BPL12: Live Pain-Free with Lee Albert
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Live Pain-Free: Eliminate Chronic Pain without Drugs or Surgery.
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Lee Albert was a newly-qualified massage therapist when, over 30 years ago, a car accident left him suffering frequent migraine headaches. For 3 years he sought help from many doctors, therapists and healers – with no real progress.
Finally, Lee gave up on finding a cure and resigned himself to the situation; he would never live pain-free.
Two days after making this decision, something happened that would change his life forever.
A friend told him about a physical therapist “doing incredible work”. In Lee’s own words
“There’s this little secret in the Universe – when you’re really looking for an answer in your life really hard – the time you often find it is when you stop looking so darned hard”
Lee was willing to try yet another therapist. She seemed to get good results and was in high demand; there was a five-month wait for an appointment.
So after this long wait, came the examination and treatment, which Lee found to be……disappointing.
The gentle forms of therapy didn’t seem like they were going to help much.
During the following week, however, there was no migraine attack. More weeks passed and, to Lee’s surprise….nothing. He was pain-free.
Today’s Guest
Creator of Integrated Positional Therapy and author of Live Pain-free Eliminate Chronic Pain without Drugs or Surgery, Lee Albert
He was amazed. How had this gentle treatment, which it turned out was something called Positional Therapy, been so successful where everything else had failed?
He set out to learn all there was to know about the theory and practice of treating chronic pain conditions with Positional Therapy.
In time, Lee went on to develop his own system of Integrated Positional Therapy, whereby people could do the movements on themselves.
“These are the protocols that I’ve been using for 30 years and have proven to be very effective”
Lee explains how to use these protocols in his book Live Pain-free: Eliminate Chronic Pain without Drugs or Surgery.
Excerpts from the show
Book Giveaway
Click below for a chance to get one of 5 free copies of Eliminate Your Lower Back Pain, valued at $14.95.
This is a short and easy-to-use self-help book by today’s guest Lee Albert NMT.
Live Pain-free: Eliminate Chronic Pain without Drugs or Surgery
On his latest book, Live Pain-Free: Eliminate Chronic Pain without Drugs or Surgery:
- It’s written in a very simple, straightforward manner
- People can pick out their condition and do the right exercises
- It’s been getting great results – as long as people are diligent in doing their exercises
- People report that they are getting significant pain relief
- The long-term solution – that’s what I really go after in the book
Positional Therapy
Positional Therapy corrects muscle imbalances to help people live pain-free
- My focus of neuromuscular therapy is what we call Positional therapy
- Positional Therapy was developed in the 1950s by an osteopath named Lawrence Jones
- He said that back pain, and all sorts of chronic pain conditions, are due to the body being out of alignment
- This crookedness is caused by muscle imbalances
- I said “I don’t if this is a lifelong study – tell me where I need to go to learn it”
- Anybody can learn this
- I developed this into Integrated Positional Therapy
- The therapy I learned – you had to have a therapist do it to you. I modified everything so everybody could do these moves on themselves
- The key is getting the pelvis straight
Muscle Imbalances
- I have 30 years experience working with people with chronic pain, so I know the mechanisms behind it
- Some muscles become too short and contracted. This pulls the opposite muscles into an over-stretched, weak condition
- It’s that overstretched muscle where people feel the most pain
- Most people think that every tight muscle is short
- It’ll still feel good to stretch it because you are bringing blood and oxygen to it. But in the long run, that only helps with the symptom and makes the cause a little bit worse
- These imbalances cause nerve compressions and all sorts of different painful conditions
- By stretching short muscles and strengthening long muscles, the body will come into alignment. Hundreds of conditions will start to improve
- Yoga can fix these ailments but only if we pick the right poses, the right stretches for our body condition
Muscle Imbalance Causing Lower Back Pain
- Typically, people get treated for the symptoms of lower back pain
- I grew up in the 1950s. The number one complaint in America was lower back pain. Fast forward 60 years this is still the #1 complaint in the US. They are treating the symptoms and not addressing the cause
- The cause is on the front of the body….mostly the hip flexor muscles. When they get short and tight, they pull the pelvis into an anterior tilt. That causes compressions in the lower back
- Everbody’s treating that symptom; The disc, the nerve compression or whatever. Until you address the cause – the short hip flexors on the other side – things only improve temporarily
Muscle Imbalance Upper Back Pain
A common complaint is upper back muscle pain between the shoulder blades
- Most people have their shoulders rounded forward a little bit….your chest muscles get shorter. If you poke the chest muscles, they’ll be a little sore.
- If you poke the muscles between the shoulder blades, you’ll feel they’re very tight. These muscles are not short back there. They get pulled into an overstretched position, like an overstretched rubber band
- In my 30 years as a therapist, almost everyone is complaining of that tension in-between the shoulder blades. And, no matter how much you massage it….you can make it feel better but youcan’tmake it shorter…You actually need to strengthen it and stretch open the pecs. And there’s a very simple way to do that. Any time you’re standing, or even sitting up straight, squeeze your shoulder blades together gently. Do it for a minute.
Stretches for Back Pain
- It’s very important that people do these stretches gently
- People often stretch way to deeply
- By stretching moderately, 50% or 60% of what you’re capable of, you get a far better result
- Animals (e.g. cats) typically stretch ten to 15 times a day. Some humans never stretch at all
- If you’re not in touch with your body, you have to be taught how to stretch. An animal is still in touch with its body and instinctively knows how to stretch – we’ve lost that somewhere
Lifestyle Factors
Too much sitting and too much stress. Take steps to deal with these lifestyle factors; live pain-free and happy.
- Stress will make all your muscles even tighter
- Relaxation techniques….help you to relax and feel good and happy again
- We’re sitting more than ever and we’re more stressed than ever
Lee’s Personal Experience of Chronic Pain
After a bad car accident, Lee started to suffer regular migraine headaches.
- I went to doctors and physical therapists. All sorts of massage therapists and healers….it didn’t seem that any of them could give me something that would last
- I spent almost 3 years on this journey – seeking out healers that would help me
- It didn’t seem like anybody was going to be able to give me a long-term solution
- I started to think about pain management, because it looked like I was going to have to live with this the rest of my life
- It’s depressing for sure
Ageing, Posture and Back Pain
As you get older, aches and pains are not inevitable. With the right training, you can live pain-free.
- I am 67. I’m very straight. I have no aches and pains
- Most people are bent over crooked from a lifetime of slumping in their chair
- The solution is stretching open the front and strengthening the back – getting that body straight again
- There are some rare diseases that can bend a person over but, for most people, they don’t realise what they are doing to their bodies by slumping in the chair
- Even with conditions like arthritis and disc issues; When the body comes back into alignment….that’s when pain starts to disappear
- When your body is straight you have far more energy
Dehydration and Muscle Pain
- Muscles ache a lot more when they’re not hydrated well enough
- At least drink 4 or 5 glasses of water a day
Eliminate Your Low Back Pain – Book Giveaway
- This is a self-help book and it’s easy to do
- It’s not a quick fix. It does take 3-5 months to re-train your muscles to come into alignment
- By doing what I show you, your body will be much straighter
- That will help with back pain; it even helps with neck and shoulder pain
Thanks for Listening!
Do you have issues with muscle imbalances? Maybe you dealt with this problem in the past? What helped you to live pain-free? To share your experience:
- Leave a comment below.
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Thanks to Lee for joining me this time.
Best,
Iain
This website is for your information only. Consult your own doctor for medical advice.
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Thank you for this very interesting, informative, educational, and enlightening article. My question for Lee Albert is regarding Tendinitis. He writes about carpal tunnel, but not my current challenge. Does he have any helpful hints for me? Thank you.
Happy to help Rosemarie! I will pass your question on to Lee and ask him to respond here. Challenges are there to be met…
Hi, my teenager son has an outward bow in his calves which makes me believe the outer side is over stretched and the inner too tight. Is there a way to stet h out the inner side of the calf?
Hi Justine, Does this cause your son any problems? Is there pain or difficulty moving? If not then it’s probably nothing to worry about. We come in different shapes and sizes. Some people are a bit bow-legged. I do calf stretches but it’s kind of hard to describe without seeing. You can check out 7 Great Calf Stretches for Tight Muscles to get some ideas. (I have no affiliation to this site).