A runny nose, sore throat, and a fever. When we experience these symptoms, it usually means we have a cold, maybe even the flu. Pretty straight forward most of the time. If only all symptoms had direct, diagnosable causes.
In the case of musculoskeletal pain, the cause and effect can be more complicated than just "I have low back pain therefore there must be something wrong with my low back." Don't get us wrong, in some cases, the story is just that simple. In other cases, however, we have to examine "I have low back pain" starting at the feet. Say what, you ask? Why look to the feet when the symptoms are in the low back? Pilates has the answer because the practice treats the body as it should be treated – as a whole, connected, interdependent system.
A simple Pilates explanation for the above question might go something like this:
The low back lives on top of the pelvis. The pelvis lives on top of your femurs. Your femurs live on top of your tibia and fibula. The tibia and fibula live on top of your talus. The talus is the top of all of the bones in your feet. Making the connection?
This is the exact connection that Destinie made on her journey to better health, working through chronic low back pain and a congenital hip condition.
Read her story here:
What brought me to Pilates? In a nutshell: I’m symptomatic.
My relationship with musculoskeletal pain started in high school and in my hips. An MRI revealed two things. One, I had a torn labrum in my right hip and two, I have less than ideal depth in my hip sockets – aka, hip dysplasia. The doctor tells me this and in his best effort to ease my freaked-out-ness, he says, “in most cases, pathologies like yours are asymptomatic.”
I heard the same, “pathologies like yours are asymptomatic,” message when a later MRI showed that I had bulging, degenerative discs in my lumbar spine. The doctor said, “if I took an MRI of 100 people, 50 of them would look like yours, and maybe 7 patients would report symptoms.”
Despite their best efforts, that bedside manner did not make me feel better (thanks for trying!). But, it did send me on a wild journey involving leaving my white collar finance job to become one of those asymptomatic people and that’s what led me to Pilates. A year into my Pilates practice, I felt comfortable labeling myself as “asymptomatic.” That felt special and freeing.
In working towards “asymptomatic,” I learned a lot about the hip joint and about the spine. But perhaps most importantly, I learned to not fear my symptoms and to instead listen to them. The body communicates via symptoms. When we listen, we can experiment – we can act. And sometimes, the body will let go if it feels us making an effort.
Read Destinie's bio here!
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By: Destinie Slavich
