BPL17: What Does a Chiropractor Do?
SHOW NOTES
More Podcast Episodes
What does a chiropractor do?
Nowadays it’s not just adjustments where the chiropractor cracks your back. The patient takes a much more active role in the process.
“The public stereotype of what the possibilities of someone in my profession can do – it’s pretty wrong”
We hear how his own experience of rehabilitation influences his professional practice. Sebastian specialises in helping sports people overcome injury.
We talk about anxiety and back pain. His new book I Will Beat Back Pain: Getting Into A Winning Mindset For Recovery is all about overcoming mental barriers to recovery.
Today’s Guest
Founder of Performance Place sports injury specialists, and author of I Will Beat Back Pain: Getting Into A Winning Mindset For Recovery, Dr Sebastian Gonzales.
If you click the above link and buy on Amazon I will (probably) make a small commission at no cost to you. Check back to later episodes for a chance to win a copy of I Will Beat Back Pain: Getting Into A Winning Mindset For Recovery.
Excerpts from the show
As well as finding out what does a chiropractor does, we cover a host of other topics.
Sebastian is passionate about his subject and you might find yourself looking at things a little differently
This is the first of 4 episodes with Dr. Sebastian.
Look out for a chance to win an audiobook copy of I Will Beat Back Pain: Getting Into A Winning Mindset For Recovery in a later episode.
What Does a Chiropractor Do?
- I’m a chiropractor by trade
- I try not to tell people that..the public stereotype of what the possibilities of someone in my profession can do – it’s pretty wrong
- If someone comes in, say, with a back issue. They have a pre-conceived notion of what will happen
- There’s a value, when people are experiencing what’s going on with their back, and they’re open to trying multiple types of things. They can just experience whether it’s productive or not
- Chiropractic nowadays is much different. It used to be ice, heat…adjustments; it wasn’t really a lot of active things
- Working with people; it’s really about what they believe to be helpful. Whether it is helpful or not is a different story
- There are a lot of different conditions…you can find a reset button.. or there’s a safety net
- A lot of times, when we go through the 1st examination…I’m looking for the safety net for them. Some way, that if they come in with a 6/10 pain, you can get them to a one…every single time
- Finding the reset is really important
An Effective Chiropractor for Back Pain
The second time Sebastian injured his back, the rehabilitation was much more effective. There was a combination of different methods and he had to train hard instead of avoiding activity.
Sebastian recorded the details of this successful approach and went on to develop his own practice from this foundation.
- (People) might have some beliefs of what helps out with their back. I’m not trying to disregard any of that. I’m just going to talk about what works well for me in my personal experience as well as patient care
- I moulded my practice around what worked for me
- Active Release Technique (ART) is a certain type of tissue work. It helped me a lot
- When I started my practice I was hellbent on doing ART tissue work…it’s quick and effective
- It was a little bit narrow minded of me in the beginning to think that it was all tissue work…the exposure to all those other movements and resistance was also extremely helpful
- When people have their back injury and their “weak back”, tissue work and passive therapies – icing, heating and stretching – they’re good to douse the fire. But they don’t make it so your body is resilient
- Everything is productive for 6 weeks, then you’ve got to change it
- If you want to change how the body is able to tolerate movements safely…you have to expose it to new things
On Stuart Mcgill Back Exercises
- If anyone’s having some back pain, McGill’s work is extremely valuable
- Most of the stuff I talk about is from Stuart McGill’s model
Sustainable Rehabilitation – Exercises That Are Enjoyable
- I think there are a lot of activities that promote the same thing in a different way
- I come from the medical aspect
- The breathing stuff comes from dynamic neuromuscular stabilisation
- There are all these methodologies…in rehab…but a lot of them come down to the same thing. If I was trying to teach someone a certain way to breathe, they might not accept that. With something like qigong it becomes a ritual
- When it becomes something that you enjoy, you can do it more sustainably
- What’s pushing you is not a fear of back pain coming back but, now, the enjoyment and the people and how you feel throughout the rest of the day. So there are these other external drivers
- It was very nice to be out in nature, and to do the rehab and enjoy it
Hi, I’m Iain Barker creator of Back Pain Liberation.
I got back pain young and it got worse over time. Like many others in this situation, I saw plenty of doctors and therapists – all to no avail.
In the end self-help worked best – it often does for bad backs. Now I train regularly, focus on what works, and don’t get back pain.
My goal is to share what I learned. To help you find a more effective way when treatment doesn’t hit the spot.
Anxiety and Back Pain
- Pain is a self-feeding fire. The more you’re in it, the bigger it gets and the harder it is to stop it
- If you reset every day, that’s what’s dousing it
On his own mental barrier to recovery
- Even though I knew everything to do, I couldn’t do it
- I call it the patient mentality – you are so close to the problem that you don’t know what to do
- Sometimes you need a guide
- I was 75% better within a week
Getting into the Recovery Mindset
- I wrote this (very comprehensive) manuscript and shared it with friends who had back pain. When I checked in a month later, not one of them had even opened it
- I thought there’s probably a mental barrier here
- I’m a strong believer in “You want it, you do it”
- (They needed) something to get them over the hump to try something
- The 1st time (in a back treatment program) it was thrust upon me without me knowing better- I just did what he said
- The second time I had a bit more thoughtfulness; I documented and recorded my rehab
The link between Back Pain and Depression
- They give up; it’s very depressing
- I’ve had back pain. It is depressing
Back Pain and Fear Avoidance Beliefs
Sebastian hesitated about returning to baseball after injuring his back for a second time
- I realised I was that person who was scared of playing again
- I hired a strength coach to help me out with it
- The first couple of games I was scared to death
- Throughout the season I was able to steal bases, turn on the ball…I could dive. It was no problem at all but it was a slow progression to get to that
- I needed guidance for sure; I couldn’t manage my own condition
- We get a couple of types of people
- The grinders (who push through the pain). They’re not afraid of it but it’s a hindrance to them. They wonder why it occurs
- Some people are afraid. They remember what it was like and they barely got over it. So they become kinda fragile. Not just physically but mentally too
- I have people come in sometimes who are very scared of weights (I don’t want to get big – I want to feel good)…I tell them “These 2 weights are just tools for me to teach you how to use things safely”…so I say “Pick ’em up!” The weights are like 2 heavy grocery bags.
- Sometimes they’re scared of it; there’s no need to be if it’s coached well
Back Pain from Baseball
- I was 15 or 16 when I first injured my back (playing baseball)
- When I went back to baseball after 4 months of doing no activity at all…first swing of the game I was down in pain…it had happened again
- They didn’t train me for my sport that I was going back to. It was kinda like setting me up for failure
- I did things different next time around
Common Back Pain Causes
- Most people get hurt with prolonged postures of standing or sitting
- It seems to be deadlifting or high-intensity training are really common ones
Thanks for Listening!
Was a chiropractor helpful for your back problem? To share your experience, leave a comment below.
To help out the show, click a link to iTunes, Stitcher or TuneIn:
- Subscribe.
- Leave an honest review.
Thanks to Dr Sebastian Gonzales for joining me this time and explaining how the chiropractic profession has evolved; as well as all the other good stuff he shared with us.
Best,
Iain
Find more episodes of the Back Pain Liberation Podcast here
![Spine Surgery [Don't Make a Terrible Mistake]](https://www.backpainliberation.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/bpl36-640sq.jpg)
BPL17: What Does a Chiropractor Do?
SHOW NOTES
What does a chiropractor do?
Nowadays it’s not just adjustments where the chiropractor cracks your back. The patient takes a much more active role in the process.
“The public stereotype of what the possibilities of someone in my profession can do – it’s pretty wrong”
We hear how his own experience of rehabilitation influences his professional practice. Sebastian specialises in helping sports people overcome injury.
We talk about anxiety and back pain. His new book I Will Beat Back Pain: Getting Into A Winning Mindset For Recovery is all about overcoming mental barriers to recovery.
Excerpts from the show
As well as finding out what does a chiropractor does, we cover a host of other topics.
Sebastian is passionate about his subject and you might find yourself looking at things a little differently
This is the first of 4 episodes with
Look out for a chance to win an audiobook copy of I Will Beat Back Pain: Getting Into A Winning Mindset For Recovery in a later episode.
Today’s Guest
Founder of Performance Place sports injury specialists, and author of I Will Beat Back Pain: Getting Into A Winning Mindset For Recovery, Dr Sebastian Gonzales.
If you click the above link and buy on Amazon I will (probably) make a small commission at no cost to you. Check back to later episodes for a chance to win a copy of I Will Beat Back Pain: Getting Into A Winning Mindset For Recovery.
More Podcast Episodes
What Does a Chiropractor Do?
- I’m a chiropractor by trade
- I try not to tell people that..the public stereotype of what the possibilities of someone in my profession can do – it’s pretty wrong
- If someone comes in, say, with a back issue. They have a pre-conceived notion of what will happen
- There’s a value, when people are experiencing what’s going on with their back, and they’re open to trying multiple types of things. They can just experience whether it’s productive or not
- Chiropractic nowadays is much different. It used to be ice, heat…adjustments; it wasn’t really a lot of active things
- Working with people; it’s really about what they believe to be helpful. Whether it is helpful or not is a different story
- There are a lot of different conditions…you can find a reset button.. or there’s a safety net
- A lot of times, when we go through the 1st examination…I’m looking for the safety net for them. Some way, that if they come in with a 6/10 pain, you can get them to a one…every single time
- Finding the reset is really important
An Effective Chiropractor for Back Pain
The second time Sebastian injured his back, the rehabilitation was much more effective. There was a combination of different methods and he had to train hard instead of avoiding activity.
Sebastian recorded the details of this successful approach and went on to develop his own practice from this foundation.
- (People) might have some beliefs of what helps out with their back. I’m not trying to disregard any of that. I’m just going to talk about what works well for me in my personal experience as well as patient care
- I moulded my practice around what worked for me
- Active Release Technique (ART) is a certain type of tissue work. It helped me a lot
- When I started my practice I was hellbent on doing ART tissue work…it’s quick and effective
- It was a little bit narrow minded of me in the beginning to think that it was all tissue work…the exposure to all those other movements and resistance was also extremely helpful
- When people have their back injury and their “weak back”, tissue work and passive therapies – icing, heating and stretching – they’re good to douse the fire. But they don’t make it so your body is resilient
- Everything is productive for 6 weeks, then you’ve got to change it
- If you want to change how the body is able to tolerate movements safely…you have to expose it to new things
On Stuart Mcgill Back Exercises
- If anyone’s having some back pain, McGill’s work is extremely valuable
- Most of the stuff I talk about is from Stuart McGill’s model
Sustainable Rehabilitation – Exercises That Are Enjoyable
- I think there are a lot of activities that promote the same thing in a different way
- I come from the medical aspect
- The breathing stuff comes from dynamic neuromuscular stabilisation
- There are all these methodologies…in rehab…but a lot of them come down to the same thing. If I was trying to teach someone a certain way to breathe, they might not accept that. With something like qigong it becomes a ritual
- When it becomes something that you enjoy, you can do it more sustainably
- What’s pushing you is not a fear of back pain coming back but, now, the enjoyment and the people and how you feel throughout the rest of the day. So there are these other external drivers
- It was very nice to be out in nature, and to do the rehab and enjoy it
Hi, I’m Iain Barker creator of Back Pain Liberation.
I got back pain young and it got worse over time. Like many others in this situation, I saw plenty of doctors and therapists – all to no avail.
In the end self-help worked best – it often does for bad backs. Now I train regularly, focus on what works, and don’t get back pain.
My goal is to share what I learned. To help you find a more effective way when treatment doesn’t hit the spot.
Anxiety and Back Pain
- Pain is a self-feeding fire. The more you’re in it, the bigger it gets and the harder it is to stop it
- If you reset every day, that’s what’s dousing it
On his own mental barrier to recovery
- Even though I knew everything to do, I couldn’t do it
- I call it the patient mentality – you are so close to the problem that you don’t know what to do
- Sometimes you need a guide
- I was 75% better within a week
Getting into the Recovery Mindset
- I wrote this (very comprehensive) manuscript and shared it with friends who had back pain. When I checked in a month later, not one of them had even opened it
- I thought there’s probably a mental barrier here
- I’m a strong believer in “You want it, you do it”
- (They needed) something to get them over the hump to try something
- The 1st time (in a back treatment program) it was thrust upon me without me knowing better- I just did what he said
- The second time I had a bit more thoughtfulness; I documented and recorded my rehab
The link between Back Pain and Depression
- They give up; it’s very depressing
- I’ve had back pain. It is depressing
Back Pain and Fear Avoidance Beliefs
Sebastian hesitated about returning to baseball after injuring his back for a second time
- I realised I was that person who was scared of playing again
- I hired a strength coach to help me out with it
- The first couple of games I was scared to death
- Throughout the season I was able to steal bases, turn on the ball…I could dive. It was no problem at all but it was a slow progression to get to that
- I needed guidance for sure; I couldn’t manage my own condition
- We get a couple of types of people
- The grinders (who push through the pain). They’re not afraid of it but it’s a hindrance to them. They wonder why it occurs
- Some people are afraid. They remember what it was like and they barely got over it. So they become kinda fragile. Not just physically but mentally too
- I have people come in sometimes who are very scared of weights (I don’t want to get big – I want to feel good)…I tell them “These 2 weights are just tools for me to teach you how to use things safely”…so I say “Pick ’em up!” The weights are like 2 heavy grocery bags.
- Sometimes they’re scared of it; there’s no need to be if it’s coached well
Back Pain from Baseball
- I was 15 or 16 when I first injured my back (playing baseball)
- When I went back to baseball after 4 months of doing no activity at all…first swing of the game I was down in pain…it had happened again
- They didn’t train me for my sport that I was going back to. It was kinda like setting me up for failure
- I did things different next time around
Common Back Pain Causes
- Most people get hurt with prolonged postures of standing or sitting
- It seems to be deadlifting or high-intensity training are really common ones
Thanks for Listening!
Was a chiropractor helpful for your back problem? To share your experience, leave a comment below.
To help out the show, click a link to iTunes, Stitcher or TuneIn:
- Subscribe.
- Leave an honest review.
Thanks to Dr Sebastian Gonzales for joining me this time and explaining how the chiropractic profession has evolved; as well as all the other good stuff he shared with us.
Best,
Iain
More Podcast Episodes
Thanks for letting us know your side of being a chiropractor. I had my back issue fixed by a chiropractor before. He was great and know what he does.
So pleased that it worked out for you Mikaila!