24 Motion is Great Joint Lotion - Dr. Lou Fierro

The InForm Fitness Podcast

You might recall in our last episode, Adam shared the very intimate details of his lifelong struggle with lower back pain and how he’s conquering it by combing slow motion, high-intensity strength training with a positive attitude.

Here in episode 24, we get into some of the psychological aspects of a negative diagnosis, such as a lower back problem, and how that diagnosis alone can prolong an illness or injury.

Conversely, we’ll share some interesting data that supports the notion that a simple attitude adjustment can change the course of your rehabilitation towards a faster recovery.

Dr. Louis Fierro who is a chiropractor and works with the InForm Fitness Active Rehabilitation program joins Adam Zickerman to offer up his suggestions and solutions for those experiencing back pain.

Below is a link to the book Adam mentioned in this episode: Foundation: Redefine You Core, Conquer Back Pain, and Move with Confidence: Below is a link to the article Adam mentioned in this episode:

http://bit.ly/FoundationRedefineYourCore

A Rational Approach to the Treatment of Low Back Pain by Brian W. Nelson, MD http://www.medxonline.com/pdf/rationalapproachtotreatment.pdf

Don’t forget Adam's Zickerman’s book, Power of 10: The Once-a-Week Slow Motion Fitness Revolution. You can purchase Adam's book in Amazon by clicking here: http://bit.ly/ThePowerofTen

To find an Inform Fitness location nearest you to give this workout a try, please visit www.InformFitness.com. At the time of this recording we have locations in Manhattan, Port Washington, Denville, Burbank, Boulder, Leesburg and Resten.

If you'd like to ask Adam, Mike or Sheila a question or have a comment regarding the Power of 10. Send us an email or record a voice memo on your phone and send it to [e-mail].

Transcription to this episode is below:

Motion is Great Joint Lotion

Louis: People get diagnosed, and then they go into this sick syndrome if you will as Adam described and their anxiety levels go through the roof. They’re told to take [Inaudible] and medication and immobilize, rest, don’t actively engage and really here at InForm Fitness, it’s the opposite. The patients are clients with the clients and taught to enthusiastically actively engage in not only an exercise program of high-intensity, but a healthy lifestyle.

Tim: InForm Nation, good to have you back with us here on the InForm Nation podcast. 20 minutes with New York Times bestselling author, Adam Zickerman, and friends. I’m Tim Edwards with the InBound Podcasting Network and a client of InForm Fitness. You just heard the voice of Dr. Louis Fierro, he’s a chiropractor who works with Adam in the InForm Fitness Active Rehabilitation program. Now in this episode, Dr. Lou as he’s affectionally called, will offer up his suggestions and solutions for those experiencing back pain, much like Adam has. You might recall on the last episode, Adam shared the very intimate details of his lifelong struggle with lower back pain, and how he’s conquering it by combing slow motion, high-intensity strength training with his attitude. Here on episode 24, we get into some of the psychological aspects of a negative diagnoses such as a back problem, and how that alone can prolong an illness or injury. Conversely, we’ll share some interesting data that supports the notion that a simple attitude adjustment can change the course of your rehabilitation towards a faster recovery. Joined as always by Sheila Melody, the co-owner and general manager of the Burbank location, and Mike Rogers, the general manager of the Manhattan location. Here is the founder of InForm Fitness, Adam Zickerman.

Adam: I read this article a couple of years ago which really resonated with me, written by some doctors that treat lower back problems, non-surgically, the way we’re actually doing it here and the way we recommend people do it, but it’s not just a physical program of exercise that he was talking about. There was another aspect about people getting better, and that was the mental side of it which I found really interesting. For years and years and years, people kept telling me you’ve got to do something about your back. Every so often you’re getting these spasms, you’ve got to get some MRIs and some interventions, like surgical type of interventions. At the very least, get injections into the facets of your spine, all these techniques that I was very resistant to because in my mind, my back problem was a temporary thing that I had to solve. I didn’t really believe that I had a back problem, I thought that there were some muscular things that weren’t being dealt with and putting me into spasm, it wasn’t a structural thing with my back, I was convinced of that, and therefore I never accepted the fact that I was somebody with back problems. Obviously when I had a spasm I had to accept the fact that I had a back problem, but the chronic pain that came and went from a one to a four, back to a one, I was just saying I need to do something in a nonsurgical way, I just haven’t figured it out yet, and then the article talked about that. He was saying that a lot of patients, they fall into this sick role when they’re told they have a back problem and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and now they have a back problem, and they just accept the fact that they have this back problem, and there’s a huge psychological component to this. I realized that one of the reasons why I wasn’t debilitated long term is because I never accepted the fact that I had this back problem and it’s because of that nonacceptance if you will that I am where I am right now, but my attitude towards this whole thing is what I’m saying is what got me through this and there are a lot of people that kind of feel when they have a back problem, that’s it and you rely on these surgical methodologies because there’s no other way to fix it. Even though they have MRIs that are less remarkable than mine, so Dr. Lou Fierro, chiropractor that works out of our studio here in Manhattan and is involved in our active rehabilitation program and uses some of our equipment to help patients, is here with us today and I want him to talk about this idea that people play this sick role when all of a sudden they’re told by a doctor that they have a back problem. Do you find that to be true?

Lou: Absolutely, and you shared this article with me several months ago, and I thought the title said a lot [Inaudible: 00:05:10].

Adam: Brian Nelson, exactly.

Lou: A rational approach to the treatment of lower back pain, and after I read it, I said this is really a proactive approach and that’s the model we’ve always taken. Whether we had an elite level athlete, a professional athlete, a weekend warrior, the de-conditioned mother that’s caring for kids that have so much anxiety when they’re given an MRI and shown the results of a herniation, and the reality is if we took 100% of the population and gave them an MRI, specifically in the lumbar region, about 82% studies show, there would some shape or form of a degenerative change or a herniation between the ages of 22 and 65. Only about 30% of that population has a subjective complaint to follow and mirror that objective finding, so people get diagnosed and then they get into this sick syndrome, if you will as Adam described, and their anxiety levels go through the roof. They’re told take [Inaudible: 00:06:02], take medication, immobilize...