#65 End Chronic Pain on the Road with Butch Phelps

Episode Transcript
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Brian Wilson (00:10):
Hey Drivers, welcome back to Enjoying Life.
Otr, this is Brian Wilson, yourroadie and guide on the side.
You know that stiffness that weall get after you first climb
out of the truck.
I know, after all the yearsI've been out here, mine seems
to be getting worse and worse bythe day the ache right between
your shoulders after you sit forsix or eight hours behind the

(00:30):
wheel.
I've had to make some emergencyvisits to my local chiropractor
the last month or so.
That's why I'm telling youtoday I'm really excited about
our guest.
We're talking with Butch Phelpsfrom the Muscle Repair Shop and
he's about to share somegame-changing techniques that
could finally help us get relieffrom those nagging aches and

(00:53):
pains.
I've always thought, yeah, youknow, that might just be all
part of the job, and it reallyis, believe me, but the great
part about it is is now we haveoptions.
These are solutions that we canactually use while we're out on
the road.
If you struggle with chronicpain, you're really going to

(01:14):
enjoy this show.
Let's get into it.

Cindy Tunstall (01:19):
Welcome back to Enjoying Life OTR.
My name is Cindy Tunstall andI'm your host, and we have a
fantastic episode for you today.
Can you even imagine waking uppain-free every morning and
ready to do whatever you want,with no limitations at your body
, your back, your arms, yourhips, your shoulder?
That chronic pain that you'vebeen living with is not there.

(01:41):
You just wake up and you'reready to start the day.
Well, that sounds like a dreamcome true for me, and I can't
wait for you to meet our guesttoday.
His name is Butch Phelps fromthe Muscle Repair Shop, and he's
going to talk to us aboutchronic pain.
He's tapped into this techniquethat we can do even while we're
over the road and relieve someof that chronic pain that we've

(02:04):
been living with.
Welcome to the show, butch.

Butch Phelps (02:08):
Thank you.
Thank you, I'm glad you have meon your show today.

Well, I'm very excited, even personally, to
hear the techniques and thingsthat you have to offer and I'm
so grateful that you're willingto come on and you know help
drivers, because a lot of us outthere are kind of struggling
with some chronic issues and weneed some help.
Before we get into the nuts andbolts of things, can you give
our audience a little summaryabout what you are and maybe

(02:35):
what you aren't?

Absolutely, cindy.
Not a problem at all.
I am a licensed neuromuscularmassage therapist.
My focus is on neuromuscular aswell as sports massage.
I went into it initially andwe'll get into that in a little
bit but I went into it initiallyto do massage because it was
easier on my body to do massage,I thought at the time.

(02:58):
But then I branched in and Istarted studying muscles at a
much deeper level.
I went back to school and got adegree in aging sciences
because I wanted to study, notonly from the muscle standpoint,
but from the emotional as wellas the physical standpoint, how
we age from 30 to death.
So I got a degree in 2018 inaging sciences, and so what that

(03:21):
did was it helped me understandthat the aging process whether
you're 30 years old going on 31or you're 60 years old going on
62, the whole thing of the agingprocess is there's an emotional
side and there's also aphysical side.
Well, of all the systems in thebody, the muscles actually tie

(03:45):
both of those in together, andwe'll get deeper into that later
in the show.
What I'm not is I'm not aphysician, so, yes, I'm not
gonna be called dr Butch oranything like that.
What I do have is the experienceof not only learning about the
muscles themselves, but actuallythe things that I've had to
deal with too.
I've also been, in my past, atruck driver.
I drove a cement truck for notonly just delivering concrete to

(04:10):
job sites, but I also droveover-the-road trucks where we
went and picked up the drycement and brought it back to
the plant.
So I can certainly relate tositting behind the wheel of a
truck, the lifting, the loadingof things, and so forth.
Most people, when they think oftruck drivers, they think of
you just sitting behind thewheel of a truck, the lifting,
the loading of things, and soforth.
That must be what I think oftruck drivers.
I think of you just sittingbehind a wheel.
But there's so much more to thejob than just that, and so when

(04:31):
I look at jobs, I look at jobsbased on what activities you're
doing, and I try to designprograms to help you combat that
.

Okay, butch, I was excited to have you on the
show before.
I knew that you used to be atruck driver, so now I'm like
really excited you get it.

Exactly, exactly.
One of the first trucks I drove, of course, being a new kid and
I was 21, 22 years old was areally old white concrete truck
and it was like you start thisthing up and the engine would
fire off, the whole truck wouldjust start rattling.
There was no AC concrete truckand it was like you start this
thing up and the engine wouldfire off, the whole truck would
just start rattling.
There was no ac.
There was.
I mean, this was primitivestuff, you know, and when I got

(05:11):
to move up the trucks likekenworths and freight liners, it
was like I thought I was inheaven at that point, luxury
riding exactly exactly that'sawesome.

Well, tell me a little bit about your history,
about getting into this type ofwork.
Like I'm curious, like why didthis even stir in you as an
issue that you wanted to tackle?
Like why did this becomeimportant to you?

Yeah, that's an awesome question because I
didn't get into this reallyuntil I was about 40 years old.
I had been in corporate America, like I said, I'd done the
truck driving in my 20s, I'dworked on construction sites in
my early 20s and mid-20s and Igot into corporate America and
what happened was I got toalmost like age 39, 40, and it

(05:55):
was time to just move out ofthat.
I was no longer being fulfilledby it and leading up to that,
at age 36, I actually gainedabout 100 and some pounds of
weight.
I weighed like 315 pounds.
I'm like 6'4".
Some people say, well, as tallas you are, you didn't really
look that big.
When I look at pictures, I wasreally that big.
I was fortunate to meet aphysician who taught me how to

(06:20):
lose the weight and also keepthe weight off.
I've been able to do that for20 of over 20 years and I lost
like 135 pounds.
So as I was losing the weight,I started working out, really
trying to get my body back intoshape.
So between 37 38, as I waslosing the weight, I really
started working out in the gym.
But by the time I got to 40 Iwould have back pain so bad that

(06:42):
when I'd crawl out of my car Iwould literally crawl out of my
car on my hand and then turnaround and pull myself up by the
door handle because I justcouldn't stand up straight.
I'd go to meetings and justpray to God that they didn't
have to sit down, becausegetting back up was about a
pretty sight.
And that's what led me to getinto massage, because I thought,
well, I could do the massageand it wasn't that taxing on my

(07:02):
body.
As I thought the funny thing waswas when I got into the massage
school and started doing themassage.
It was a strange time because Ifelt like and I used to say to
my wife I know things.
I don't know how I know things,but I did.
And I started getting mentorscoming into my life Not that I
was out looking for them, butthey showed up in my life.

(07:24):
Two were neurosurgeons it was akinesiologist, a chiropractor
and a pt and they startedbringing me pieces of the puzzle
of how the muscle system works.
The one neurosurgeon, who wasinto dementia, started talking
about the emotional side ofmuscles and that really clicked
in because nobody else wastalking about that.
And when I started to see thatthere was an emotional side to

(07:47):
those muscles.
And how do you let it go?
What I learned was that as anathlete in high school, all the
things I was taught aboutstretching and even massage was
not totally correct.
There were some missing piecesthere and I started putting
these pieces together and thenwithin a couple of years my pain
had just totally evaporated.
It was going down, down, downand within a couple of years it

(08:09):
totally evaporated.
So at age 64, almost 65 today Iwake up with no pain where at
age 40, I was a lot stiffer anda lot more filled with pain pain
.
So the netting should be overthe last 20 years to really
start studying the human bodyfrom a movement standpoint, to
start seeing that the commonaches and pains we have low back

(08:30):
pain, mid back pain, neck andshoulder pain everybody goes to
the back side to start treatingit.
But when you start reallystudying the movement of the
body, what you understand isthat the front side, the outside
chest muscles, the muscles onthe front of your hips, the
front of your thighs actuallycauses the pain on the back side
.
And so just by working on theback side was very futile at

(08:52):
that point.

So, like, if I'm having back pain, my initial
response, even right now, I'mputting my hands on my lower
back, I want to massage and workout that spot where the pain is
.
So what are you proposing thatwould be different?
Like just to use lower backpain as an example, because I
think that's a common issue fordrivers.

That's the number one reason people go to doctors
every day.
So you're sitting behind thewheel of a truck.
So as you're sitting there, themuscles on the front of your
thighs and muscles on the frontof your hips, your abdominal
muscles, are more into ashortened state.
Now your muscles aren't reallyshortening and lengthening,
because that's when I think ofstretching.
I think I'm going to pull themuscles out like I'm pulling

(09:33):
Taffy.
But what happens is, as you'resitting there, especially for
long periods of time, thosemuscles get tighter and into
more of a shortened state.
Shorten the state.
Well, when you start to stand up, getting out of the truck, what
happens is that, becausethey're in that tight state, the
pelvis itself tilts slightlyforward, which increases the
compression in the lower part ofyour back.

(09:53):
Now the pain will show up inthe back.
Now, the reason for that isthat we all want to stand up
straight.
Nobody wants to walk outhunched over.
So we tighten the muscles onthe back side to literally pull
against the muscles on the frontside to get us to stand up
straight.
Well, what happens is thatthose muscles on the back side
fatigue out and and tighten evenmore, and that compression then

(10:16):
compresses all nerves in theback, compresses on the disc in
your back, and that can lead tothings like bulging discs,
punched nerves and herniateddiscs.
And what most people, includingmost professionals, don't see is
that it began on the front side, and so learning how to like in
the morning, when you first getup, or in the evening when you,

(10:37):
before you go to bed I mean youcan do these laying in your bed
, laying on your side, and thenstretching out the front of your
quadriceps or the front of yourthighs and we're getting down
on one knee and stretching thefront of your hips can take a
lot of pressure off your back,and the fun part about that is
that, in following thetechniques that I've helped

(10:58):
develop here, is that you can dothat and don't need any
equipment.
So if you're sleeping in the cabof your truck, you can do it in
your bed before you come out.
If you're standing on theoutside, you can get down on one
knee next to your truck andstretch the front of your hips
out, and that will take a lot ofpressure off your back.
Now, the reason I alwayssuggest doing it first thing in

(11:19):
the morning, last thing in theday, is that everything you
think, feel and do will tightenyour muscles.
So even if you're sleeping andyou have a dream, or rolling
around in bed, you're stilltightening your muscles even
though you were sleeping.
So it gives you a good start tothe day.
And then, before you go to bedat night, do that at night.
It'll give you a good night'ssleep to get ready for the next
day.

Yeah, I think we all can relate to that waking
up and still feeling thatstiffness.
And we should be waking upfeeling where, you know, our
muscles have been restingovernight but we're still waking
up with the same tension thatwe went to sleep with.
So that's very interesting.
Okay, so you talked about lowerback pain.
Let's just talk about somecommon issues.

(12:00):
I mean, I'll just use my ownbody as an example.
Okay, I carry a lot of stiffnessin my shoulders and pain and I,
you know you talked about theemotional side of muscles.
I think we all have a placewhere we feel it when we're
feeling tense and um, or we'refeeling stressed.
You know driving is stressful,even on our best days.
You know just having to behyper-focused for 11 hours on

(12:22):
safety and watching out foreverything, and you know
planning our trip and all ofthat thing.
So a lot of things going onaround, a lot of decision
fatigue, a lot of stress.
Even on the best days, it'sstressful.
So I carry that stress in myshoulders and my neck and what's
happening in my body when andI'm curious about when you said
the emotional side of musclescause, I immediately thought of

(12:44):
stress and so I thought.
I thought, yeah, I could seewhere there's a link there.

Yeah well, I mean, you think about it from the
truck driver's perspective,since most of your audience are
truck drivers.
It's like, you know, you'regoing down the road, you're
driving a rig that weighs tonsof pounds of weight and it's
like at any moment somebody canpull out in front of you,
someone can change that's infront you, and those trucks
don't stop as quick as our carsthat we drive every day, and

(13:09):
it's like so you're under thatpressure all the time.
So when you think about againsetting mind the wheel of the
truck, your hands are on thesteering wheel.
So a couple of things arehappening here.
As you get your hands on thesteering wheel and you're
gripping the steering wheel,you're tightening the muscles in
your forearms, but you're alsotightening the muscles on the
outside of your chest.
Here there's two major muscleson the chest.

(13:31):
There's a pec minor on theoutside and a pec major on the
inside.
That pec minor on the outsideis what allows you, as you set
forward, to bring your armsforward to grip the steering
wheel.
So when you're driving andyou're under stress especially
if you're driving through a cityand you're trying to maneuver
around in the city with atractor trailer, it can be very

(13:51):
difficult because when you'retrying to make a right turn, for
instance, somebody's notstanding too far close to the
light, it's difficult, becausethat trailer just doesn't bend
in the middle, to get aroundthat corner.
So you've even got littlestresses like that and those
stresses will cause you to overgrip on the steering wheel,
which will go right up into theshoulders.
And then, as you're lookingaround, looking around, looking

(14:13):
around that whole chest, andstarts to round in and as it
rounds in it shifts that weightof the head forward, out in
front of your chest.
So your head weighs about 10 to12 pounds just by itself, but
every inch your head shifts infront of your chest.
So your head weighs about 10 to12 pounds just by itself, but
every inch your head shifts infront of your chest to your, the
amount of pressure on the backside, going down into your mid

(14:33):
back, increases by 10 pounds perinch.
So you can literally be sittingthere driving this truck,
especially in a stressfulsituation, and you might have 40
pounds of pressure going downbetween your shoulder blades and
into your neck.
And so the thing is is we wantto be able to open that chest
back up, free those hands andforearms back up and then

(14:54):
that'll start to ease back onwhat's happening on the back
side, because the back side istrying to pull the shoulders
back up straight again.
When we stand up, nobody wantsto stand up looking like a
humped over old lady or old guy.
But when you're trying to pullthe shoulders back up straight
Again when we stand up, nobodywants to stand up looking like a
humped over old lady or old guy.
But when you're trying to dothat with the muscles on the
back side to pull your shouldersback, remember the muscles on
the front side are tight, sothat's like somebody grabbing

(15:16):
your hands from the front sideand pulling you forward as
you're trying to pull yourshoulders back.
It's a losing battle.
Those type of stretches you caneasily do, in fact the stretches
with your hands and into yourforearms, as well as the
self-massage there, you can dothat sitting at a stoplight.
Many times when I go home atnight, because I use my hands

(15:37):
every day as I sit at astoplight, I can literally
massage and stretch my forearmsas I'm sitting at the stoplight.
That gripping of the steeringwheel can lead to things like
elbow tendinitis, either on theoutside or inside what they call
golfer's elbow or tennis elbow.
The stretching of the outsideof the chest you could actually

(15:57):
do on the corner of your truck,standing on the side there, and
all you have to do with that andI've got plenty of videos that
show it, you can see them forfree on youtube is that you can
put the hand behind your head,elbow, on the corner of the
truck and then gently rotateyour body away from your arm to
stretch out that, that outsidechest muscle.

(16:17):
But when I'm talking about thestretching, it's not like I'm
trying to pull this thing andforce this muscle to let go.
The muscle's not fighting withme If I hold too long.
And when I mention hold toolong, if you hold longer than
that five or six seconds, whathappens is that the brain then
contracts the muscle for fearthat you're going to tear your
own muscle.

(16:37):
And as it contracts, all of asudden, now you're doing
strength training for your legs,using your arm as resistance.
What I'm talking about isstretching.
Stretching you're only going tohold it for five or six seconds
because we're going to playwith the brain here.
As you start to stretch gently,you're going to breathe out
nice and slow and feel themuscle releasing as you turn

(16:58):
your body.
But you're going to repeat it10 times, and the reason for the
10 times is that each time youchart your body, you're letting
your brain see that you didn'tdie from this movement, you
didn't tear anything and so it'sokay to let go.
And once the brain knows it'sokay, it'll just let go.

So these things are all easy to do right in the
trunk itself well, this isfascinating to me because I
think when I would would thinkabout stretching in the past.
I just I watched thisstretching video recently and I
think she was very well informed.
She kept saying keep moving,because that's how the muscles
work.
We keep moving, we don't justhold it here, we move through
this stretch.

(17:35):
And I didn't know what, whatthe reason for that is.
But now that you've explainedthat to me, that makes a lot
more sense.
And then I think about myselfstretching in the past, when I
was trying to become moreflexible.
What I would do is like I wouldbend over and I'd push and I'd
hold that and I would.
I would just think that I needto keep pressing through that
discomfort because that wasgoing to increase my flexibility

(17:58):
.

So that's the wrong kind of thinking, I see
well, it is because you see,like the bending over and
touching your toes, for instanceyou see people do that all the
time, everywhere, gyms,everywhere the thing to keep in
mind is that your your calfmuscles, and there's four of
those there.
So the calf muscles allows yourbody to rotate.
So when you're lifting things,putting things in a truck and so

(18:20):
forth, you're rotating withyour calf muscles.
And then in the hamstrings,which is the back of your thighs
, you have three muscles therewhich also work in rotation.
So when you go down and you'retrying to just touch your toes,
you're literally trying tostretch at least seven muscles
at one time.
And so the brain is in aposition of saying what is it
you want me to do here?

(18:41):
And then the more pain you putin, the more you you force it,
the longer you do it.
The brain's like we got to getout of here.
This is insane.
You're right into fight orflight, and then the brain then
contracts the muscles and ifyou're not careful, you'll wind
up with a spasm or you'll windup really sore.

(19:11):
And so what I always teach allof my clients is I give them,
like an eight foot yoga strap oran eight foot rope, something
that's not elastic, and then Ishow them how to use that strap
to actually rotate their feet to, to get into each of those
muscles one at a time, so youcan free yourself and not have
that pain.
Now what I'm talking about isnot spending an hour every
morning and every evening.
I'm talking about you're goingto spend probably 15 to 20
minutes max during that time andthen, as you get better at it,
where you don't have to look atthe videos, many of the
stretches you can do, like Isaid, with the arms sitting on a

(19:32):
stoplight, and that's reallywhat we want to get to the point
that it becomes just a piece ofyour life throughout the day,
not just one big stretch regimenall at one time.
So it's a different mindset.

Well, I really love that.
That's very encouraging for mebecause I think, you know, I
just, even when you're talking,I'm thinking I can't add a whole
lot more time to my day already, you know.
But the reality though but youknow this is true the reality is
that pain that we're livingwith and we're saying we don't
have time to take 15 minutes tofix that, that pain.
We don't have time to take 15minutes to fix that, that pain.

(20:05):
I mean, I think especiallyabout back pain.
You know, I watched my fatherand he was having some back pain
and it affected every singleminute of his day.
You know, in varying degrees.
You know, for whatever theactivity was, and even if he
wasn't doing the thing thatcaused pain, his body is still
preparing to be hurt again andexperience that pulling or
twitching or whatever.
So I have a great appreciationfor, um, chronic pain, having

(20:28):
watched my father go throughthat.
But so, what kind of like?
Where would somebody start?
Like how would you know?
Like, say, you know I talkedabout shoulder pain.
You know, maybe some peoplehave some issues with their,
their knees, or that's anotherexample.
That's common um pain spot forpeople.
Where, where would you suggestsomeone begin and um, what are

(20:48):
the first steps?
I guess?

so.
So the first thing I would do Imean, you get some people who
come to our office but noteverybody can do that because
not everybody's in sarasota.
So I always say to people thefirst thing I would suggest
doing, go to my youtube channel,which is at the muscle repair
shop, and on that channelthere's more than 150 videos
there that dives into specificareas of the body like the back,

(21:11):
the knees, the hips, the feet,um, and you start to really
learn the actual mindset shiftthat I'm talking about and you
get to see the videos of me orone of my clients doing the
stretches themselves, so thatyou get an idea of what I'm
talking about.
You can see it visually.
Secondly, you can also sign upfor a newsletter that I have

(21:34):
that comes out every Tuesday,called the Tuesday Morning Tips.
That also dives into specificthings and on those videos you
get three videos on thatnewsletter that are about the
stretching that I talk about inthe newsletter.
So not only do you get to seeit in print but you also get to
see it in video, so you get avisual of what I want you to do

(21:56):
and talk to.
Then always, you're always freeto, either on the youtube
channel, or you want to email meor you want to call me at my
office.
You know, go tomusclerepairshopcom and all my
information is there.
You're welcome to call.
I mean, I'm always offeringfree 30-minute consultations and
most of the time they lastlonger than that because people

(22:17):
have real concerns.
But you're right when you'retalking about your dad.
When you're dealing with thatchronic pain, your brain then?
So your brain recruits musclesfor everything.
You do something as simple asstanding up.
The brain recruits a set ofmuscles for balance and it
recruits a set of muscles totake a step and walk or to bend
over or what have you when youwere dealing with chronic pain.

(22:39):
On a daily basis, your brainwill recruit different muscles
to eliminate as much pain as itpossibly can.
Now, that doesn't mean that byshifting to different muscles
you may create another problemsomeplace else that people say
well, you know, I'm 45, I'mgoing downhill fast.
You know, my hip was hurting.
Now my knee is hurting, now myfoot is hurting, you know.

(23:00):
But what happened?
But what happened there wasthat the brain shifted and, as
as it shifted, it brought in newmuscles which you wound up
tightening those muscles as well.
So many things like jointreplacements, back surgeries and
so forth.
Most of those things started 10, 15, 20 years ahead of actually
the pain showing up because ofthe way we walk and what we do

(23:24):
not understanding how to unwindthat.
So the easiest thing toremember about muscles think of
them like a rubber band.
If I take a rubber band and Istart twisting, twisting,
twisting, the rubber band getsshorter and shorter and at some
point the rubber band will justbreak.
Well, the muscles will do thesame thing.
So what we're talking abouthere is a different mindset,
that instead of trying to pullmy muscles and make them longer

(23:46):
like Taffy, I want to unwind thetension, and the brain is
required to unwind that tension.
Once you learn how to do thesethings, they're very easy to do.
The key to it is understandinghow to use your brain to unwind
that, and that's a major part ofwhat I teach people.

And so, just so I'm clear on this, when I go to
the YouTube channel, I will beable to search for basically
what my symptoms are like lowerback pain and I could just put
that in there and I'll be ableto get some choices of options
to tackle that issue.

That's exactly right.
So if you go to my YouTubechannel at the Muscle Repair
Shop, you go on there, you'll godown and you'll see the list of
videos.
You can literally go through,and I've got several in each
area, whether it's low back pain, whether it's self-massage,
whether it's knee pain.
Even about the shoes that youwear and most people don't they
even doctors, when I talk tothem are like blown away.

(24:39):
The shoes that you wear cancreate chronic pain in your body
, and so there's even videosthat will talk about that.
But the whole key to it is ourlives are busy.
We need something that we cando pretty much on the fly, and
if we can do a few things alongthe way each day on the fly, we
can stop and even reduce most ofthe chronic pain that we deal

(25:01):
with every day.
And I'm telling you to wake up,just like you were saying in
the introduction.
I mean I, literally, at almost65 years old, I wake up every
day with no pain, regardless ofwhat I did yesterday.

Okay, I have a couple things in that comment
that I want to tackle there.
I definitely want to talk aboutshoes, so don't let me forget.
Definitely want to talk aboutshoes and boots, because some of
that stuff is fixed and wecan't work around that.
But I also want to ask you howwill I know?
You said that sometimes therecould be different issues that
are affecting you know, like whymy back hurts, for example.
So how will I know when I'mI've landed on the stretch

(25:38):
that's actually going to solvemy issue?
Like how long would I do itbefore I would start to feel
like I'm on the right track?
Like how would I know I've,like this is the stretch for me?

perfect question.
So a couple of things.
One thing to always rememberwith muscles, wherever the pain
is, the cause is usually theopposite side, because we
balance front to back, side toside.
If I have low back pain,chances are% sure that the pain
is going to come from the frontof my thighs or my inner thighs.
Okay, that's the first thingMid-back pain, usually coming

(26:14):
from the outer chest.
So the second thing is thatwhen you figure that out, you
think about that and then youstart doing the stretches, let's
say, for the front of yourthighs, for your low back pain,
for instance.
You're going to know within acouple of days if you're on the
right track, because what you'llstart to notice is you'll go, I
got up, I didn't feel that painthat I felt yesterday, um, and

(26:37):
then you can start moving andthen, all of a sudden, as you
start doing this and this is abig thing, I think of a dog or
cat they stretch every day,three, four times a day.
Don't even think about that'swhat I'm talking about for us.
And so when you do that and youstart to work through that,
what's going to happen is thatyou'll start to notice how much
better you feel and how muchless pain that you have now.

(26:58):
Once the pain goes away, itdoesn't mean that you stop,
because if you stop and continuedoing what you're doing, it's
going to come back, becauseyou're going to do the same
thing you did before.
So it's like right out of acircle.
So what I'm saying is is thatas you start to notice you have
chronic back pain, for instancelow back pain then that person
wants to really stay focusedevery morning and every evening

(27:19):
of stressing out their the frontof their thighs or their inner
thighs, and as they do that,then they can keep that back
pain away, regardless of whatthey did yesterday, because what
you feel today really comesfrom what you did yesterday, and
so that's the thing to thinkabout.
So when you think of things likeelbow tendonitis, you can knock
on anywhere from an hour to aday.

(27:40):
I mean, I've had people who'vehad it for six, seven, eight
months and I work on them.
Within one or two visits arelike, oh my God, it was like
about a second or third day itwas gone.
Things like plantar fasciitisyou can knock that out easily in
two to five days, and sothere's common things that
people suffer with from weeks tomonths, but as you understand

(28:01):
how your body works, it's likeyou know if you're driving a
truck and nobody teaches you howthat truck works, you're
probably going to wind up in anaccident, right?
So with your body if you don'tunderstand how it works, you're
going to wind up with a problem.
Your body if you don'tunderstand how it works, you're
going to wind up with a problem.
And the sad part is so manypeople are afraid number one to
really discuss it, afraid thatyou won't need them anymore.
And the other side of that coinis we just, frankly, don't teach

(28:24):
people about the emotional sideof muscles.
I mean, I was working on mydegree in 2018 in aging sciences
.
I actually was asked by twoprofessors to write a paper,
using peer-reviewed journals, onwhat I was talking about.
There's literally no pain withpeer-reviewed journals on the
emotional side of musclesbecause you can't measure it.
You can't measure emotion, andso if you're worried about

(28:46):
things, you're stressed aboutthings, your muscles would be
just as tight as if you werelooking at something like that.
That, and so that's the waywhen you start to look at the
body and to start understandingthat my body balances right to
left, front to back that if themuscle on the right side gets
tight, it's going to shift mybody to the right, which means
the brain's going to contractthe muscle on the left side to

(29:06):
bring me back into balance.
So the muscle on the left sidehurts, the pain is there, but
the cause came from the rightside well.

This is very encouraging.
I'm like I'm just I'm excitedto get on your um, your channel,
and check out some of thesevideos and come up with some
solutions that'll work for me.
And I like to stretch.
It feels good to stretch mybody and you know, sitting in
the same position all day, Ilike to.
You know it feels good when Istart doing some stretches.
We do a daily movementchallenge in our facebook group
and I'm trying to just encouragejust a little bit.

(29:36):
More movement makes a bigdifference.
So I'm excited to add some ofthese your techniques into my
rotation and I'm looking forwardto seeing some good results.
I'm very encouraged by that howquickly you could see results,
because this is not like talking, like you have to do this for a
year Exactly because this isnot like talking like you have

(29:57):
to do this for a year, exactlyexactly.

And that's the thing, because so many times
people think, when they havelike low back pain, if I wear a
back brace, that it's going tohelp reduce that risk.
But the truth of the matter is,even if you lift correctly,
using your legs, the muscles onyour thighs will get tight
without stretching them.
We were designed to move andstretch every single day.
I mean, without the movement,the body becomes stagnant and

(30:18):
you'll just die and it's like so.
We were designed to do thatevery day.
So even if you lift correctly,you're still using the muscles
on the front of your thighs,they still will get tight and
they'll have back pain.
That's where people get a lotof frustration from that.
I get guys who work inwarehouses and stuff all the
time who come to see me andthey're like you know, I'm
lifting the way I was told tolift.
I'm wearing the back brace theway I was told to wear it.

(30:40):
Why is my back still hurting?
And it's just not understandinghow we work.

Well, that's very exciting.
I'm so thankful that you'vebeen able to share some of these
things with me, and maybe evenfor me personally, I'm looking
forward to having some relieffrom the things that I've just
you know, and I do think that Ido tell myself, well, you're
getting older, you know, and I'mlike, well, I, you know, it
doesn't have to be that way.
Okay, let's talk about shoesand feet, because, um, you know,
I I personally wear doc martinboots, which I really love.

(31:09):
A lot of drivers are requiredto wear steel toad boots.
So some, some drivers, anoption to change the footwear is
not going to be on the table,or they're just not going to do
it because that's theirpreference, the way that they
want to work and the way theyfeel comfortable driving.
So, talk to me about how ourfootwear is affecting us and if
we're not going to change outthe current boot we're wearing,

(31:30):
what are some other solutions?
Are there other solutions?

There are that.
So let's begin first with theanatomy of the foot.
So each foot has 29 muscles and33 joints in it with 26 bones,
so there's a lot of movementthere.
The calf muscles like I saidearlier, there's four of those.
You have three shin musclesthat control the movement of the
ankle and the shoe itself.
Now, like you said, for somepeople in the jobs that they
have, they have to wear acertain type of shoes steel-toed

(32:01):
shoes, boots and so forth andfor some people they just feel
comfortable doing that, which isfine.
The thing is is that, as ahuman, if we can walk barefoot
when it's possible, that's thebest thing to do.
Now, I know for a lot of you,if you've been to podiatrists or
whatever they may say to younever walk on a hard surface
barefoot and blah, blah, blah.
But the truth of the matter is,if that the muscles in your
feet are soft and you'restretching out your calf, you

(32:24):
can walk on any surface barefootand not have a problem.
I've got people in their 90sdoing that, so it's a
possibility to do that.
Here's the thing thing.
When you look at your foot andwe're going to put it in terms
of a truck as you look at yourfoot, you know a truck has
shocks, so that as you hit theselittle bumps you don't feel
every single bump on it and yourseat as you're going down the

(32:45):
road, the arch of your foot, isyour shock absorber.
So when you step down to theground, the arch of the foot is
supposed to be able to expandand absorb the impact to the
ground.
Now where we've made a hugemistake for a lot of shoes is
that we've made people believethat they need arch support for
their arches.

(33:05):
The problem is that the archsupport itself prevents the arch
from actually flexing andabsorbing that pressure.
That can lead to knee pain,because the knee then will be
required to absorb that pressureand it was never designed to do
that.

I was just going to ask you what the symptoms
would be if our shoe might be aproblem.
We would feel it where In theknee you said.
Where else would we notice aproblem?

Yes, so if your shoes are a problem and your
ankles are not bending wellenough, it could be your knees,
your hips, your low back andeven your neck, because what
happens is that if the sole ofthe shoe is too thick and the
ankle cannot bend properly, whatyou will see with people is
they will lead with their nose.
In other words, your nose isout in front of their chest as

(33:52):
they're walking.
In other words, your nose isout in front of their chest as
they're walking.
Well, that head being out therelike I said earlier, every inch
is out front it increases thepressure on the backside by 10
pounds.
That pressure is felt from theneck all the way down to your
heel, and so, by not being ableto bend the foot the way it's
supposed to bend the ankle theway it's supposed to, if you
watch people walk, they'llalways lead with the nose.

(34:15):
It's like they're walking intoa headwind.
So it starts down at the feetand into the calves and from
that point on, every area of thebody going all the way up can
start to be affected by that.
Um, wearing thicker sole shoes.
In some cases it's a safetyfeature because of stepping on
bales or whatever that you couldstep on there.
I, I get it.
You can't get away from that.

(34:35):
I understand that.
But just be aware that wearingthe thicker sole shoes prevents
the joints in the foot itselffrom moving.
The other part of it is thewider toe box.
When we step down, as the archexpands, the toes widen for
balance.
If the toe box of the shoe istoo narrow, then what happens is
it pushes the toes widen forbalance.
If the toe box of the shoe istoo narrow, then what happens is

(34:56):
it pushes the toes closertogether and it will affect your
balance, especially as youbecome older.
So the things you can do whenyou have shoes that aren't
necessarily the best for yourfeet but you're required to wear
them anyway, is in the evening,once you take your shoes off,
take your socks off, take yourhand and you can put your leg up
on your knee and you can takeyour thumbs and you want to just

(35:19):
press in not rub, but press inone spot at a time into the arch
of the foot.
You want that arch of the footto be as soft as the palm of
your hands so that it has theability to flex as you walk each
day and absorb that impact.
On top of that, on the top ofthe foot.
Take your fingers and you'reworking from the toes back up to

(35:40):
your ankles.
You're going to work in betweenthe bones that go out to your
toes.
There's muscles all in betweenthere.
Like I said, there's 29 musclesin each foot, so there's a lot
of muscles there.
But you want that top part ofyour foot to be soft.
Now, many times when somebodyfirst does that, it almost has a
burning feeling to it.
So don't dig that deep.
When you first get started withit, work your way into it.

(36:03):
But you want to work in betweeneach of the toes, starting at
the toes coming back up to theankle.
As you free that up now, theshoe has less and less effect.
And then, lastly, the thing thatI would do and I've got on my
videos for doing the calfstretches use like an eight foot
yoga strap or an eight footrope, anything that's not
elastic.

(36:23):
It could be a strap.
You could take a strap from thetruck and actually use it, but
you're going to set where youryour hip and back is against the
wall or against the hard backchair with your leg, one leg,
straight out in front of you andyou place that strap around the
ball of your foot and then, asyou pull that, that toe, the
toes back towards you.
You're going to breathe out, butit's not about how far I can

(36:46):
pull my foot, because again,we're not working with a bicep
curl here.
What we're doing is is we'regetting the muscles in the back
of your cap to release and letgo.
You're going to feel it morebehind the knee and again, as
you breathe out and do that,you're going to repeat that 10
times and of course, then you'llrotate the foot to the outside
so you get the inside calfmuscle, then rotate the foot to
the inside to get the outsidecalf muscle, and again you can

(37:09):
see that on my channel.
I've got an all over the placewhere you can see that one.
Um, that was probably the mostimportant stretch for you and
being on the planet, because itchanges everything.
Everything starts in your feetand it changes everything well,
I love this.

This is fascinating.
I'm like I'm excited to givemyself a foot massage here in
just a minute.
Okay, so for the driver yeah,it's so good, right, I love that
.
Um, okay, I'm.
Yeah, I definitely need to dothat because I'm wearing some
really thick sole boots.
Okay, so the problem is theflexibility of the sole and too
much arch support at times.

(37:44):
So, like people putting inthose stiff arch supports,
that's the wrong solution.
Okay, so make sure I'm takingaway.
Okay, what if?
For the person that has alittle bit more flexibility in
what they could purchase fortheir shoes Like, what would be
an ideal footwear for a driverthat you know doesn't have to?
You know, maybe we're on a longtrip and we don't deliver onto

(38:04):
the job site for four days, andyou know.
So when we're driving, we couldwear a tennis shoe or whatever.
What is a good, what's ideal ifwe could pick?

Okay.
So I'm going to tell you theideal shoe, and it will probably
make every podiatrist in thecountry cringe out there, but
I'm going to do it anyway, allright.
So when you buy a shoe, like Isaid earlier, it needs a wider
toe box.
So it's not going to be daintyand pretty, it's going to be a
wider toe box.
But you want a shoe that youcan literally bend in half and

(38:35):
stick in your pocket.
The sole is going to be reallythin.
Sometimes they'll call thembarefoot shoes or minimalist
shoes or something of thatnature but you, you want to make
sure that that shoe bends, andthe reason that you want that
shoe to bend at the arch area inhalf is that when you again,
when you walk, you want the archto have the ability to flex, to

(38:57):
absorb any impact.
You also want your toes to beable to spread and you want your
ankles to be able to bend thesticker of the sole.
The problem there is that theankle can't bend as well.
So not only are you tighteningthe muscles in your feet, but
you're tightening the muscles inyour calf.
So when you're on a long triplike that, where you don't have
to wear the steel toe shoes oryou don't have to wear the boots

(39:18):
.
That would be what I wouldrecommend.
The funny thing is is theyweigh virtually nothing, so when
you first, when you first putthem on, you're going to feel
like that you got nothing onyour feet.

It's going to feel weird for a while, but give
yourself about two or threeweeks and you'll get acclimated
to that okay, I, while you'retalking, I just keep thinking
and I know driver, you'reprobably thinking this as well,
but you know drivers that wearcrocs.
You know those little rubbershoes, that's that sounds like
what you're describing, right?

a little bit.
But now here's the thing.
So you sometimes they'll usecrotch like a slip-on, because
it's just easy to slip on andand for some guys they just
can't bend over and tie theirshoe, but you need a strap
around that heel.
Number one Crocs are prettyclose to it.
The sole again is a little bitthicker, and so what happens is

(40:07):
it starts to affect balance tosome degree.
I mean, keep in mind, on thebottom of each foot you have 272
nerve endings that are sendingmessages to the brain constantly
about the change in thegradation of the ground.
So if the sole is too thick youstart to block some of that
message into the brain and thechance of falling becomes much
greater.
So I like to be able, when I'mwalking, to be able to feel the

(40:29):
ground.
In fact that's all I wear.
Of course I'm not driving atruck today, so I don't have any
restrictions, but that's reallyall I wear.
Is these barefoot style shoes?
Yeah.

Okay.
So, and drivers, I'm notadvocating for going out and
buying Crocs.
I personally don't like them.
So just don't roast me.
Okay, we're on the same team,okay, you don't like?

the orange ones.

Come on, I know I'm like, oh, I like some weird
shoes, but I just can't bringmyself to do it and they're so
ugly.

And then that big toe box which you described as
beneficial looks so terrible tome, so I'm like okay it does?

I do care about style, so I'm trying to think
what could I do differentlyAnyway?
So I have to think about that.
Well, I might just incorporatesome foot massaging and doing
those things and keep my cuteshoes and doing those things,
and keep my cute shoes Reallyand truly.

I mean if you do the foot massage at least three
to four times a week.
I try to do mine every nightand so a lot of things that I
talk about is I do to me all thetime.
That's what keeps me pain-free.
But the thing is, if you dothat foot massage on a regular
time, you'll be surprised howmuch better it will be.
Now, the narrow toe box on shoesif you're not careful

(41:37):
especially like cowboy boots orand for women, high heels and so
forth they can lead to thingslike bunions and mortons and
aromas.
Because if you watch somebodywith a pointy or toe shoe, they
can't push off the end of theshoe, they have to turn their
foot slightly outward.
So what happens there is theyturn their foot slightly outward
, they're going to push on theoutside of the big toe, which is

(41:58):
going to start to form a bunionon their foot.
The other thing is that therotating muscles in the hip.
Then, even if they're barefoot,those rotating muscles get
locked in at a state where thefoot is pointing outward.
And everybody used to putbraces on the bottom of
children's legs and theyrealized they didn't really
change anything, and the reasonfor that is that what causes

(42:18):
that foot to turn outward arethe rotation muscles in the hips
, and I've got some stuff forthat as well.
But you asked me to join yourFacebook group as well, so I'll
be on anybody who wants to lookme up and ask questions there.

I'll be checking it out myself and help you any
way I can yeah, that would begreat, and now you're free to
share your content in there, soI know that that will be.
I know there are just somesimple things that, across the
board, every driver couldbenefit from from this one, just
because the common things thatwe do with our bodies, so I
appreciate that so much.
Well, is there anything elsethat we haven't covered that you

(42:52):
think will be beneficial forour drivers?
Anything that I haven't knownenough about to ask you, or any
final thoughts?

Yeah, yeah, I mean .
The final thing I would say iswhen you're stretching, it
should not be work.
When I look at my stretching at15 to 20 minutes each morning
and each evening, I look at itas brain breaks.
I mean, we have enough stressin our lives every day getting
things done, being places ontime and so forth that that

(43:20):
tightens our muscles so much,and what we can take those
little brain breaks like that.
What happens is that now we canreset our mind, reset our
bodies, and we can be moreproductive and do more things
and actually feel better in themeantime.
And that's a real takeaway fromall this.
This is not about pullingmuscles and making it longer.
This is about how to not onlyhelp your body be free so you
can lubricate your joints andlubricate your disc, but you can

(43:42):
also free your mind of some ofthe day-to-day stress and you
give those brain breaks withthat.

That's really the most important part of the
whole thing you know and I wasthinking about this too going to
bed without pain and wakingwithout pain, it's like our
bodies are going to be restingbetter at night.
So because we're not, you know,even when you toss over, you
know, I know when I, when Itweaked my back in the past, you
know and you roll over in themiddle of your sleep and you're
like ah, you know.
So it's like we're going towake up feeling more rested and

(44:10):
that's going to help everything.
So I'm very excited about whatyou've shared with our audience.

I'm glad.
I'm glad.
Yeah, like I said, you can getup with me any way you can and
I'm always open to ask answeringquestions or whatever and
because my goal here is to helpas many people as I can to get
out of pain, I mean, that'sreally the goal here well, thank
you, butch, and you didn'tmention this, but I saw on your
website that you will even do avideo conference session, so

(44:37):
that's a good option for adriver, say, that lives on the
other side of the nation.

And they say, okay, I've been trying this but
it's not working.
Can I just do a conference callwith you, a video Zoom or
something, and you could kind ofdo a session that way?
Could you tell us just a littlebit about that?

I can to do a session that way.
Could you tell us just a littlebit about that?
I can't.
I can't actually what happened?
I actually had one yesterdaywith a young man in amsterdam
and we did it on zoom, and sowhat he, what he does there in
his house, is he sets up hiscamera and he's showing me the
exercises that he's doing andI'm, and I've been coaching him
off and on, but I can see whathe's doing and I can help him

(45:14):
make that stretch better andwork better for him, and so it
works really well.
In fact, when I first starteddoing it, I was like I'm not
sure that's going to work reallywell, and a friend of mine said
no, no, let's, let's do that,you know.
And we started working with acouple of people.
In fact, when I first began, Isaid I'm just going to do and it
did work and it changed people.

(45:34):
I've worked with people inSeattle, vancouver, all over the
world, and so don't fret, ifyou're not in Sarasota, contact
me.
We can set up a Zoom call andwe can see what's going on and I
can help you a lot that way too.

Well, butch, this is very exciting because I
know a lot of drivers have beenjust like me just going, got to
live with this as a part of thework you know and this is you
know I'm going to have this painbecause this is the work that I
do.
So I'm very encouraged by thisand I'm thankful for your time,
and I'm looking forward tolearning more about your
techniques and getting rid ofsome of this pain I've been

(46:12):
living with.

Yeah, absolutely Absolutely.
Life's too short to live withpain every day.

Well, Rich, tell us one more time the name of
your YouTube channel and yourwebsite, so in case a driver
wants to check that out.

Gotcha.
So go first to the YouTubechannel.
You see a lot of videos there.
It's at the Muscle Repair Shopand my website is
MuscleRepairShopcom.
And I also have a book that wasrecently published on Amazon
called Stretch and Release.
It's just the N is not an N,it's an N with an apostrophe,
but Stretch and Release, andit's now available online as

(46:46):
well, so you can read about it,you can see it, you can also ask
questions.
So anything I do to help you,let me know.

Well, thanks so much.
I sure appreciate you have agreat day.
Thank you, you too.
Bye-bye.

Brian Wilson (46:58):
Wow, what an eye-opening conversation.
Let's recap some of the keypoints we learned today.
First of all, the pain isn'tnecessarily where the problem is
.
If your back hurts, the issuemight be in the front of your
body.
Those long stretching sessionsaren't necessary.
We can get results with just 15to 20 minutes twice a day.

(47:21):
That's awesome news.
Relief could come much fasterthan we ever thought possible.
We may feel like we don't havetime to do 10 to 15 minutes of
stretching each day, but thetruth is that pain is exhausting
and it's worth the time andbelieve me, guys, you do have
the time.

(47:41):
We'll feel better during theday and sleep better at night.
I'm definitely heading over toButch's YouTube channel at the
Muscle Repair Shop to check outthose stretching videos.
You can find all his contactinformation in our show notes,
and he'll also be available toanswer questions on our Enjoying
Life OTR Facebook group.
Speaking of which, if you foundvalue in today's episode,

(48:06):
please share it with your fellowdrivers.
There are so many of us outthere struggling with chronic
pain, and your share could bethe thing that brings someone
else the relief they've beenlooking for.
Don't forget to join ourFacebook community, where we
keep these importantconversations going.
Join us on the 1st and the 15thof each month for more great
episodes as we discuss theissues that matter to drivers.

(48:28):
And keep enjoying life.
Otr.
This is Brian Wilson.
I'm going to get out of herefor now, so stay safe and, most
of all, just remember keep ontrucking.

Enjoying Life OTR Music (48:41):
We'll see you next time, through it
all, through it all, through itall, through your heart's

(49:22):
resilience and view, sharing ourvictory shining through
Enjoying life all to your.
This is for you.
Victory's won.
We're pushing through, findingstrength in all we do On our own

(49:51):
.
We're standing tall, enjoyinglife, otr.
Through it all, through it all,yeah, through it all, holding
our hearts resilience in view.
Set our victory shining throughEnjoying life, otr.

(50:13):
This is for you.

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