For chronic low back pain, there is no quick fix.
Which is good news.
Good news as the “quick fix” fantasy must be dispelled, to achieve long overdue medical progress in treating chronic back pain.
For those who suffer from chronic back pain, the desire of a passive “fix me” quick fix, while not uncommon, ignores a component absolutely necessary to recovery:
Active participation by the patient in their healing.
Projecting the fantasy of a quick fix expectation upon a back pain doctor or physical therapist achieves the opposite of both “quick” and “fix” if the back pain sufferer is not also committed to investing in themselves, by investing the time to improving their body.
The powerful reality to achieve the “fix” is for the patient to be fully invested in their recovery.
Like that of an athlete with their coach, the patient’s relationship with their medical team remains important:
Overall, the coach–athlete relationship is…at the heart of achievement and the mastery of personal qualities such as leadership, determination, confidence and self-reliance. – Sophia Jowet for The British Psychological Society
Just as athletes training for the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics work hard to win a place on their teams, the chronic back pain sufferer must also actively invest time in improving their body to relieve chronic back pain.
[My coach] basically said that there is no shortcut to success. If you want to be good enough to be on the team you’ve got to work hard. That mentality has kept me going through my whole career. –Michael McKillop, Irish middle distance runner and Paralympic athlete
If a back pain sufferer, owning your power to return to and maintain good health means you are bringing a halt to the spiraling fear and worry that come from backache and potential disability.
When you no longer wait for the hope of someone to “fix me,” you take the all important first step to healing.
As McKillop says, there are no shortcuts to success and the work is time consuming. But the good news is the reality of pain freedom is achievable by most any sufferer committed to improving themselves with knowledgable “coaching” from their medical team over a period of 180 days.
As back pain expert Dr. Sean Wheeler encourages chronic back pain sufferers in Chapter 2 of his new book, UPRISE:
Don’t let [the reality that only you can do the strengthening] scare you, though – it should be empowering. Let’s not wait on the medical establishment to catch up. Let’s each and every one of us start the revolution now… More than a new plan for treating back pain…Tune Me is a revolution in how we think about, care for, and maintain our bodies.
While the medical establishment is in need of its own revolution in back pain treatment, for you a “revolution of one” can begin any time, with you taking control of your own back pain treatment with direction and support from knowledgeable medical assistance.
The revolution and your healing begins by embracing pain freedom reality with your active participation.
And banishing the passive quick fix fantasy.
