What if you know that you are going to have severe lower back pain in 1 month? would you do something today?
What’s the reason people treat their body(go to the doctor) only when they feel pain?
Every day I see at least one person who complains of back pain because of a narrowed spinal canal, herniated disc…, before or after back surgery. Despite having different stories, all those back pains stem from one reason!
After treating tens of thousands of patients who came to us with back pains and were rehabilitated, I can safely say I have come to the “root” of the problem.
Our goal is not to reinsert the protruding disc, but to live without pain despite heritage, body type and what we have gone through in life.
Ori, my back hurts!
Here are a few recurring stories that the other professional WEST swimming coaches have come across:
Story No. 1 – The Pickle
A week ago a nice 45 year old man came to me and told me that a pickle screwed up his back. He then continued to tell his story: “So I was opening the cupboard over the sink, and while I was lifting the pickle can I hears a “knack”. I lay on the counter, holding the pickle jar without being able to move. They had to take me to the hospital in an ambulance, and all because of a pickle!”
It’s clear that lifting a jar can’t hurt your back, and it’s still quite safe to eat pickles, and yet, that guy was in a lot of pain that no cortisone shot could alleviate.
Story no. 2 – I want to be able to lift up my child!
8 years ago a 38 year old man came to me with tears in his eyes. He had waited his whole life for the moment he would have a child of his own, but when the moment came, he couldn’t carry the baby in his arms because his back hurt so much. He was willing to do anything, pay any price, to be able to do this simple thing. I made him commit to 4 practices a week and told him that in two weeks he would be able to carry his baby.
Sometime we have to hit rock bottom to realize we don’t have a choice and we need to change.
Story no. 3 – Pregnant women – My wife Tami
In all of Tami’s(My wife) 4 pregnancies she tends to have lower back pains when she’s 8 months pregnant. Only hydro therapy and swimming in the WEST technique helps her avoid the pain for a week, and then the pain returns and she has to swim again.
When a woman is pregnant there is a physical aspect – if normally the body’s equilibrium point is at L-2 to L-3, in a pregnancy it can shift as low as the Sacrum (the Coccyx), in addition to the pelvis widening in preparation for birth. If we don’t reinforce the body in the same way we have to reinforce a building’s foundations, the changes in mass and equilibrium point might create undesired pressure.
**Statistics say 50% off all pregnant women will suffer from lower back pain and the funny thing is 80% of the men will feel the same!!
Learn to swim WEST and you wont have lower back pain!!The tree
We used to have this lemon tree, on regular soil, in a dark part of our garden, which nonetheless bloomed and grew plenty of lemons. The gardener, at our behest, moved the tree to an excellent location, with special soil, nourishment and plenty of sunshine.
Despite all this the tree lost all its foliage and almost died, and came back to life only a year after.
We, too, experience different changes in our lives, which could seem like the best thing for us, but are nonetheless very hard, and they can cause our balance to be impaired, and also pains, mostly lower back pain.
What are the most difficult situations a person can experience that could affect his lower back?
I’m not talking about your ordinary back pain here, but about the kind of pain that can completely paralyze a person who was otherwise active.
- Moving into a new house
Just like the lemon tree, people are uprooted when they move, and even if we know we are going to have great soil, plenty of water and sunshine and some sexy neighbor trees, we are in fact experiencing trauma. This is why many trees don’t survive the transfer. The human body can overcome many challenges, but some people react badly to moves and experience back pains, divorce, kidney problems and even death, although they moved into their dream house.
Moving is never easy, and we should be aware of this.
Lower back pain is a good sign. It tells us that our body is off balance and we should restore the balance. We do this by treating our lower back which is the center of our energy, the center of CHI, and when you treat it the change can dealing with it can be an amazing process.
- Changes in work place
Changing your work place or your career can happen a few times in life.
I offered a highly appreciated worker of mine to run our flagship center. The next day she told me she was sick in bed and can’t get up due to back pain, and then she got a nasty cold. After a week of that she said: OK, I’m sick of being sick and I want the job.
How many people can’t cope due to the pain? How many people miss out on important jobs, suffer for months or leave their workplaces because of back pain?
- The birth of a new baby
When my second daughter Libby was born I thought I could go on living the way I used to. My schedule had been busy even before then. Add to that lack of sleep and my wife’s hormones, and you get the perfect recipe for a total breakdown, which started manifesting in back pain and even anxiety. I was lucky to be well aware and connected to myself, so when it happened I treated myself and balanced my body with WEST swimming.
There are, of course, countless of other stories of people who come to treat their back problem through WEST swimming, may it be the loss of a loved one or a hard boss at work, but they all have something in common – going out of balance.
How do we treat the problem?
- Talk about it
You have to understand first that change, such as moving or changing careers, is traumatic.
I tell my new employees that they are going to get sick in the first month. I tell them exactly what they have to eat (such as adding root vegetables to their diet to restore balance) and how to swim, and those who take my advice go through the process without feeling almost any hardship, because they have created a sort of a shock absorber for the body.
You have to talk about the changes with your spouse (especially about moving), a good friend or a therapist, and air out the difficulty, even if it seems that everything is going great.
- Support the change physically and emotionally
My recommendations are any sort of touch treatment, running on the beach and swimming in the sea, which is a great source of balance, and also counseling.
If you train regularly, decrease your training to 65%, and don’t enter any competitions if you can help it. Otherwise you might hurt yourself badly, and not just your back.
Start today and get 50% off on your swim WEST freestyle course- Swim WEST
WEST swimming technique was developed for two main energetic points: C6-C7, which is the center of the soul and emotion, and L2-L3, which is the body’s center of equilibrium. The goal, in a nutshell, is to swim while relaxing those two areas, matching the swimming style to the body type.
WEST not only elongates the muscles and creates a shock absorber for the body to help it cope with change, it also releases the tension that builds up in the shoulders and head. Just like a balloon that is about to explode, doing that decreases the pressure in our bodies and minds.
When we swim WEST we elongate the muscles, especially the UB meridian, which controls the lower back, thus allowing every move we make to be calmer, even sitting down, and decreasing the pressure on the vertebrae, especially in our lower back.
In conclusion
They say balance in your life is the name of the game. Our body is a super accurate machine. It gives us signs that we are not listening to it. It’s like a balloon, that if overinflated can explode without warning.
Our goal is to find that balance, not to let our personal “container” get too full, because any change can affect our lower back, and we must reinforce our foundations, prepare our body for the many changes that life brings.
It is highly recommended to have any sort of physical therapy once a week even when there’s no pain, to decrease tension, exhale and maybe “restart” our body and mind.
And most importantly – swim WEST, the healthiest swimming technique in the world that allows you to stretch your lower back and the meridians which relax the body’s equilibrium point, decrease tension from your mind and feel good about yourselves.
WEST is not only a swimming technique, It is a way of life that helps us cope with the challenges and the changes in life that we face every day.
Don’t get used to the pain Do something today!!
