12/16/2025
Recently I consulted with a 35 year old male with lower back pain. When I asked him why he thinks his back hurts he said because of "wear and tear".
I chose my words wisely but basically told him to start reframing his beliefs about his own pain. If a 70 year old mentions wear and tear i do still educate them on their mindset, but they get more of a license to use those terms.
This guy, who is a great person by the way, got the whole lecture from me. And it was effective.
I worked him pretty hard and he did fine with exercise. In his daily life, he and his wife have a baby, he sits all day at work and he does not exercise. He doesn't sleep well or eat well because he is also in grad school. He is not overweight but he is not very strong for a guy his age either. No problem, just build up slowly.
"I think we found some variables far more relevant than wear and tear my friend" i said.
All I asked him to do was start walking 20 minutes per day and to get up from his desk every hour. I did not give him a million other exercises to do because it won't happen anyway.
I did plant the seed that he needs to make some sort of plan to exercise at least 1-2 times per week. Could be 10-20 minutes at home or whatever he and his wife can manage. That will help his back. And more importantly - to stop defeating himself with his own thoughts.
I hear this type of thing every day. The reason why I post this kind if case study is because mindset is often more critical to conquering pain than any other magic solution or exercise.
Anyone can go online to find exercises for back pain. They might not be appropriate, but there is stuff everywhere.
Remember that your thoughts carry more power than most anything else. Use that to your advantage rather than as a way to dig yourself into a hole.
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