it can be a very healing thing to when that happens, it might expose it at first, but then often leads to relief on and balance and benefits in general. So we've got the last two I think are from emails. So Kaylar in response to a checking in email says, Doctor Ryan, thanks for checking in. I'm finishing up military training. So we got a military person in the program. It's an honor. Thank you for your service, Tyler. And another example of a different walk of life. So cool. So as I will resume when I'm home in a few days, also I send this email out just for anybody who's curious. I if somebody has been inactive for a while, I'll send out a checking in email. So this is a response to that. I also pulled something in my bag with sharp pain while squatting with wait, so I'm trying to rest and heal. With that. I will do some of the core bridges to help with that great kaylar. Yeah, definitely. I agree with what you're saying. So you know, might have pulled a muscle and so you got to listen to your body, take a break, go back to the basics, not even just the bridge kaylaw, but go back and reset your core connections with the back anchor awareness, front anchors awareness. Always recommend going back to the basics when you have a setback like setback like that, because the body will tend to resort to old patterns when it has trauma. And so you want to remind it the direction that you want it to go with reconnecting. All right. We're in the last one of the day from the prepared questions. This is also in response to a check in an email. So I have been combining your program with also going to a physical therapist in person that I like as well. So I have been moving a little slower. Also, I have been in the process of rewatching and completing everything up until now, especially because there is so much information. I also really felt that I wasn't properly connecting to my front anchors, since those exercises tended to irritate my back. My problem is that my back hurts with overarching not bending over. Extremely common. Nick, you are in the pattern of the eighty percent, the eighty percentile of chronic lower back pain conditions. This is the pattern. There is a myth out there that bending forward, bending down. I should do a whole stream on. This is bad for your back. I learned this my entire childhood growing up, you know? But if you think about this problem here, would bending forward be a problem with this? No, it would open up the vertebrae. And so, you know, this is the predictable pattern. This is the predictable pattern over arched lower back from the muscle imbalances. So yeah, bending forward typically will open up the spine and make it feel better. Bending backwards. You know, bending backwards is going to exacerbate this even more. So you're in the pattern. This program is designed for someone like you. You go on to say, and I think I was maybe trying to do too much when it came to connecting with the front anchors. So I've been trying to relearn that stage properly. Yeah. So the front anchors is going to be a very vulnerable position for anyone with this situation, this condition, you know, kind of stenotic condition. And you want to be deliberate about how you address it. You want to go very low intensity, very gentle. You want to open up the front of your hips with the bridge before getting into that position. Lengthen those hip flexors, take the tension off the spine and then get into the front ankles and just breathe into it. Relax your body into it. Let go of that fear and the tension that might be contributing to the problem before you go ahead and push away. But yeah, it might take you extra time. This was the key that unlocked my problem. You know, the front anchors, it took me months, probably five, six months to, you know, I was experimenting with all this because I didn't have this program, but, uh, you know, it probably took me five or six months to do the equivalent of the first two weeks of this program. My other PT thinks my pelvis may be tilted forward, and that's the main source of my pain. Yes, that's highly, highly, highly ninety nine point nine percent chance. True. Nick, main source my pain. So I've been trying to do some stretches and simple exercises to help deal with that as well. I also had a cortisone shot last month and that's helped a lot. But I've been have been and still plan on continuing with the program in general. PT thanks for checking in. You're welcome. Nick. I hope the visual I shared helps you to understand why bending forward might not cause problems for you, but bending back would. That's the same thing as anterior pelvic tilt. Same thing. Same issue. I had a visual earlier in this presentation at the beginning of this presentation of the pelvis tilting and showing the closing down. So you might want to take a look at that. Give you even more understanding. So yeah, just thanks for the response and I look forward to you progressing in the program as well, Nick, and getting more, even more benefits. And I'm glad you have a, you know, a physical person, a physical therapist to go to as well for even more guidance. Sounds like you have a good one that is on track with what's going on with you. So that is all the questions for today. I know we got some action in the chat, so I'm going to get into the chat here and see if I can address some of the comments and questions in the chat. If you haven't already, hit that like button and support the stream, help other people find core balance training by hitting the like button and help other people. Really, because that's how the YouTube algorithm works, is by promoting videos and channels that other people like to people that may need it. And there are a lot of people out there that need this solution to back pain. So help them out. All right. So let's see. I think this is about where I left off. Shawn Green, you say I've noticed an increase in pressure in my lower back where I've had pain for the over the past decade. It is right below my belt line, right in the middle of my low back. Um, okay, so I'm assuming you're connecting that to your last comment where you're talking about the getting fat and anchoring and marching. So you're experiencing a little bit of increased pressure. So, as my typical advice would be, is to listen to that, decide, reflect, and decide is that good pain or bad pain? If it feels intuitively like, oh, this is just maybe stiffness, pain and you know, movement is good for stiffness, then might be good to keep going. And if it's intuitively feels like bad pain, like this is straining a very vulnerable tissue. And if I go further, it might be bad. So then listen to that and back off. And so you want to typically go right up to the edge and push out that periphery of tolerance over a period of days and weeks. So if you can only go this far or this intense right now, then go right up to that edge before the symptoms come on. And then next time, go one percent further and build on that over time and push that tolerance, that resilience of your body tissues. You say, I notice after I do my marching and bridge and I lower my low back to the floor, I feel an increase in pressure in that area. Yeah, I can kind of remember symptoms like that. If anything, it means you're targeting the right area. You know, if you are making changes to your symptoms in that area, it means you're on track with something. So keep listening to it. Keep applying that strategy of, you know, decide if it's good pain or bad pain and then back off or keep going depending on what you your reflection determines. More pressure after the daily walk. Yeah, that can happen. You know, muscles can, you know. Same thing with walking. You have a you might have a tolerance based on the current situation of your body and the muscle imbalances and the muscles will eventually tense up in response saying, okay, no more of this. So this is your limit for today. And so that's what you reflect on. Okay. I could go fifteen minutes last time and then my muscles tensed up. So next time I'm only going to go fourteen minutes because I don't want my muscles to tense up, but I still want to get the benefits of that walking that's going right up to the edge of tolerance. And then next time you might be able to go fifteen minutes with before your muscles tense up. That's the strategy I would expect. I'm either doing this or doing this correctly, or I'm doing too much. I think you might have meant to say incorrectly, because it definitely feels that I've aggravated this area. So incorrectly is a high possibility. I try to lay it out in the program so it's impossible to do incorrectly. But when when I get into the coaching hub and people are submitting videos of themselves doing the bridge, there's often a lot of guidance needed. And so it's hard to see your own body. It's hard to know exactly what you're doing in your own body if you can't really see it. And so it's all a lot by feeling. So sometimes just filming yourself. Sean From the side angle, you know, I the first recommendation would be coaching hub, but if you don't want to do that, Just film yourself so you can watch yourself and you might be able to see, wow, I am. I do not have a core connection with this and I have a lot of room for improvement. So that's a high possibility is maybe just your approach is wrong and you're losing core connection. Alex. Mattia, welcome. Obviously not as beneficial as walking out in the world, but what are your thoughts on treadmill? We have cold, snowy winters, so some days walking outside. Not realistic. Yeah, it's a good question. It's a question I've gotten a lot in the past. The short answer is a treadmill is not as good as walking in the real world, because you are having to match a machine's speed, which doesn't allow for that natural flow of fluctuation in your natural pace. And so it's a little more, more mechanic, and there's a little more muscle tension when you're having to match that. But walking on treadmill is infinitely better than not walking at all. So do it. Absolutely do it for our next question is what do you recommend to relieve. Bulging disc nerve pain while seated. Do you recommend the cobra stretch for bulging disc? Cobra or you know, Mackenzie? Repetitive extension is a strategy. It's. The only way you can know is if you try it. So do you know ten Cobras in a row and then stand up and feel your body. You know, give it ten twenty minutes to react to that. If you feel better, then it works for you. And if you feel worse, then don't do it again. But McKenzie extension can be beneficial. Or what you're saying is Cobra for, you know, some bulging discs to help the bulge kind of get back in place for other bulges. It might be the opposite, might be bending forward. So the only way to know is to try it. And then you have to be in charge of your own body. So you got to listen to it because no doctor can feel it. Not me. Not any doctor can feel it. And you have to go. Okay. Reflect. That helped. I should do it more. Maybe I'll do it once a day or. Wow, I feel way worse. I'm not going to do extension anymore. Or repetitive extension because I know that is hurting my bulging disc. And and that's the general thing I recommend too, is just, you know, core balance training over the long run. But in the short run to reflect on the things you've done. If you're going to try a new thing, then try it and then reflect on it and then do more of what's working and less of what's not working. McKenzie extension is a potential thing that could help, or the opposite. So you may want to try repetitive flexion bending forward and touching your toes gently. You know, ten times in a row and see how you feel after that. But don't do that at the same in the same period. Do that on separate days. And then reflect back. And then one of those will probably be beneficial, and one of those will probably be not beneficial and do more of what's working. Uh, Alex, no way giving up is not an option. Yeah. Love it. That has been my attitude over the period. Oh, is it Alex? Is it the same person? Yeah, I'm gonna guess it is the same person. Laura Lynn. I'm the same overarching hurt so bad. But bending over is often the only way to get relief. So I'm going to finish with this. Laura, if you're still here, you may. This was the topic of last week's stream, too. You may feel better from bending forward because you are stretching those tight lower back muscles, which is relieving, but remember that they are tight for a reason. They are not randomly tightening up. It's a thing that your body is doing for a purpose. And so by stretching those tight muscles, you are undoing what your body wants to do. And that may not be the best thing in the long term for your body. It is definitely the best thing in the short term for relief. If you're going for relief because it feels good to stretch tight muscles and get some more blood flow in those muscles. But the way to address tight lower back muscles is not necessarily to stretch them, although it could be a good complementary strategy with the main strategy. But the main strategy is to provide more support, more extra support for those muscles with the other two hundred and seventy degrees around your core. You know, just the back muscles are doing all this work to support the spine. If you provide more support from the front and the sides, those tight lower back muscles can feel safe to let go. The spine is more supported all the way around. Then they can just let go naturally. And so that's what last week's stream was about. Ffarrah. You are very welcome. So just to finish with Laurelyn, just remember that you know, it's not necessarily dangerous to bend forward because we already showed the visual. But you have to remember that they they are tightening for a reason. And so we want to take a long term strategy as well as any short term strategy for us. I still would love your input on what to do to relieve pain while sitting. Oh yeah. So that was a question you asked. You're welcome Lauren. So sitting is just like, you know, sitting is the new smoking. Sitting is not good. I'm doing it right now. I guess what I'm going to do right after this stream, I'm going to probably go for like a good hour and a half walk. I'm not kidding you. That's what I'm going to go do because I know I don't ever want to be back where I was before. I'm so motivated and never be back in the position that I was before, that I'm going to go for a walk and undo all this sitting that I did as a preventative measure for my future. So yeah, sitting is not good for you. Walking is typically really good for you. That's my recommendation for all. I did an entire stream on sitting one of my probably one of my most helpful streams for people. I go through all my best recommendations around sitting. So that's my. That's the best thing I could tell you right now. So thank you all for being here. Hopefully you found something helpful today. And until next time, get down on the floor and connect to your core. Do something today for your body that does so much for you. Pay back your tissue debt. If you've been sitting like me, think of that as a loan that you borrowed from your body and go pay it back by doing something good for it. That's the attitude that I would take. Thank you, everyone, for being here. And, uh, until next time, connect to your core. Take care everyone.
