It Wasn't Bending Down That Caused Your Back Pain
"I only bent down to pick something up and my back went."
"I just turned to get out of the car."
"All I did was put my socks on!"
I hear versions of these stories in clinic all the time.
And it's completely understandable to assume that one movement caused the problem.
But quite often, the movement you remember isn't really the whole story.
It's simply...
The Straw That Broke the Camel's Back
Imagine your body has a bucket.
Every day, you're adding a little bit to it.
A busy week at work.
Long hours sitting at your desk.
Poor sleep.
A harder-than-usual gym session.
A long drive.
Stress.
Doing more—or sometimes less—activity than you're used to.
None of those things necessarily cause a problem on their own.
But they all contribute to the overall load your body is dealing with.
Most of the time, your body adapts brilliantly.
Until eventually, the bucket gets a little too full.
And then you bend down to pick up a sock...
…and suddenly your back hurts.
Was the sock really the problem?
Probably not.
We Naturally Blame The Thing We Remember
Pain makes us very good detectives.
Unfortunately, we don't always arrest the right suspect.
When something suddenly hurts, we immediately think back to what we were doing at that exact moment.
"I must have twisted awkwardly."
"I lifted that box wrong."
"I shouldn't have bent like that."
The problem is that this can make perfectly normal movements start to feel dangerous.
You become nervous about bending.
You stop lifting things.
You start protecting the area.
But bending down, twisting and lifting are all movements our bodies are designed to do.
Rather than asking:
"What movement damaged me?"
Sometimes the better question is:
"What had been building up before this happened?"
It's Often Your Routine That Gives Us The Clues
This is one of the reasons I ask so many questions during an appointment.
Not just:
"Where does it hurt?"
But:
What's work been like recently?
Have you been driving more?
Has your training changed?
How are you sleeping?
Have you been less active than usual?
Has anything been particularly stressful?
Have you recently been away?
Sometimes the answer isn't one dramatic event.
It's ten small things that have gradually added up.
This Is Actually Good News
Because if one completely normal movement hasn't suddenly "broken" you, we don't necessarily need to be afraid of that movement.
Instead, we can look at the bigger picture.
Maybe you need to move more during the working day.
Maybe your training load needs adjusting.
Maybe you've simply done too much too quickly.
Maybe you've done too little for a few weeks and then suddenly asked your body to do more again.
Or perhaps there's an underlying restriction or issue that's made it harder for your
body to tolerate everything else.
That's what we need to work out.
Don't Just Focus On The Final Straw
Of course, sometimes injuries do happen because of one clear incident.
A fall, collision, awkward landing or heavy lift can absolutely cause an injury.
But when someone tells me:
"Honestly, I barely did anything..."
That's when I'm particularly interested in what happened during the days and weeks beforehand.
Because the movement that triggered your pain and the reason your body was vulnerable to it aren't always the same thing.
"Sometimes the thing that caused your pain wasn't the cause at all. It was simply the final straw."
So next time your back complains because you bent down to pick up a sock, don't immediately declare war on bending down.
Think about what else has been going on.
And if you're struggling to work out why something keeps happening, that's exactly the sort of problem we can help you unpick.
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