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WORLD PHYSIOTHERAPY DAY

Why has back pain become the world’s greatest malady? And what should we be doing about it?

It has been suggested that the problem lies in the structure of our spine and started two million years ago when we stopped gamboling around on all-fours and stood up. But actually, the answer is much younger than that. For many of us it is the curse of ‘division of labour’. With highly specialised and narrowed skillsets, we are now repetitively doing the same activity, or maintaining the same position, for hours on end.

Back pain is a symptom of our modern lifestyle.

Five million years ago we were strong. We had a decent power-to-weight ratio that allowed us to pull ourselves up into trees, grapple with our friends and enemies, swing from branch to branch and sprint away from danger. Two thousand years ago we used to be hunter-gatherers roaming every three days for 3-6 hours to gather our food.

Sometimes we got chased.

Modern life has hemmed us in. We are living in our heads more than ever before. If we saw an animal sitting in a cage in the corner, staring at the wall, not moving for large parts of the day – or moving in a highly repetitious manner - we would think that animal was sick.

So, what should we do about it?

World-leading research suggests that although the traditional types of passive treatments we buy (where we lie down and a practitioner does something to us) can help us with short-term pain relief, they don’t have a useful impact on our back pain long-term. They are outperformed by simple movement-based, self-management strategies: doing some well-paced strength and conditioning; changing how often we move, rest and relax; and making healthy lifestyle choices.

We need to change our view of the body as a machine with parts that fail and need to be fixed, to that of us being a neat biological organism that slowly self-repairs over time. Our bodies are really good at fixing themselves if we provide time and opportunity.

We need to dispel the back pain myths that foster a reliance on passive treatment. Backs do not ‘go out’ or go ‘back in’. Disc bulges and protrusions are not predictors of a disorder; they are just as common in people who don’t have pain. Our backs are resilient, robust, structures, and for the majority of us, our back pain is not linked to any major structural pathology shown on CT, MRI or X-Ray.

We need to understand that our back pain can’t be 'quick-fixed' by buying pills, manipulations, a single back-arch exercise, spikey mat, or ball, copper bracelet, weird seat, or injection.

So, what should we do?

Get in to see your local physiotherapist to learn about where your pain is coming from and how to self-manage it. Learn about strength, posture, mobility, and healthy lifestyle habits. Movement is medicine. Strength and mobility matter.

It’s not what's done to you that’s important, it's what you learn to do for yourself that makes the difference.

The answer is, you are your own best practitioner.

Let's do this! Classes will start up again on Wednesday morning. Classes will be limited to 8 people only so you will need to book. THIS IS ESSENTIAL. Thanks everyone for your ongoing support and I look forward to seeing you soon. I'll be sending out an email shortly with more details on how we will operate so check your inbox. Cheers Damian

BODY HIT, a 20 minute CORE workout drops tomorrow at 8am. Do this one on it's own, add it as a finisher to another workout, or for a killer burn do it twice. It's your workout, on demand. www.boxfitonline.com

For the next BoxFitOnline workout we are back on the bag. "Canelo" drops at 5 pm tonight. 35 minutes of high intensity coming up. Hit me up if you want a code to access all the workouts for FREE during lockdown.

UPRISING Next workout drops at 9 am this morning. No bag, no equipment needed. 10 x 2 minute rounds. Give yourself a score for each round depending on the number of reps of BOTH exercises you complete. Add up your score for the 10 rounds. GOAL is to get over 60.

Dropping at 4 pm is "Money" a 30 minute bag and kettlebell workout. PM us if you would like a code to access BoxFit Online for free during lockdown www.boxfitonline.com

"RIP IT UP" drops on BOXFIT ONLINE this evening. It's a bag only workout so nothing but punches. 5 Rounds. 5 x 1 minute intervals each round. If you want to hire a bag over lockdown, send me a message. Get in before Bill does.

"Marvelous" drops at NOON today. 9 x 3 minute rounds, Bag and body weight workout. If you want FREE access to www.boxfitonline.com during lockdown send us a message and I'll give you a code.

Next workout drops on BoxFit Online at noon today "No guts, no glory" It's a 9 Round kettlebell and cardio session run by Jess. If you have some light hand weights (or tin cans) you can use them for some extra burn in the cardio interval.

Who needs some therapy? On BoxFitOnline there are now 3 boxing workouts, a kettlebell one and dropping this afternoon at 4 pm is "Therapy". A body weight workout with no equipment required delivered by Jess!

"SUGAR" Next workout drops today at NOON. It's a sweet bag and body weight workout. Tomorrow I'll add a body weight workout.