{"id":1489,"date":"2011-12-22T16:51:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-22T23:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/somatics.com\/wordpress\/back-spasms-the-inside-story-2\/"},"modified":"2011-12-22T16:51:00","modified_gmt":"2011-12-22T23:51:00","slug":"back-spasms-the-inside-story-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.somatics.com\/wordpress\/back-spasms-the-inside-story-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Back Spasms — The Inside Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back spasms catch us unawares<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n          so to speak.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut here\u2019s the odd thing:  when a back spasm<\/u> happens, it\u2019s most often been coming for a long time.<\/div>\n

\nThe Back Story of Most Back Pain<\/span><\/p>\n

Back during a period of prolonged high stress \u2014 maybe during an employment crisis or facing deadline after deadline<\/b> after deadline<\/b><\/i> \u2014 you got yourself used to driving yourself hard or used to being in a state of urgency.  Maybe you listen to too much news or talk radio and get “wound up”.  Maybe you stayed too long in a situation you really wanted to get out of, or maybe you put and kept yourself in uncomfortable positions, by sense of necessity, that you would rather have gotten out of, and got part-way used to that, while keeping going.  Or maybe you just \u201ctrained\u201d badly or trained on top of old injuries.  You\u2019re musclebound, whatever the story, with a spasm in your back. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s been coming for a long time, your back spasm \u2014 you\u2019ve been getting closer to the edge of cramp or spasm for a long time<\/i>.  You got so used to being tense and stiff that, one day, you pulled on that tenseness and stiffness and it pulled you right back, something like an internally generated whiplash action. <\/span><\/p>\n

What If It Was a Whiplash Incident?<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe you were<\/b> involved in an accident that yanked or jerked or jolted you a bit too much.<\/p>\n

Then, you tightened up suddenly, got prone to sudden yank-back, and you knew you were caught \u2014 even if, at first, you didn\u2019t realize it was a protective spasm you were feeling.<\/p>\n

A Back Spasm Shows Brain-Muscle Conditioning<\/span><\/p>\n

Caught in your own conditioning\u2013 think about that.  Your spasm is your conditioning.<\/p>\n

We all caught in our conditioning, to varying degrees and in different ways.  Had you thought of it like that, before?<\/p>\n

However, sometimes, it\u2019s \u201cjust enough\u201d (too much), and with just one more challenge we suddenly go hard-line, uptight, tense, caught in the grip of our own conditioning, in spasm, body and mind (two aspects of the same thing).  Think about it:  didn\u2019t your back spasm stop you in your tracks? mid-step?  It wasn\u2019t \u201ca back spasm<\/i>\u201c; it was a “you spasm<\/b><\/i>\u201c.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n

\nThe Problem with a “You Spasm”<\/span> <\/p>\n

Not enough reserve capacity, not enough tolerance for additional demand.  On edge, trying to be nice, perhaps.  Not much more capacity for stress, however.  Used up, or close to it, in the grip.<\/p>\n

The solution?<\/p>\n

Recover much of that reserve capacity by dispeling obsolete tension patterns.  Lose the excess tension.  Get back to normal.  Recover your reserve capacity.  Feel like a human being.  You may have forgotten what that feels like and you may not have known that you can do it, yourself.
\n
\n<\/span>
\nCommon Back Spasms are Simple<\/span><\/p>\n

“Simple When You Know How” <\/p>\n

Common Back Pain is a fairly simple condition to master.  It\u2019s just a primitive \u201cgo\u201d reaction (\u201cLandau Reaction<\/a>\u201c) turned on too hard and too long.  You\u2019re overheated; you\u2019re idling too high.  You can learn to turn this reflex (Landau Reaction) down and up again, temper it, recover a bunch of reserve capacity, flexibility and freedom of movement.  No more spasm, no more back pain, more reserve capacity, more movability.<\/p>\n

Back Spasms from Injury are More Complex, May Take More Doing to Clear Up<\/span><\/p>\n

Back pain from injury may consist of a number of overlying contraction patterns.  However, bending over or twisting and getting a spasm isn\u2019t an injury; it\u2019s a malfunction that falls under \u201cCommon Back Pain\u201d.  Recovering from a complicated injury isn\u2019t more difficult, particularly; it just takes more steps, some sorting out, and more doing, of course.<\/p>\n

The same principle applies, either way.<\/b><\/p>\n

Recover voluntary (deliberate) control of the muscular grip and let it relax, then deliberately use it freely and so reclaim it.  Strength, reserve capacity, free control.  Security.<\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

One Right Reason<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

That\u2019s one very good purpose of somatic education \u2014 to get people out of pain.  It\u2019s effective, it\u2019s faster than more well-known or popularized methods, and it brings durable benefits under all life conditions.<\/p>\n

Different — and More Like Yourself<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

A larger effect of somatic education is to train people to free themselves from the excessive grip of their conditioning; to re-acquaint people with what it feels like to feel fine;  so people feel different <\/b><\/i>and more like themselves<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Relief comes primarily from what the person does, secondarily from what someone else did with the person.  If you do sessions of this process, you contribute at least 50% to the change, moving between effort and non-effort (in clinical sessions), or more like 90% if you\u2019re working at a distance from me (Lawrence Gold) following recorded instructional material and taking distance-coaching<\/a>, as needed.<\/p>\n

Because the person is contributing energy, intention, and intelligence to the process, and because they\u2019re changing from within (if guided from out), the change is theirs<\/i> \u2014 theirs to maintain or theirs to re-create, if necessary.  More than that, it\u2019s faster<\/i> than by externally operating methods, whether scalpel, laser, or stretching device (“spinal decompression”), longer-lasting than manipulations or interventions of many kinds.  It\u2019s longer-lasting because it covers more of the bases and from the internal control center, the self, oneself, and faster because it works from the inside, out.<\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

MORE ON BACK PAIN, DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES<\/p>\n