One problem I dealt with for decades, and I know is a source of frustration for many of my clients, is how to know what to do for one’s physical health given the overwhelming and conflicting number of options available on the internet and social media. Of course I can’t give you a perfect guide to figuring out what’s right for you individually, but I can help explain why some of this confusion arises, and I hope that will give you insight in figuring out your own path.
Misinformation and Bias in the Health Industry
Let’s face it--Some people are just liars or severely misinformed and don’t know what they’re talking about. Many in health & wellness do decent work themselves, but still feel a need to bash anything they see as competition. I wrote about this recently in a blog post about misinformation on yoga and stretching. This was inspired by an Instagram post from Functional Patterns (FP) that was just flat-out full of misinformation. And they still make similarly terrible posts all the time! I actually think FP is likely beneficial, though I haven’t tried it myself.
Overselling
A lot of health influencers try to portray themselves as having discovered some secret about the body, and they’re here to let you in on it. FP is a good example here again. They talk about 4 essential human movements: standing, walking, running, and throwing. Sure, those are good things to do. Yet, is it a helpful program because they’ve discovered the 4 essential human movements? Well, no. It’s mostly because it’s exercise. It turns out exercise is good for you, and if you do it regularly, you’ll be healthier. It’s funny that they critique squats and deadlifts as being rigid. Any time you sit down or stand up, you’re squatting. Any time you pick something up off the ground, you’re deadlifting. These are natural, healthy movement patterns.
Ida Rolf may have done some overselling herself, and I appreciate the Rolf Institute treats her as a seminal figure, not as an infallible deity. She was definitely influenced by traditional osteopathy and yoga. She wasn’t the first person to hone in on fascia, but it is wild to me how much I see experts talking about fascia as some new health buzzword, yet largely saying the same as she did sixty years ago.
Oversimplification
Unfortunately, the marketing side of pain relief and physical health doesn’t lend itself well to nuance. People searching online have a problem, they’re searching for answers to the problem, they want to see or hear their problem brought up, followed by a definite, actionable solution. With the information overload we have, and concomitant lack of attentional capacities, businesses usually only have a few seconds to say the right thing to get someone interested in learning more about one’s ideas or strategies. That can leave honest practitioners struggling to find the right balance between being informative and being simple and direct.
Chronic pain relief is complex—two people with the same symptoms may have different causes for their discomfort. However, what I’ll commonly see is a claim to the effect of, “If you have pain A, it’s because of X.” Well...maybe! It may be true it’s because of X. It may even be true that pain A is caused by X 80% of the time, but there are very few claims for which this can always be true. Pain is a peculiar phenomenon, and it can’t always be tied to physical damage. Read more about pain science here.
You may have knee pain because of direct damage that was done to it. You may have knee pain because of biopsychosocial factors (e.g., stress) contributing to your issues. You may have knee pain because your hips and feet don’t move well. For instance, if you aren’t hinging and loading your hips when bending or squatting or picking something up from the floor, that puts more stress on your knees and spine. Or, what’s even more likely is that your pain has a number of factors contributing to it. On a recent podcast with Andrew Huberman, he repeatedly asked low back pain expert Stuart McGill to give some advice to back pain sufferers about what they can do. However, Dr. McGill routinely refused to do so. I’m sure this can be frustrating for listeners, but I understand where he’s coming from because he doesn’t want to give advice that doesn’t apply since he can’t evaluate you specifically to understand your pain. McGill famously does very long evaluations on new clients, upwards of 3 hours, to find as specifically as possible what’s driving a client’s pain.
Many Roads Lead to Relief
Just because one exercise, stretch, medical procedure worked for you doesn’t mean it was the only thing that could have helped you. Furthermore, just because it worked for you, doesn’t mean it will work for everyone else. For some pain A, it may be the case that only X and Y would help you, but only Y and Z would help someone else. Again, pain is a tricky thing. It’s the result of a whole mess of physical and emotional factors. There are a million different exercise programs, types of yoga or stretching, or approaches to bodywork and manual therapy, from deep tissue massage to structural integration. I don’t claim that everyone needs Rolfing Structural Integration or that only Rolfing can fix your problems. Some people find relief through deep tissue massage or myofascial release, while others benefit from movement-based approaches. Do I think there are particular issues that can be resolved or alleviated better or faster with Rolfing for most people? Of course, but I’m not dogmatic in thinking that no other approach could work for you.
There Is No ONE Thing That Your Body Needs
A lot of people get trapped into thinking their body must look a certain way, but it’s vital to realize that the human body is highly adaptable. Your body should be capable of any normal movements, some of which work opposite of one another. Bending forward isn’t an unhealthy movement in and of itself, nor is bending backwards. It may very well be the case that you shouldn’t do certain movements at certain times, but that doesn’t mean those movements are bad for you. For example, if you’ve had a low back disc herniation, and bending forward causes pain, that doesn’t mean forward-bending is a bad thing, but it may be something you should avoid temporarily. Chronic low back pain led me to avoid forward-bending for a long time. I wrote about reclaiming forward-bending without pain here.
You Can Have Too Much of a Good Thing
Movements and postures aren’t bad in and of themselves. What’s bad is when you get fixed into certain postures and become limited in performing other movements or postures. For example, someone with hyperkyphosis (exaggerated curve in upper/mid back) that can’t extend (straighten) is more likely to experience pain in the back, shoulders, or neck, than someone who has a large curve but more adaptability to move into extension. At the very least, their ability to perform basic movements like an overhead press will be diminished.
Being able to crane your neck or shrug your shoulders is not only fine but something you want the ability to do. You just don’t want to live in those positions such that you’re poorly adapted to getting out of them. I used to live in a slouched position. I’d hook my shoulder blades onto the tops of chairs in school and sink into them. I had scapular winging and it definitely wasn’t healthy for me. This led to difficulty engaging other muscles, namely the lats and serratus anterior.
You don’t always need to sit up straight, but it shouldn’t feel exhausting to sit upright. Does your low back fatigue quickly if you sit upright? Well, that could be a problem. Though you should try all kinds of positions, it’s generally better to spend more time in a more neutral spinal curvature.
Individual Variation Knows No Bounds
There may be movements or treatments that work for most everyone except you. How you respond to different treatments may depend on your own body shape, personality, and personal history, which can be difficult to identify for practitioners and patients/clients alike. Even physically, there is an enormous amount of individual variation, and I believe this is underappreciated by many health care professionals. I read about such findings all the time. Some may be more commonly known, such as differing body types that make one more likely to excel in certain sports (e.g., swimmers with wide shoulders and narrow hips). Something more obscure, but that I just learned yesterday, is that only about half of all people have a spinoglenoid ligament. The list is vast.
Many of these variations aren’t inherently harmful, but they can be, especially combined with certain habits and movements that don’t work well for you. Furthermore, these pecularities may go unknown until they’ve already reached a point where they contribute to pain. For example, I have a significant leg length difference. My right leg is longer than my left by 15mm, over half an inch, which is quite significant. I also have flat feet and my 2nd toes are longer than my big toes. These aren’t the only reasons I’ve had issues with my back and knees, but they were surely major contributors. I didn’t find out I had a length difference until I was about 35, when I got full-length X-rays of my legs. Complicating matters is that going about dealing with that difference isn’t the same for everyone. For a long time, heel and foot lifts actually exacerbated my pain. Without going into detail, I’ve gotten more adaptability in my system so that some lift doesn’t cause me pain and instead helps me feel more balanced.
We Don’t Have All the Answers
Despite so many on social media and elsewhere claiming they have THE answer for you, we don’t have everything figured out. Bodies can be insanely complicated. When you dig further and further into the details of how bodies work, things get more complicated, not less. You see that more elements (e.g., hormones, nervous system, genetic conditions) are relevant, not fewer. You end up with more questions and fewer definitive answers. Greg Lehman has said, “If you’re not feeling inadequate (as a practitioner), you’re not smart enough.” We’re always learning, individually and collectively, and the more we learn, the more complicated things can be. We used to think neurons don’t renew, but they do. People used to think fascia was an inert packing material, but it certainly is not.
Being a Rolfer is a lot like being a teacher, which I was for years. There are always tradeoffs between simplicity and specificity. How do I convey what’s necessary without overloading someone with information or oversimplifying their issue? I’m always trying to evaluate how my words and actions will reach clients. Some clients are more informed than others. People vary in how open to change they are. Even if I want to give the same treatment and recommend the same exercise for two different clients, I may have to vary how I communicate that with them. Some people need their claims validated. I’ve had many people with real problems dismissed by doctors or others. On the other hand, some people need to be reassured that they’re fine, that their bodies aren’t broken.
Conclusion
You may have noticed I’ve given little concrete information to help you and any particular pains or issues you have. But, as you can see from what I’ve written, there’s rarely one simple fix that works for nearly everyone. You have to find what works for you. Be wary of people overselling their products or services as cure-alls. Be skeptical, but also be patient and open-minded about different approaches. Maintaining and improving your health is a lifelong endeavor. Just because a health care professional doesn’t have all the answers doesn’t mean they’re inadequate. No one has all the answers, and you should be skeptical of anyone who claims to. Even in your own life, what worked in the past may not work now. We evolve as people, as personalities, and we’re always growing, changing, and aging. As the Buddha taught, there is no permanence. There is only change, anicca. Enjoy the ride while you can.
If you're feeling stuck in the sea of health advice, working with someone who understands nuance—rather than selling a one-size-fits-all approach—can be a light bulb moment. One thing I’ve always valued is my ability to see things in shades of gray. I’m not a dogmatic person who’s set on my way or the highway. If you're looking for an approach more tailored to you, I’d love to help you make sense of what’s going on in your body and find a path forward. You can book a session here.
James Tremblay is a Certified Rolfer® and Licensed Massage Therapist based in Farmington, Michigan, serving Oakland County and beyond.
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