"You have to do the work." This statement can frequently be heard coming out of my mouth. At home. In our office. On the soccer field. Sitting at the table reviewing for a test. The statement applies to so many different aspects of our lives.
On Threads this week Yung Pueblo, a well-known author and speaker, wrote
"Have the confidence that what is hard now will be easy in the future."
This statement ties in nicely with what I have been saying for years. If you want to make what seems hard now feel easy then you have to do the work to make it that way. We are not talking about just jumping through the hoops to check a box, we are talking about taking the time to do things the right way. That focused effort is where improvement lies. That focused effort is where change happens.
Let's look at this quote through the lens of a patient with lower back pain. How many of us, while dealing with an acute episode of lower back pain, feel like we will never be able to tie our shoes again? How many think that they will never be able to stand up after sitting on the couch without pain? We often think that because things are hard to do right now, that things will always be that way. That could not be farther from the truth. If you take the time to get some treatment and do your rehab movements with focus and intent, then you will see the changes that you seek. If you continue to do what you have always done, then you will never see the change that you are looking for.
In our office, the manual therapy that we do is a very big part of what we do to help patients, particularly in terms of short-term pain relief, but the most important role that we play for our patients is to teach them the things that they can do outside of our office to treat their own symptoms.
Once they have learned what they need to do, all that we ask them to do is to
DO THE WORK!
