Back In Shape Podcast

Back In Shape

This podcast is dedicated to providing you with the help you need to fix your lower back pain and sciatica. From specific diagnoses, myths and injuries to the low back, to strategies to recover, we're here to help get your Back In Shape. This podcast is an extension of the Back In Shape Program, an online back rehabilitation program that helps members from all over the world. Created by the founders of The Mayfair Clinic, a specialist back and neck pain clinic in central London and winner of the prestigious Queens Award For Enterprise Innovation In 2020.

  1. 3d ago

    The Herniated Disc Recovery Plan (What to Actually Do, From Day One)

    If you've got a herniated disc and you're not sure what you should actually be doing, this is the three-step recovery plan — starting from day one. If you've been diagnosed with a herniated disc, a disc bulge, a protrusion or a sequestration at L4/L5 or L5/S1 — or you've had sciatica down the leg and don't know where to start — this session lays out the plan. It doesn't matter much how bad the herniation looks on paper. What matters far more is your starting point and your skill, and this walks through exactly how to build from there, whatever level you're at today. 🎓 Join the Back In Shape Program: https://backinshapeprogram.com We go through the three steps in order. Step one is learning to control a neutral spine — the skill of holding your lower back steady, practised in a safe "lab" environment through six exercises (the dead bug, marching bridge, squat, hip hinge, step-up and single-leg hip hinge), because it's movement of the injured segment that triggers your flare-ups. This technical skill is the "sticky" part: once you've got it, a flare-up doesn't take it away. Step two is challenging your body at the right intensity — enough of a stimulus to signal that the tissue needs to get stronger, which most people never actually reach. Step three is progressing that load steadily over the long term, so the disc itself rebuilds its capacity to bear load. Along the way: why stiffness is a symptom rather than the problem, why "just don't lift" isn't realistic advice, what injections and nerve blocks really do, and why feeling better isn't the same as being stronger. 🔑 Key Topics Covered 🧱 Step 1 — control a neutral spine: before anything else, you learn to hold your lower back steady through the six exercises, in a safe environment. It's the skill you're missing, and because it's a skill, once you've built it a flare-up can't take it away — that's what makes it stick. 🎯 Step 2 — challenge at the right intensity: healing needs a real stimulus. Most people potter along well under the level that actually signals the body to get stronger — doing endless gentle reps for months and wondering why nothing changes. This is where change actually starts. 🔧 Step 3 — keep progressing the load: your body is efficient and won't rebuild unless it has to. Like swapping a screwdriver for a power drill only once you're fed up, the disc only strengthens when you keep giving it a reason to — steadily, over months and years, not weeks. 🚫 Why "just don't lift" doesn't work: you'll squat out of the chair on the way out of the appointment. Life has load — getting dressed, lifting a child, picking something off the floor. The answer isn't to avoid it, it's to build the capacity and skill to do it safely. Chapters 00:00 The herniated disc recovery plan: what to actually do 01:00 It's an injury — and the label matters less than you think 03:12 Step 1: learn to control a neutral spine 05:00 Why stiffness is a symptom, not the problem 07:12 The six exercises, and why they work 10:36 Finding your own starting point (aggravation-free, correct technique) 13:12 Why real rehab is "sticky" and stretches aren't 19:00 Does massage help? Relief vs rehab 21:24 Do PRP, stem cells and laser actually help? 28:24 Step 2: challenging your body at the right intensity 32:24 Step 3: the screwdriver, the power drill and real adaptation 36:00 The one number everyone should aim for 38:12 "Squats and sitting hurt" — what's going wrong 39:00 Why "never deadlift again" is the wrong advice 41:48 Facing a surgery or injection decision 44:36 What a pain clinic can and can't do 46:12 Nerve blocks: taking the batteries out of the smoke alarm 48:36 How often should you actually train? 51:36 Why resting off work isn't the same as recovering 59:00 Is degenerative disc disease really just ageing? #HerniatedDisc #Sciatica #BackInShape #SlippedDisc #DiscBulge #BackPainRelief #HerniatedDiscRecovery #SpinalRehab

  2. 5d ago

    What's the Best Stretch for a Herniated Disc? (It's Not What You Think)

    The best stretch for a herniated disc isn't a stretch at all — it's gentle decompression, and the popular ones like knee hugs often make things worse. If you've got a herniated disc, a disc bulge, a slipped or degenerative disc at L4/L5 or L5/S1 and you just want to stretch the tension out of your lower back, this session is for you. When your back feels tight, the instinct is to hug your knees, drop into child's pose or do cat-cows. But those movements round the lower back and compress the front of the disc, driving the nucleus further into the strained fibres at the back — the very thing that injured it. What an injured disc actually needs is offloading: gentle decompression that takes the pressure off without making the problem worse. 🎓 Join the Back In Shape Program: https://backinshapeprogram.com We explain the difference between the stretches that relieve an injured disc and the ones that quietly aggravate it, then walk through the four ways to decompress safely — a clinical decompression table, an inversion table, and the two free home options: the bed decompression and the towel decompression, which also supports the natural curve of your lower back. We cover why the dead hang is usually too much for an acute disc, why "softness beats force", why a flattened lower back is so common when you sit 9.5 hours a day, and why the muscles you want to stretch are already lengthened, not shortened. The thread throughout: decompression is a relief practice — it helps healing along and feels wonderful, but it does not strengthen the disc. Only progressive, loaded rehab does that. 🔑 Key Topics Covered 🚫 Why knee hugs and child's pose backfire: when your back feels stiff you want to stretch it — but rounding forwards compresses the front of the disc and drives the nucleus into the already-strained back fibres. You feel a stretch, but you're feeding the injury. 🛏️ The four ways to decompress safely: a clinical decompression table, an inversion table, and the two free home options — bed decompression and the towel decompression, which adds gentle support for your lumbar curve. All of them share one principle: lie down first, then decompress gently. 🪢 Why the dead hang is usually too much: hanging from a bar swings you from full compression to a hard pull in an instant, with no control and often an arched back. "Softness beats force" — steady, gentle decompression relieves an injured disc; a big yank doesn't. 📊 Decompression relieves — it doesn't strengthen: the table, the towel, even laser all help take pressure off and support healing, but none of them rebuild the disc. Only progressively loading your spine through the squat and hip hinge does that. Chapters 00:00 The best stretch for a herniated disc 01:15 Why you want to "stretch" — and what you really need 02:21 Why knee hugs and child's pose make it worse 03:36 Don't get bogged down in the label (bulge, protrusion, sequestration) 05:27 The three kinds of relief: direct, indirect and harmful 09:03 Why a flattened lower back is so common 11:15 The muscles you want to stretch are already lengthened 12:09 Why "activate your multifidus" is the wrong advice 15:33 Do pain meds and injections heal the disc? 19:24 Feeling better vs actually being stronger 23:00 Why the squat does so much more than build legs 27:33 Why exercises don't feel good in the moment (and that's fine) 30:39 Does the cobra pose help a disc bulge? 31:24 After surgery, forcing movement is even more wrong 32:33 The four ways to decompress your spine 35:51 Why the dead hang is too much — softness beats force 37:36 Why treatment works better once you've done the rehab 44:00 Squatting around your own body (heels, depth and stance) 48:51 Why the hip thruster and Roman chair miss the point 59:33 The bottom line: decompression relieves, it doesn't strengthen #HerniatedDisc #Sciatica #BackInShape #SlippedDisc #DiscBulge #BackDecompression #BackPainRelief #SpinalRehab

  3. Jul 28

    Facet Joint or Herniated Disc? How to Tell (And Why It Matters Less Than You Think)

    Is your back pain a disc or a facet joint? It's the question everyone chases — but the honest answer is that it rarely changes what you should actually do. If you've been told it's a herniated disc by one clinician and a facet joint problem by another — or you're trying to work out which one you've got at L5/S1 or L4/L5 — this session is for you. The tests people use to tell them apart cross over more than you'd think: bending forwards strains the disc but also stretches the facet joint capsule, and bending backwards can compress the facet joint or squeeze a herniated disc against the nerve. So a "positive" test for one is often a positive test for the other, and chasing the label sends you round in circles. 🎓 Join the Back In Shape Program: https://backinshapeprogram.com We work through why the disc-versus-facet distinction is so blurry, and why it matters less than you've been led to believe: in both cases, the pain comes from losing control of the segment and moving it in a way that provokes already-sensitive tissue. Reaching into a cupboard and arching, or bending into the dishwasher and rounding — different structures, same root failure, same fix. We explain why spine stability is the starting point whichever label you've been given, how to judge healing by load rather than by feel, why back belts and braces sit above the segment that's actually injured, and why walking, holds and stretching aren't the rehab you think they are. The thread throughout: you're not a disc or a facet joint — you're a person with an injured back, and the answer is to build control and capacity, not to perfect the diagnosis. 🔑 Key Topics Covered 🔀 Disc or facet joint? Why the tests blur together: bending forwards strains the disc and stretches the facet joint capsule; bending backwards can pinch either one. A positive test for one is often a positive test for the other — which is why the label so often changes depending on who you ask. 🎯 Why the label matters less than you think: in both cases the pain comes from losing control of the segment and provoking injured tissue. Reach up and arch, or bend down and round — different structure, same failure. And the fix is the same: learn to stabilise and control the spine. 🧱 You can't control L5/S1 — only the region: nobody can consciously steer a single segment. What you can control is the area between your lower ribcage and pelvis, by engaging the core and holding a neutral spine. That's what the six exercises teach. 📊 Judge healing by load, not by feeling: how the back feels isn't a measure of how healed it is — a child's broken arm stops hurting long before the cast comes off. What your squat and hip hinge can carry, aggravation-free, is the honest gauge of how much capacity you've rebuilt. Chapters 00:00 Disc or facet joint — does it change anything? 01:21 Two kitchen injuries: the cupboard and the dishwasher 03:27 Why the tests cross over and confuse everyone 05:33 Chasing the label vs asking what to do 06:00 Why spine stability protects both 07:12 The six exercises, and what they actually train 09:12 What a disc bulge at L4/L5 feels like (or doesn't) 11:33 Reherniation after surgery: did you ever rehab? 15:48 The flexibility mistake — right work, wrong time 17:48 What to do in an acute flare (it isn't nothing) 23:00 A pars defect without the slip 25:18 "Being mindful" isn't a strategy 27:09 Why back belts and braces don't help 30:15 How do you know your disc is healing? Load it 33:24 Why you haven't earned a lifting belt 38:24 "I'll never lift heavy again" — what does heavy mean? 42:09 Why an MRI lying down can mislead 46:39 Why steady runners have healthier discs (and walking doesn't strengthen) 53:36 Getting back to running, football and sport safely 1:03:15 Aggravation-free doesn't mean pain-free #HerniatedDisc #FacetJoint #BackInShape #Sciatica #SlippedDisc #LowerBackPain #BackPainRelief #SpinalRehab

  4. Jul 23

    Who Should You Actually See For A Herniated Disc Or Sciatica?

    Before you book another appointment for your herniated disc or sciatica, there's a simple test worth running at home — and it might change what you do next. If you've already got a diagnosis — an L5/S1 or L4/L5 herniated disc, a slipped disc, a disc bulge, sciatica — and you've already seen a string of clinicians, this session is for you. It isn't about the person who's just woken up with a bad back and needs answers; that person does need an opinion. It's about the far more common case: you've got the information, you've had the scans, you've had the appointments, and you're wondering whether one more consultation is what finally turns things around. 🎓 Join the Back In Shape Program: https://backinshapeprogram.com We start with the test: can you do the dead bug, the marching bridge, the squat, the hip hinge, the step-up and the single-leg hip hinge without aggravating your symptoms? If lying on the floor and moving one leg sets your sciatica off, that tells you something important — and it also tells you what a trip across town is likely to cost you, because getting dressed, sitting in the car and getting out again all load the injured segment far more than the appointment will unload it. We walk through four tiers of help, from figuring it out yourself to the thing nobody can actually buy, and why a program sits above a weekly appointment — assuming, in every case, a genuinely good clinician. Then the part that matters most: when a consultation really is worth your money. Along the way: nerve pain after surgery, how strength actually protects a spine, whether degenerative disc disease is a dead end, and when flexion comes back in. 🔑 Key Topics Covered 🧪 The test to run before you book anything: can you do the six exercises — dead bug, marching bridge, squat, hip hinge, step-up, single-leg hip hinge — aggravation-free, with good technique? If not, that's the gap. And it's a gap another appointment doesn't close. ⏱️ The problem with a weekly appointment: a half-hour session is a fraction of one per cent of your week. However good it is, you're asking it to offset the other ninety-nine per cent — the hours where you're getting in and out of chairs, beds and cars with an injured spine. 🏠 Recovery is won at home: nothing in your back changes during a consultation. What changes is what you know and what you then do, every day, for the rest of the week. That's why the education and the doing have to come first. 🎯 When a consultation IS worth it: once you've built a baseline — you can control your spine, you're loading the squat and hip hinge properly — a conversation about getting back to hiking, skiing, running or the garden is genuinely valuable. That's the best return on your money, and it comes later than you'd think. Chapters 00:00 Who should you see for a herniated disc or sciatica? 00:24 First, a test: can you do these six exercises? 02:03 What another opinion actually changes 04:27 The journey to the appointment is the risk 06:03 You don't need special exercises for your diagnosis 11:15 Four tiers of help, from makeshift to comprehensive 13:00 Tier two: the clinician, and the fraction-of-a-week problem 14:54 Tier three: why a program beats an appointment 17:21 The top tier — and why recovery is won at home 18:57 When a consultation is genuinely worth your money 21:45 Nerve pain after surgery: finding the aggravation 27:36 Why your rehab is the safest part of your day 29:54 Getting weaker while you wait 34:51 How strength protects the spine (the orchestra) 40:09 Why a spine deconditions — and how it rebuilds 42:42 Ask your clinician: "how is this helping me?" 47:45 Is degenerative disc disease really a dead end? 49:21 Priming vs strengthening (and don't mobilise your spine) 57:24 When can you add flexion back in? 1:03:06 Checking your hip range of motion #HerniatedDisc #Sciatica #BackInShape #SlippedDisc #DiscBulge #BackPainRelief #LowerBackPain #SpinalRehab

  5. Jul 22

    Why Your Stiff Lower Back Won't Loosen Up (Stop Chasing the Stiffness)

    A chronically stiff lower back won't loosen no matter how much you stretch it — because the stiffness isn't the problem, it's a symptom of an injured spine. If your lower back is constantly stiff — worst first thing in the morning, easing a little once you get moving — and months of stretching, knee hugs, cobras and knee rocks haven't shifted it, this session explains why. Back stiffness is almost always a symptom of an injury to the lumbar spine, most often at L5/S1 or L4/L5: a strained joint held together by ligaments and the disc. Trying to wiggle it loose provokes the very tissues that are injured, which is why the stiffness keeps coming back. The answer isn't more movement — it's control. 🎓 Join the Back In Shape Program: https://backinshapeprogram.com We explain why the instinct to stretch, bend and twist a stiff back makes it worse — every time you move the injured segment, you provoke it — and why stability instead lets it settle. We cover the simple chair example that instantly cuts the strain through your spine, why walking and decompression are relief rather than rehab, why the dead hang and the cobra so often backfire, and what actually rebuilds you: learning to control a neutral spine, then loading it through the squat, hip hinge, step-up and single-leg hip hinge. We also get into the three tools worth owning for stiffness, the tape test, why disc bulge and stenosis both call for the same stability work, and how to get back to running and your hobbies without flaring up. The thread throughout: stiffness is the symptom, the injury is the problem, and stability — not stretching — is what settles it. 🔑 Key Topics Covered 🩻 Stiffness is a symptom, not the problem: a chronically stiff lower back is almost always your body reacting to an injured segment — usually L5/S1 or L4/L5. Chase the stiffness and it keeps returning; treat the injury underneath and it settles. 🔒 Why wiggling it loose backfires: knee hugs, cobras, knee rocks and child's pose all move the injured joint — which provokes the very tissues that are inflamed. The fix is the opposite: learn to stabilise and control a neutral spine, then build strength through the squat and hip hinge. 🛁 Relief is not rehab: walking, decompression, stretching and the massage gun all help you manage the stiffness — but none of them rebuild you. Lean on them for relief, by all means, but don't mistake feeling looser for actually getting better. 📏 The tape test — free, and eye-opening: stick a length of tape along your lower back and get on with your day. How often it tugs and peels shows how much you're bending and twisting without realising — which is exactly what keeps a stiff back irritated. Chapters 00:00 How to recover from a chronically stiff lower back 01:42 Stiffness isn't the problem — your injured spine is 04:36 Why you need control, not wiggling (the fusion example) 07:30 The chair test: how you stand up is spiking your pain 09:39 Is walking rehab? (No — it's relief) 11:12 Why the dead hang can make a bulging disc worse 13:12 Cobras and forward bends: relief isn't rehab 14:03 What to do instead — and why rehab is the safest thing you do 19:36 The three tools worth buying 23:03 The three pillars: education, relief and rehab 27:24 The tape test: proof of how much you're really moving 29:18 You don't rehab "for sciatica" — and Pilates is a hobby 34:45 Disc bulge AND stenosis? Stability for both 38:33 Decompression is back hygiene, like brushing your teeth 42:57 How to do your rehab at home 46:12 Stop hunting for an explanation — your exercises are the test 50:39 How to find your limit — and why rehab is a strategy, not a list 58:06 Getting back to running and hobbies safely 1:04:24 Working around a knee injury (and Mike's comeback) #LowerBackPain #BackStiffness #BackInShape #StiffLowerBack #Sciatica #HerniatedDisc #BackPainRelief #SpinalRehab

  6. Jul 16

    Is It Safe to Squat and Deadlift With a Herniated Disc?

    "Never squat or deadlift again with a herniated disc" sounds sensible — right up until you realise you'll break that advice before you've left the building. If you've got a herniated disc (a slipped disc, disc bulge or prolapsed disc) at L4/L5 or L5/S1 and you've been told to stop lifting for good, this session is for you. The advice lands because it sounds plausible: nearly everyone injured their back doing some kind of lifting — whether that was four plates on the bar or bending to pick a sock off the floor. So abstaining feels like the safe choice. It isn't, and this session explains why, along with how to build back to loading your spine safely. 🎓 Join the Back In Shape Program: https://backinshapeprogram.com We explain the three problems with blanket "don't lift" advice: strength is protective, so you lose what little you have; your life quietly shrinks as you do less, get weaker and flare up again; and the biggest loss is the belief that you're fragile for good. Then the point that should settle it — you will break the advice within minutes of being given it, while it's being watched. We cover why the deadlift usually isn't a day-one exercise, how the hip hinge becomes your deadlift over time, why load comes before range of motion, the milestones worth aiming at, and why a microdiscectomy is a clear-up operation, not a repair. Along the way: pelvic tucks and why they teach the wrong habit, scoliosis as the lay of the land, and why stretches strengthen nothing. 🔑 Key Topics Covered 🎯 Why the advice sounds so convincing: almost everyone hurt their back lifting something — from a 220-kilo bar to a sock off the floor. So "never lift again" feels logical. But it makes you fearful of the one thing that rebuilds you, and your world shrinks a little more with every flare-up. 🪑 You'll break the advice before you leave the room: sitting down in the chair pushes the load through your injured segment well above standing, and getting up with a rounded back spikes it further. Nobody stops you. If the advice were meant literally, they'd have you lying down for the consultation. 🏋️ How the hip hinge becomes your deadlift: you probably can't deadlift on day one — you need the hip mobility to reach the floor with a neutral spine. So you build load on the hip hinge first, keep the depth fixed, and the range opens on its own. Eventually the bar reaches the floor, and that's a deadlift. 📊 The markers worth aiming at: 20% and 45% of body weight on the bar represent what sitting already puts through your spine. Longer term, around 100% of body weight for men and 75% for women, for ten reps, aggravation-free — and then you look at your hip mobility. Chapters 00:00 Is it safe to squat and deadlift with a herniated disc? 01:00 Why the advice sounds plausible 04:00 Fear, lost strength and a shrinking life 07:00 You can't rebuild your spine lying on the floor 08:00 Why the deadlift isn't a day-one exercise 10:00 How your hip hinge becomes a deadlift 12:00 The advice you'll break before you leave the room 16:00 Load first, range of motion later 20:00 What's actually bearing the load (and why it heals slowly) 22:00 Grip: why double underhand slows you down usefully 23:00 Surgery booked? Do the rehab first, then reopen the conversation 26:00 Tracking progress, and how the phases really work 30:00 Start now — rehab is the safest thing you do all day 34:00 The milestones: 20%, 45% and the long-term targets 37:00 Scoliosis, asymmetry and the lay of the land 44:00 A microdiscectomy is a clear-up operation, not a repair 47:00 When a knee or ankle injury becomes a back injury 51:00 Stretches don't strengthen — and pelvic tucks teach the wrong habit 1:00:00 Squat depth, forward lean, and why not to stand on plates #HerniatedDisc #Deadlift #BackInShape #Squat #SlippedDisc #DiscBulge #BackPainRelief #SpinalRehab

  7. Jul 14

    The Core Strengthening Myth: Why It Won't Fix Your Herniated Disc

    If you've been doing core strengthening for a herniated disc and it hasn't worked, the problem usually isn't effort — it's what you're strengthening. You've had a herniated disc — a slipped disc or disc bulge at L4/L5 or L5/S1 — maybe even surgery, and you've been diligently doing your core exercises. But the flare-ups keep coming. This session explains why. Most core rehab is done lying on the floor — dead bugs, marching bridges, bird dogs — building control but never loading the one structure that actually needs to bear load: the spine itself. Meanwhile, the moment you finish and stand up, sit down or get out of a chair, you put far more load through that spine than the exercises ever did. 🎓 Join the Back In Shape Program: https://backinshapeprogram.com We explain why recovery is a race — to get your rehab to the point where it challenges your spine more than daily life does, because until then your carefully-done floor exercises are the gentlest thing you do all day. We put real numbers to the loads going through your spine when you stand, sit and rise from a chair. We cover what the core really is (the whole trunk — front, sides and the spine in the middle), why the squat and hip hinge have to be front and centre, why form matters so much, and why how you feel is a poor guide to how you're healing. Along the way: managing flare-ups, what your MRI does and doesn't tell you, and why the machines people reach for — wall sits, the Roman chair, hip thrusters — often rob the exercise of what makes it useful. 🔑 Key Topics Covered 🎯 The core is your spine — and that's what most rehab forgets: the core is the whole trunk, front, sides and the load-bearing spine in the middle. Endless floor exercises build control but never load that spine. The squat and hip hinge have to be front and centre, or it isn't core strengthening. 🏁 Rehab is a race: the goal is to make your rehab more challenging than your daily life — because right now it isn't. For a 75-kilo person, standing sends about 38 kilos through the spine, sitting adds 15 to 34 more, and rising from a chair badly adds another 45. Your floor exercises barely register. 📹 Why form matters more than you think: the very same 20-kilo lift can mean a 35% difference in the load on your spine between good and bad technique. That's why you go to a consistent depth, keep a neutral spine, and record yourself — what you think you're doing and what you're actually doing are often different. 🩹 Why how you feel is misleading: a graze can stop hurting long before it's healed — tap it and there's no pain, but it's not repaired. Your lower back is the same, except you can't see it. Feeling better is not the same as being better, and your loaded squat is the honest test. Chapters 00:00 Why your core strengthening hasn't worked 01:00 The Core 6 — and why you already load your spine daily 03:00 Your rehab should be the hardest thing you do all day 07:00 Why form comes first (good vs bad form, by the numbers) 11:00 When to train, and looking after yourself afterwards 14:00 Why how you feel is misleading (the graze that hasn't healed) 17:00 What your MRI misses (it's taken lying down) 19:00 March at the speed of the slowest soldier (working around bad knees) 24:00 Commit for the long term — and stop blaming the exercise 27:00 Hamstring tightness is a symptom, not the cause 29:00 Take accountability, and why rehab often starts too late 32:00 What "strengthening" actually means 34:00 The phases — and why wall sits and elephant walks miss the point 40:00 Flare-ups, nerve blocks and filming your form 47:00 The core is your spine — the bit most rehab forgets 50:00 Why PTs contradict each other, and the McGill Big 3 53:00 Machines: the Roman chair, hip thrusters and cable RDLs #HerniatedDisc #CoreStrength #BackInShape #Sciatica #SlippedDisc #BackPainRelief #SpinalRehab #BackRehab

  8. Jul 9

    Can Spinal Stenosis Be Cured? What Nobody's Telling You

    Lumbar spinal stenosis only means one of the holes in your spine is smaller than it should be — which is a symptom, not the whole story of why your back hurts. If you've been diagnosed with lumbar spinal stenosis at L4/L5 or L5/S1 and told that's the explanation, this session unpacks what the diagnosis actually says — and what it leaves out. Stenosis simply means a narrowing: either the central canal or the small exit holes at the side. It doesn't tell you what's causing the narrowing, and that's the part that matters. Because the answer to "what do I actually do about it?" turns out to be the same either way. 🎓 Join the Back In Shape Program: https://backinshapeprogram.com We explain the two forms it takes — the soft-tissue kind, where a herniated disc or disc bulge is pressing into the space, and the degenerative kind, where bony spurring, facet joint hypertrophy and a thickened ligamentum flavum have narrowed it slowly over years. We cover why age alone doesn't explain it (or your whole spine would look the same), why the stenosis itself isn't what changes from one flare-up to the next, and the flexion trap that catches so many people: if you believe the problem is a small hole, bending forwards makes it bigger — so you knee-hug, you tuck, you sit rather than stand, and you quietly bake in the very habits that keep the injury irritated. Then we get to the tape test, a free reality check you can do at home today, and to why the advice to "avoid heavy lifting" is unfulfillable — because life has load, and getting out of a chair holding your phone is already a loaded squat. 🔑 Key Topics Covered 🩻 What "stenosis" actually means: one of three holes is smaller than it should be — the central canal, or the exit foramina at the side. It's a description of the consequence, not the cause. The narrowing tells you nothing about what to do next. 🔀 The two types, and why the treatment is the same: soft-tissue stenosis (a herniated disc bulging into the space) and degenerative stenosis (bony spurring, facet hypertrophy, a thickened ligamentum flavum). Different stories, same underlying injury to the structures that bear load. 🪤 The flexion trap: if you think the problem is a small hole, bending forwards seems to fix it. So you knee-hug, tuck the pelvis, sit rather than stand — and each time you make the hole bigger, you drive pressure straight into the disc that's bulging. The habit becomes the problem. 📏 The tape test — free, and eye-opening: stand upright, tape across your lower back, then get on with your day. Most people can't last fifteen minutes before it peels. That's how much you're bending and twisting without knowing it, and why the flare-ups never stop. Chapters 00:00 Lumbar spinal stenosis: what it is and isn't 02:00 Stenosis just means a smaller hole 04:00 Soft tissue stenosis: the herniated disc 10:00 Degenerative stenosis, and why age doesn't explain it 14:00 Hypermobility, and why life always has load 17:00 Walking is relief work, not rehab 22:00 The flexion trap: why bending forwards backfires 27:00 Why the solution is the same for both types 30:00 Commit to strength training for the long term 31:00 Why we don't use the trap bar 35:00 Surgery to "smooth out the bones"? 38:00 Why most rehab isn't really rehab 44:00 The tape test: how much you're bending without knowing 47:00 The Core 6, and building from body weight 48:00 DOMS: how to manage it without a flare-up 53:00 Sitting, standing and getting out of a chair 1:01:00 "No heavy lifting or surgery is inevitable" 1:06:00 Life has load — build the capacity for it #SpinalStenosis #BackPainRelief #BackInShape #LumbarStenosis #HerniatedDisc #Sciatica #LowerBackPain #SpinalRehab

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About

This podcast is dedicated to providing you with the help you need to fix your lower back pain and sciatica. From specific diagnoses, myths and injuries to the low back, to strategies to recover, we're here to help get your Back In Shape. This podcast is an extension of the Back In Shape Program, an online back rehabilitation program that helps members from all over the world. Created by the founders of The Mayfair Clinic, a specialist back and neck pain clinic in central London and winner of the prestigious Queens Award For Enterprise Innovation In 2020.

Information

  • Creator
    Back In Shape
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    330
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Back In Shape
  • Show Website
    Back In Shape Podcast

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