SHOW NOTES

Belly Breathing Benefits

Sebastian likens the torso to a beer keg. The internal pressure keeping the keg strong and in good shape.

He talks about the benfits of deep belly breathing vs chest breathing.

• Imagine two coke cans. I’m going to pop the top of one. The other one is going to be as it is. Which one can you stand on? … the one with the pressure in it … it’s just like a bike tire, it’s supportive
• So if you’re breathing really highly into your chest, then you deflate … what goes along with this, a lot of times is hollowing. So they’re kind of coupled together

You can use visualisation for your deep belly breathing technique

• So if you breathe deep into – although this is not possible – breathe into your hips. It’s just a lower centre of focus, or breathe into your flanks
• There’s what we call internal versus external cueing
• So the further the attention is, or the further the thing is away from your centre of direction, the better the response is out of the person
• That it’s better to say … break the yoga pants versus saying expand your belly

360°  belly breathing – essential core exercise

• 360°, in general, is what you want
• Breathing doesn’t mean a change of posture or position. It means breathing. And we’re just changing the direction of the breathing
• We’re trying to improve breathing into, I’ll say ‘belly region’
• Sometimes when you say belly, people expand their belly, like a beer belly, and I don’t want that either

I Will Beat Back Pain: Getting into a Winning Mindset for Recovery

Dr. Sebastian says that the most important aspect of recovering from back pain is your mindset.

People are more willing to believe a treatment will fix their problem than to get working themselves – with help from a trainer.

On a former patient who recovered from back problems

• And so she sees her colleagues … and they have back pain and she tries to tell them about MRIs and how they’re not always seeing the whole picture and how all you need to do is a handful of things and you’ll directly get better and you don’t need surgery all the time… And she cannot get them to do it
• And so the book is intended for cases just like that
• We all really want to help people but they don’t always take the solution
• And I’m sure they don’t realize it yet. And their intentions are good. But they’ve been fed misinformation. And they have a lot of fear
• it’s very normal to think, that when something hurts, ‘what is it and what needs to be fixed’. And usually when something’s fixed that means something’s damaged or broken. And it’s not the case a lot
• I want people to find the book intriguing enough to do something
• I want them to get one-on-one attention from someone who knows what they’re doing. And then they’re going to feel amazing, it’s going to be life-changing for them.

Back Pain Rehabilitation through Exercise

Sebastian refers to the hips as the engine of the body

• Well, I like to give them what they want and what they’ve asked for. And if they’re only asking for pain relief, I’ll educate them on the reasons why we should try the other things
• My responsibility is to educate them about a more responsible stopping point
• Most people if they just want to live a normal life and not even do athletics and not even run or any of that stuff like the marathons and so on they need to acquire the engine that’s just the simple fact of it
• If people are going to do things in a poor way, I have the responsibility to show them. And, as long as they’re paying attention, and they do it, they don’t need to be shown twice
• Most people can get through the entire process into loading, which is therapeutic for them, usually within about like, four or five times
• So learning the foundational stuff is really important because it cuts through all the time and we get to the nitty-gritty. I think everyone has to realize that, that is what’s intended, and you need to do your due diligence as well
• I think that a lot of us tend to forget about what other people are feeling around us

Biomechanics of the Spine

• If you guys have not read Stuart McGill’s stuff, he’s the leading expert in spine biomechanics like literally anywhere in the world
• He’s got so much research and he’s the nicest guy and he presents it in a very easy way to people. I’ve referred his book for a solution for people many times. That one’s called Back Mechanic in case you’re interested
• The McGill Big Three is like the foundation building – high reward, low risk, endurance based core activity

• His analogy is that  ‘I’m going to hand you a pound of butter in your hand, and I want you to hold it there.’ At some point your arms are going to get very tired and very painful. What’s the solution to get rid of this? And the answer is to take the butter away. Or,  instead of holding the butter up like a like a bicep curl, put the butter by your thigh and hold it like you’re holding a suitcase. It won’t hurt anymore. And there’s nothing wrong with the structure,  nothing wrong with the bicep. There’s nothing wrong with the elbow or the shoulder. There’s no MRI findings on that. It’s a simple take the load away, give it a break, give it a chance to recover. The pain will dissipate very quickly, right. So that’s basically the model that that I propose that people try first before they try other stuff

Back Pain Red Flags

• So there are visceral organs that can refer to the back. There are malignancies which can refer to the back. There’s benign tumors, which can refer to the back. I mean, shoot, it could be menstrual cramps. So there’s a lot of different reasons
• I know everyone’s kind of looking for a fix. Like a stretch or exercise. But really, from a healthcare perspective, our first thing is to rule out what we call red flags, or red flag conditions
• Everyone has to realize that that your due diligence as a human is take care of yourself first. And that just comes down to being responsible with ruling out things that are serious. And that doesn’t take too long. It’s a simple thing

Thanks for Listening!

What inspires you to get training and improve the health of your back? To share your experience, leave a comment below.

To help out the show, click a link to iTunes, Stitcher or TuneIn:

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Thanks to Dr Sebastian Gonzales for joining me this time and talking through the issues of trying to improve posture; as well as all the other good stuff he shared with us.

Best,

Iain

Find more episodes of the Back Pain Liberation Podcast here

Full Transcript BPL20

Iain Barker
So Myth number 11. poor posture while sitting has no effect on back pain.

Iain Barker
We do, it’s what I’m doing right now.

Iain Barker
Well, this is good, isn’t it? So how would you describe poor posture while sitting

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
I don’t know about that but – we have it. Yeah.

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
Yeah, military posture, shoulders pulled back and chest puffed out. I guess it looks alright. But, I think that ties into what you’re saying about getting upper back pain.

Sebastian Gonzales
Yeah, a lot of people that have back pain, slouching is going to bother them. So, it’s very natural to go into the other. But if you think of your spine like a coat hanger – bending in both directions aggressively and frequently. (I’ll put a disclaimer on this, this is a, this is a generic explanation, because you can bend your spine.) But at some point, the coat hanger starts to wear. And it gets it gets really tiring, with changing posture backwards, and forwards, usually forward is is painful, and they go backwards, and that’s painful, then they go forward again. And sometimes it’s progressive over the course of months. And, it’s very frustrating. So one of the easier things is, you just build that system there, you leave a keg there’s not going to go anywhere. It’s pretty solid, right? It’s true. So I would suggest build your supports, rather than just focus on the position all the time.

Iain Barker
Makes sense. So Myth number 12, the way you breathe has no effect on back pain. And that ties into the ‘keg’ system that you were talking about?

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
I read about this, in the book. 360 degree belly breathing.

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
Well, I read the term, 360 degree belly breathing …. but that is using the belt.

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
But you actually visualize, sorry to interrupt you, you visualize breathing all the way down to the hips.

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
Yeah, that’s interesting.

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
And can people visualize as well, breathing out towards the back, either side of the spine.

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
So I noticed that you said that in over nine years of practice. You’ve only referred one case for surgery?

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
No, it’s difficult

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
Yeah totally. And I think there’s also a bit of a disbelief. I’ve got this really bad pain can I really affect it by doing something simple, like doing some training in on a regular basis? They just find it hard to believe that there is not some kind of structural cause?

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
I’m interested Yeah, I don’t know this book. Obviously I’ve heard of Stuart McGill. People talk about the McGill Big Three.

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
And so the course – is that available on your website?

Sebastian Gonzales
It is. it’s under its under courses. But actually, it’s intended to be I think I wrote Part Two on it, because it’s intended for people to read the first one first, it’s like I said, it was an entire manual there, a lot of the foundational ideas are not repeated in that second part, because in theory, they already read them, you know.

Iain Barker
Okay, so can they get access to both of these courses on your website? If someone was interested in doing these courses, how would they go about enrolling ?

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
So yeah, as you say, some doctors are quite happy to have someone keep coming back. But that’s not your goal.

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
Sorry to interrupt you. This is a weightlifting, term? This is when you lift the weight up to shoulder height. Is this a clean?

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
Okay.

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
Okay. I guess there’s always more to learn.

So chapter nine, you talk about reasons for back and hip pain that are not from the muscular skeletal system. So I guess this is the kind of scary stuff which is rare but something that we kind of need to be aware of.

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
So, from a practical point of view, if someone’s got back pain, the first thing to do is go see a doctor and make sure it’s not some very scary condition. And once that’s been ruled out, then maybe you’re kind of looking at some kind of physical training rehabilitation program, is that right?

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
That makes total sense. And chapter 10 is called how my story ends. And I’ve just got a little excerpt from that where you say, ‘I hope this book has assisted you in getting into a healing mindset, practice telling yourself, I’m a back pain survivor.’

And that’s how I think of myself, actually. Yeah, exactly that – a back pain survivor, I think I’m always going to be prone to it, you know. Always need to be aware of it, always needs to try and keep my back healthy. But yeah, I’m a survivor. You know, I’ve, I’ve survived it.

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
well, really, that is the, the main point of this podcast. Yeah, that’s what it’s all about.

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
So we’ve come to the end of all the chapters in your book, we’ve been talking for over two hours!

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
It has. Yeah. I’m going to get a few episodes of this, because I’m not going to do a single podcast episode of two hours. So I’m going to split it up.

Before we go, you’ve got your website. What was the address again, for that?

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
Yeah. So I’ll put a link to your site. I saw I was looking at your site today, I saw that there were several social media icons. So I can I can link to all of those from the blog post as well. And your book … we talked about doing giveaway, didn’t we? And you mentioned that you’d be happy to give away three copies of the audio book. That’s right, wasn’t it?

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
I think that would be quite a good thing for someone to win. A nice audio book, yeah, they can listen to, when they’re in the car, or whatever it is they’re doing, I think that’d be great.

I didn’t have time to read your book in absolute detail, because it’s quite long. And it’s packed with really useful information. And it was interesting reading your personal story as well. Your personal experience about pain.

I know that you understand, because you’ve been through it, that kind of personal experience, I think, is quite an important. So yeah, it’s a good read. And I’m going to revisit it actually, at my leisure. Because, there was some good information and I enjoyed reading it. So I think the audio book, I think that would be a great prize for someone to win. So yeah, I think that’s fantastic.

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
I was going to ask you that. It’s your voice is it? Yeah, good-oh!

I was looking at Amazon today. And I saw that the book had a hundred percent five star reviews from I think it was 16 reviews. You must be pleased with that.

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
Well, quality not quantity, I guess. Of the reviews that you’ve got. Everyone’s given it a five star rating. Well, you can’t beat that can you?

Iain Barker
That certainly wasn’t my impression. I could tell that you had put an awful lot of work. And, you know, it’s no easy thing, writing a book. And I thought it was very well written, it reflected your experience and your knowledge. And, you know, it’s thought provoking. So, yeah, that was my experience,

Sebastian Gonzales
That’s all I can ask. I hear it’s an honor to get your first one star review. That means you’re actually a published author.

Iain Barker
Good for you. Fantastic. Yeah.

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
I don’t understand, you’ve got all those five star reviews on Amazon already.

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
Oh, sorry. I didn’t understand what you meant. Right? Okay.

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
Someone tells you that you really suck.

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
Okay. Well, good luck with that.

Right. I think we’ve kind of come to the end

Sebastian Gonzales

Iain Barker
My pleasure. Thanks for appearing as a guest on the Back Pain Liberation Podcast. 2 hours has gone by, I thought, quite quickly. There was no fluff in there. I think we covered a lot of great stuff. And I think this is going to be a great few episodes, I think are going to come from this.

Iain Barker
Okay. Let’s see what I can do about that to try and get some feedback. I’m going to think about that. Okay. Well, lovely talking to you, Sebastian. It’s been good.

Iain Barker
Yeah, we’ll sort out the details.

Iain Barker
Thank you. Appreciate it. All the best now. Cheers. Bye bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai