September 25, 2025 • 51 mins
Over one billion people worldwide battle chronic pain daily - a silent epidemic robbing them of joy and vitality. But what if this suffering isn't inevitable? What if the pain signals persisting long after tissues have healed are actually trying to teach you something?
Functional medicine practitioner Leigh Brandon transforms our understanding of pain from enemy to messenger. Drawing on 24 years of clinical experience helping patients overcome seemingly hopeless chronic pain conditions, Brandon reveals the three fundamental pillars of pain-free living: structural alignment, nutritional balance, and nervous system regulation.
The human body functions like a bicycle wheel - when properly aligned, tension distributes evenly, but muscle imbalances create excessive stress and accelerate wear. Brandon shares the remarkable story of a professional rugby player who eliminated three years of debilitating pain in just eight weeks through targeted corrective exercises. For those dealing with structural issues, the key lies in proper assessment followed by specific movements to restore balance.
Equally important is nutrition's role in pain perception. Foods grown with pesticides, processed oils, and refined sugars create inflammation that sensitizes your nervous system, lowering your pain threshold. Through the concept of "viscerosomatic reflex," Brandon explains how gut inflammation directly affects muscular stability throughout the body - a fascinating connection demonstrated by a client who recovered from mysterious throat swelling and chest pain after identifying food sensitivities.
Perhaps most surprising is the profound impact of emotional healing on physical pain. Unresolved trauma keeps your nervous system on high alert, amplifying pain signals. Brandon recounts the transformation of a woman who eliminated 25 years of neck and back pain by healing a relationship with her estranged mother - revealing how pain often manifests in locations symbolically connected to emotional wounds.
For those seeking relief, simple daily practices like diaphragmatic breathing, meditation, and mindful movement can dramatically regulate an overactive nervous system. The key isn't finding the perfect technique but committing
DISCLAIMER: The information is not medical advice and should not be treated as such. Always consult your physician or healthcare professional before pursuing any health-related procedure or activity.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:01):
New normal big life.
SPEAKER_00 (00:04):
The people that suffer from chronic pain, it
tends to be as you get older, ittends to become more likely.
Now, I want to just put a caveaton that.
It doesn't mean as you getolder, chronic pain is
inevitable.
It doesn't.
Okay.
Now, in the UK where I'm from,over 75, 76% of the population
(00:25):
suffer with chronic pain.
Right?
Which is, you know, that's notgood.
But 24% don't.
So it's not inevitable.
Now, if you look at a youngerpopulation, if you look at the
entire adult population abovethe age of 18, it's around 43%
suffer from chronic pain at anyparticular time.
(00:47):
Right?
Which is again very high.
But it can happen to anybody.
So there's no like you can'teven say, oh, if people play
football or basketball or theydo triathlons, they're more
likely to feel chronic painbecause that just simply isn't
the case.
SPEAKER_01 (01:06):
Imagine this.
Every day, over one billionpeople worldwide battle chronic
pain, a silent epidemic robbingthem of joy and vitality.
In America alone, more than 50million adults suffer, including
over 8 million veterans.
But what if pain isn'tinevitable?
Welcome to today's episode ofNew Normal Big Life with guest
(01:28):
Lee Brandon, functional medicinepractitioner, where we'll
uncover the root causes andempower you to heal through
biomechanics, nutrition, andnervous system regulation.
Get ready for life-changinginsights that can set you free
from pain.
Hi friends, welcome to the NewNormal Big Life podcast.
We bring you natural news andstories about nature that we
(01:50):
hope will inspire you to getoutside in adventure, along with
a step-by-step plan to help youpractice what you've learned and
create your own new normal andlive the biggest life you can
dream.
I'm your host, Antoinette Lee,the Wellness Warrior.
Today I'm joined by Lee Brandon,a functional medicine
practitioner, Czechpractitioner, Czech faculty
instructor, active releasetechniques therapist, author,
(02:11):
and podcast host.
His extensive training and yearsof clinical experience have
given Lee the ability to providea truly holistic approach to
helping his clients overcomepain over the years, which they
found very effective.
While after other approacheshave failed to relieve their
pain, Lee's mission is to helpas many people as possible to
(02:34):
lead a healthy, productive,fulfilling, and happy life.
For listeners in the US, a Czechpractitioner is a health and
fitness professional trained bythe Czech Institute to assess
and address clients' health andfitness needs using a holistic,
individualized approach.
They focus on identifying theroot cause of issues rather than
just treating symptoms anddevelop personalized programs
(02:57):
incorporating correctiveexercise, nutrition, and
lifestyle coaching.
Hi Lee, welcome to New NormalBig Life.
Hi, Antoinette.
Thanks for having me on yourshow.
Lee, let's get right into it.
What is chronic pain?
Who gets it?
Can you reverse it?
And why is so many peopleexperiencing chronic pain these
days?
SPEAKER_00 (03:18):
Yeah, good question.
The first thing I would probablythink is important to explain is
what is pain, right?
Before I even talk about what ischronic pain.
So for me, pain is a signal.
It's a signal from yoursubconscious mind to your
conscious mind to make you awareof danger.
Okay, so as an example, if youjust started to tread on
(03:42):
something sharp, like a nail ora piece of glass, broken glass,
obviously you wouldn't do thatconsciously.
Right?
So as soon as the receptors onyour base of your foot, what are
called gnosyceptors, which gtorjust means um danger receptor,
will send a signal up throughyour nervous system to your
(04:04):
brain, and your brain will say,Ah, I need to protect my foot.
So what I'm going to do is I'mgoing to contract the muscles
that are going to lift my legoff of the foot.
Because if I press down on it,then I'm going to cause damage.
Okay.
So understandably, most peoplethink that pain is something to
be suppressed.
(04:26):
Take it away from me.
I don't want it.
But pain is pain is a veryimportant gift that we have as
humans.
Now, people that suffer withleprosy do not feel pain, which
is why they end up losingfingers and toes.
Because you know they might bechopping vegetables and not
(04:48):
realize they've just chopped theend of their finger off until
they see blood everywhere,right?
So when you think of it thatway, pain is a gift.
But obviously, when we have painfor a long period of time,
that's what we call chronicpain.
So the term chronic comes fromchrono, meaning time.
So any pain that someone's hadfor more than three months is
(05:10):
considered chronic.
Now, there's not one type ofchronic pain in terms of the
causation.
So, for instance, you couldinjure yourself.
Now, what should happen is thebody should heal and the pain
goes away, right?
But what sometimes happens isthe pain remains after the
(05:32):
tissues have healed.
So, what happens there is thatyou've got you get the pain
signals going from the receptorsite to the brain.
That that that alerts the brainto the damage in the body, and
then it can work out how to healthat tissue damage.
But sometimes what happens isthe pain signal doesn't get
(05:55):
switched off.
So I liken it to a fire alarm inyour house.
So if you imagine you're asleepat night and there's a fire in
your house, you will want yourfire alarm to go off.
Right?
That is your warning system,just like pain is to our body.
(06:17):
The fire service turn up, theyget you out of the house, they
put the fire out, you rebuildyour house, but the fire alarm
is still going off.
Okay, that's what chronic paintends to be.
Now, there are other there areother potential causes, and I'll
probably talk about that alittle bit later.
(06:37):
So, so that's what pain is.
That's what chronic pain is.
SPEAKER_01 (06:41):
Why do so many people suffer from chronic pain?
And uh is there a way to reverseit or cure it?
SPEAKER_00 (06:48):
Yeah, so the people that suffer from chronic pain,
it tends to be as you get older,it tends to become more likely.
Now, I want to just put a caveaton that.
It doesn't mean as you getolder, chronic pain is
inevitable.
It doesn't.
Okay.
Now, in the UK where I'm from,over 75, 76% of the population
(07:14):
suffer with chronic pain, right?
Which is, you know, that's notgood.
But 24% don't.
So it's not inevitable.
Now, if you look at a youngerpopulation, if you look at the
the entire adult populationabove the age of 18, it's around
43% suffer from chronic pain atany particular time, right?
(07:37):
Which is again it's very high.
But it can happen to anybody.
So there's no uh like you can'teven say, oh, if people play
football or basketball or theydo triathlons, they're more
likely to feel chronic painbecause that just simply isn't
the case.
It can happen to anybody, it'sjust as likely to happen to
(07:57):
someone that works at a deskthan it is to someone that maybe
does martial arts.
I mean, that might not be a goodexample.
Martial arts people probably dosuffer from from pain, but it's
probably not chronic pain.
Okay, so then people think, oh,you know, particularly as people
get older, they think, oh, thisis inevitable, or they might
(08:19):
have been told, oh, you've hadpain for five years, there's
nothing we can do.
But I'm going to say that formost people, I'm not going to
say for everybody, most peoplecan overcome their chronic pain.
Now, the reason why I can saythat quite confidently is
because I've been helping peoplefor the last 24 years overcome
(08:42):
chronic pain um conditions.
And I put the causes of chronicpain into three different
categories (08:49):
structural, nutritional, and neurological.
So neurological means you knowof the nervous system.
And when I work with people,what I tend to do is I look at
all three areas because for somepeople it might be one of those
(09:10):
issues, for some it might theymight have two of those issues
that's caused the pain, and someof them might have all three.
So, you know, someone might havebeen to see someone that looks
at the structural system andthat hasn't got the job done,
and it might have been theymight have helped, but not got
the pain completely eliminated.
(09:32):
You know, someone might have anautoimmune condition, and they
might have been to see someonelook at it from more of a
nutritional aspect, and it mighthave helped, but it might not
have got a the complete jobdone.
And then the neurological, whichis the biggest aspect in my
view, all pain is neurological,but there are there are a number
of subsets of neurological thatthat we can potentially talk
(09:55):
about.
But just to summarize, peoplecan can eliminate pain, or most
people, I'm not gonna sayabsolutely everybody, most
people can eradicate chronicpain, but they need to look at
all of those three areaspotentially.
SPEAKER_01 (10:10):
So you talked about structural, nutritional, and
neurological reasons for chronicpain.
Could you break down each ofthose so that we can understand
how they relate to youdeveloping pain initially and
why it might become chronic?
SPEAKER_00 (10:27):
Yeah, so if we look at it from a structural, so I'm
talking about the structure ofthe body, or so we're talking
about you know your skeleton,your posture, the way you carry
yourself.
And I compare the human body toa bicycle wheel.
Okay, two amazing inventions.
To a degree simple as well.
(10:48):
Now, if you look at a bicyclewheel, when it's completely
round and straight, all of thespokes on the wheel have the
same length tension.
Now, if you had a crooked wheelor a buckled wheel, what you
would find is some of the spokeswould be too tight, other spokes
would be too loose.
If you took that wheel to abicycle engineer, they would
(11:11):
loosen the tight spokes and theywould tighten the loose spokes,
and that would straighten thewheel.
Now, in our bodies, our bodiesare similar, but instead of
looking at spokes, I'm lookingat the muscles of the body.
So you can have muscles on oneside of a joint that are too
tight, muscles on the oppositeside that have got too much
(11:33):
length tension in them.
Okay, now what that will do isthat will alter the positioning
of the joint, and it will alterwhat is known as the optimal
instantaneous axis of rotation.
So every joint has an optimalaxis of rotation, but when
you've got that muscle imbalancethroughout a joint, what it will
(11:53):
do is it will create excessivestress through the joint in all
three dimensions.
And that can lead to wear andtear, which can lead to injury.
Now, in some instances, I'm notsaying all, in some instances,
if the structure isn'trealigned, that will continue
(12:15):
the pain condition.
SPEAKER_01 (12:18):
Before we cover the next topic in this episode, I
want to introduce you to theadventure sports lifestyle with
what I call a micro story aboutan adventure that I've had.
The adventure sports lifestyleand my deep connection to nature
is essential to my good health.
So here's the story.
The second biggestpost-retirement concern after
asking yourself, can I afford toretire?
(12:39):
is what will I do with my freetime.
As many as 300,000 retirees havechosen RV life.
They've sold their homes for alife on wheels, choosing to
spend their retirement goingfrom one adventure to another.
I can tell you that a WinnebagoRV is definitely on my adventure
sports witch list, and I'm notalone.
(13:02):
76% of RV owners are youngerthan age 50.
I hope this inspires you to getoutside an adventure in an RV
alone with friends or the peopleyou love most.
Now back to the show where we'retalking with Lee Brandon.
So if you have a if you areoutside of your optimal access
of rotation, does that meanyou've hyperextended uh that
(13:26):
joint, or how can that happen?
How can you prevent it?
SPEAKER_00 (13:31):
Well, that's a really good question because in
modern society, because most ofthe time we're spent seated, we
we never we were never designedto sit in a chair, we were
designed to squat on the ground,right?
So when we're in abnormalpositions for long periods of
time, muscles will I don't wantto get too technical, but they
(13:55):
will drop sarcomeres.
So within a muscle, the tiniestunit of a muscle is called a
sarcomere.
Well, if a muscle shortens for along enough period of time, the
body likes to save energy, itwould say, Well, I don't need
that many sarcomeres.
So now it's going to shorten andit's going to be stuck in that
shortened position.
So any unnatural movement forlong periods of time, like
(14:18):
sitting, and that's a big one.
I mean, I guess today usingmobile devices is another one.
You know, you see people lookingdown at their phone for hours
and hours of a day, that thatwill create muscle imbalances in
the body.
So the way the way to prevent itis to try and just, you know,
(14:41):
just simple things.
If you if you're standing upstraight, you know, shoulders
back, shoulder blades squeezedtogether, chin in a little bit,
just being more aware of yourposture.
Now, the way that I tend to workwith people is I I analyze them,
I analyze their entire body, andI establish which tissues are
(15:01):
tight, which tissues are loose,and I teach people how to you
know mobilize joints, how tostretch tight muscles, how to
reactivate inhibitive muscles,how to strengthen weak muscles.
And there's actually um a greatstory of a guy, he came to me a
few years ago now.
He was a rugby player.
So, you know, in the UK we wesay rugby players is is like
(15:24):
American football, but for realmen because they don't wear
padding, right?
I was just seeing that in myhead, mind you.
Um, so anyway, so this guy cameto me, he wasn't actually one of
the bigger guys, he was one ofthe small because there's big
and small guys in rugby.
I mean, not that he's small, butanyway, he he came to me and for
(15:46):
the last three seasons he'd hadwell he'd missed three, sorry,
he'd missed 50% of the matchesover the last three seasons, and
it was due to pain in his groinand um pain in his uh thigh.
So he was he was one of the guysthat kicks the ball, okay.
(16:06):
So a bit like a goal kicker inin football, and of course, that
was a major problem for him forkicking and for running and
tackling.
And he said to me, Look, I'vegot eight weeks until I start
pre-season.
Is there anything you can do tohelp me with with this injury
that he'd have for three years?
So it's definitely a chroniccondition.
(16:28):
So my first thought was, Wow,you're not giving me a lot of
time because there's you knowthere's potentially a lot of
work to do.
So anyway, I said, look, let'ssee what we can do.
So I did my analysis and Idesigned a program to realign
his structure, posture, and hedid that program for four weeks.
He came back, I reassessed him,and then I had to give him a
(16:50):
different program to build uponthe foundations that we'd
created in order for him to notbecome re-injured when he when
he started his training.
So, to cut a long story short, Iworked with him for these eight
weeks.
He had the two programs that I'dgiven him.
He then had the best season ofhis career.
(17:11):
And he played, he probablyplayed for another five years or
so before he retired.
And after he retired, he said tome, he said, I never ever got
injured again.
And he said, All I did in thegym, I would switch between your
first program and your secondprogram every four weeks.
He said, That's all I ever did.
(17:31):
And he said, I never got injuredagain.
SPEAKER_01 (17:33):
So just to get this straight, you you first gave him
a restorative program, the firstprogram, and then you gave him
sort of a maintenance program,the second program, and he
switched between the two andnever had another injury.
SPEAKER_00 (17:48):
Yeah, it was more, I would say it was more than
maintenance.
So in rugby, there's a lot ofyou need a lot of strength and a
lot of power.
Okay.
So it was actually a program ofstrength and power and agility
so that he could survive.
Because, you know, when you gothrough any kind of
rehabilitation, it's importantthat your structure can handle
(18:11):
the stresses it's just about togo through, otherwise, it's just
going to become re-injured.
Because what I didn't tell youis that this rugby player Billy,
he he obviously went to see hisphysiotherapist and he received
massage and acupuncture, and hewas given stretches to do, but
(18:32):
sadly for Billy, he was giventhe wrong stretches, and he'd
been doing he'd been workingwith his physiotherapist for
three years who couldn't helphim, right?
But when he worked with someonewho was able to fully analyze
his structure and to realign itand to strengthen him in the
right places, then you know it'sit's it's amazing when you give
(18:57):
the body what it needs, what itcan actually do.
SPEAKER_01 (19:01):
So, Lee, to bring this back around to the ordinary
person.
Well, I I don't consider myselfthe ordinary person because I'm
not a sedentary person.
I do all the adventure sports.
And so I really am of, althoughI am a former competitive
bodybuilder and power lifter,today I really am more of a um
(19:24):
my workout is really more of afunctional workout because I
live on a very rural property.
I do lots of manual things, eventhough we have a lot of
mechanized equipment.
You still have to do a lot oflifting.
I routinely lift over a hundredpounds by myself.
And then I have the adventuresports with lots of bending and
(19:45):
stretching and climbing andturning and flipping my kayak
upside down and falling off mypaddleboard, all the things,
right?
Yeah, it's a lot of fun.
So to bring the story of thisprofessional athlete back home
to an ordinary person like mewho does extraordinary things
sometimes, um, how can I put uhfunctional rehabilitation into
(20:12):
practice in my own life?
SPEAKER_00 (20:13):
Yeah, I think the the uh the crucial thing is
assessing.
You know, that there's a sayingwithout assessing you're
guessing.
And that comes from the guy whotaught me most of the things
that I know.
It's a guy called Paul Czech.
I don't know if you've ever comeacross him.
And he is what the founder ofthe Czech Institute?
That's right.
Okay.
So he's he's written a book uhcalled How to Eat, Move, and Be
(20:37):
Healthy.
There's another one called theGolf Biomechanics Manual, and I
wrote a sister book to that onecalled the Tennis Biomechanics
Manual.
Now, within each of those books,there are chapters where people
can assess their own body tofind out where their tightness
(20:57):
is, where their weakness is, andthen it takes you on a journey
on how you actually correctthose imbalances.
So that that would be theeasiest way for most people.
That's an incredible takeawaythere.
Yeah, so that that would thatwould be you know where I
suggest most people um couldstart to you know really
(21:19):
investigate where their body isout of balance and and how to
put it back into balance.
SPEAKER_01 (21:25):
So movement, nutrition, emotional healing,
and nervous system regulationare at the heart of your
practice.
What movement techniques shouldchronic pain sufferers and those
wanting to prevent chronic painbe doing?
And how often?
SPEAKER_00 (21:38):
Yeah, so with movement, obviously the thing
we've been talking about so faris called corrective exercise.
So that would be one good thingfor people to do to optimize
their posture, their structure.
But I would say for most people,movement, if you're in pain,
movement is really important.
(21:59):
If you're not in pain, movementis really important for many
reasons, right?
But one of them is that youknow, a lot of people with that
are in pain, the issue they haveis in their joints.
Now, most of our joints are whatare called synovial joints, and
in synovial joints, you havesynovial fluid that lubricate
(22:24):
the joint itself.
Now, the only way to get the thefluid into the joint is with
movement.
Now, I completely appreciatewhen someone's in pain, quite
often movement creates pain.
So, what I invite people to doit is to investigate or to trial
(22:46):
different types of movement thatthey can do without pain.
Or at the very least, whatmovements can they do without
increasing their level of pain?
Like if they're already in pain,as long as they're not
increasing the pain, then thatthat's a good thing.
One of the ways in which a lotof people can move without pain
(23:07):
is in water.
You know, if you go to aswimming pool, you know,
swimming, you might be okayswimming, you might not be okay
swimming.
If you're not okay swimming,maybe try walking or jogging in
the pool.
Because once you're in thewater, it's taking all the
stress off your joints becauseit's almost you know, it's like
it's no gravity in the water.
So they're they're good thing,things, you know.
(23:30):
So I would say whatever movementyou can do that's pain-free, and
it might be you need to trydifferent things, and also, if
possible, do a type of movementthat you enjoy doing.
Now I'll tell you a quick story.
So at my dad's um 80th birthdayparty a few years ago, leading
(23:51):
up to it, one of my sistersbroke her ankle.
And my sister loves UK garagemusic, and I I was I was doing
the music, and she kept sayingto me, I hope you're gonna play
UK garage, and then she keptbadgering me.
And it's not my thing, you know,I I don't have any.
So I said to her, look, if yousend me some tunes, I'll put it
on the list.
(24:12):
And for weeks and weeks she keptsaying to me, Are you gonna play
some UK Garage?
And I was like, Well, I don'thave any.
So, anyway, right up until theday she kept asking me, and I
said, Well, you haven't sent meany.
So, the party's going,everyone's dancing.
Next thing I know, I see theseum crutches going up in the air
like this when the UK garagemusic came on.
(24:35):
So, this is another thing whenwhen you're in a state of joy,
your pain levels reduce, and theother thing as well, music is
vibration.
Now, I've got a story myselfthat relates to this as well.
So I I was actually um in SanDiego, this was a few years ago,
(25:00):
12 years ago actually, I'druptured two discs in my lumbar
spine, but I was at a meeting uhamongst the the Czech faculty,
and we were doing NativeAmerican drumming in a circle.
There was about I think therewas about 13 of us, and the
whole time I was drumming, I hadno pain in my back whatsoever,
(25:21):
and for several hoursafterwards.
Again, it shows you when you'rein a state of joy and also when
you when you're in a particularvibration, what an effect that
can have on pain.
SPEAKER_01 (25:36):
I wholeheartedly agree with that.
I broke my back and I am achronic pain sufferer.
And um what I noticed is thereare some days when I start my
yoga routine and it feels like Ican barely move.
Just I'm almost moving in slowmotion.
But then I get into the rhythmicmusic and the poses, and not
(26:02):
only do I loosen up, but mybrain stops registering the
message of stop moving becausethis hurts.
I want you to stop right now.
And then my brain just feelshappy and lighter, and it lasts
for hours, if not the rest ofthe day.
Yeah, absolutely.
So when you were talking aboutwalking in water, swimming in
(26:26):
water, one of the things that Ilike to encourage people to do
is to do their aqua exercises innatural bodies of water, like
rivers and lakes, because it hasthe uh magnesium that can take
away some of the pain andsoreness.
So I live on the river and Iroutinely get in the river with
(26:47):
incredible amounts of pains.
I don't take medications andI'll get in the water and the
pain is gone, and it sometimeslasts for days.
SPEAKER_00 (26:56):
Yeah, I mean the the ocean can be good as well.
Yes.
Um, because obviously you youyou can get rid of a lot of free
radicals as well, which canwhich can uh increase your pain
signals.
unknown (27:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (27:08):
So Lee, what nutritional changes should
chronic pain sufferers make umand those who want to prevent
chronic pain?
SPEAKER_00 (27:17):
Again, this is a really important question.
And it does it does overlap withthe neurological aspects, but
I've kind of put nutrition onits own one because it's a big
enough subject.
But what we know with pain isthat there's a a concept called
central sensitization, and whatthat means is so again, remember
I said right at the beginning,what is pain?
(27:39):
It's a message from the painreceptors to the brain via the
nervous system.
Well, our nervous system isconstantly surveying our
environment for danger,constantly.
Any input into the nervoussystem, what we call afferent
drives, can increase thesensitization of the nervous
(28:04):
system, hence the term centralsensitization.
So, what are some of thesethings that can increase the
sensitization of the nervoussystem?
Well, from a nutritional pointof view, foods that are grown in
non-organic environments becauseyou know they're often grown
with pesticides, herbicides, MPKfertilizers, sometimes you know,
(28:26):
glyphosate is quite a big one,and these create quite a lot of
damage to the gut and the gutmicrobiome.
Anything that can causeinflammation in the body can be
an issue because, again, that'sstimulating the nervous system
as well as the immune system,which obviously creates
(28:47):
inflammation.
Now, some of the key foods thatare problematic for a lot of
people are things like processedvegetable and seed oils.
Um, gluten-containing foods canbe an issue.
Again, it might be because oftenthey're sprayed with glyphosate,
particularly in the dryingprocess.
(29:08):
Um, processed sugar, like whitetable sugar, can be an issue.
Um, pasteurized dairy can be anissue for some people.
But the other aspect to be awareof as well is what we call um
food sensitivities, and this canbe any food, and we're all
different, and we change fromtime to time.
(29:29):
It's not like if you'resensitive to one food now,
you're going to be sensitive toit in four months' time.
So, any of these foods canstimulate the nervous system and
increase your likelihood of painbecause part of what it does it
reduces your threshold tofeeling pain.
(29:49):
So, anything that's putting youknow a drive into the nervous
system can increase pain, andthere is another aspect as well
if a food It causes inflammationin your gut.
There's also um a concept calledviscerosomatic reflex.
(30:10):
Now it sounds like a very longterm, but it's very simple.
And everyone knows of a type ofviscerosomatic reflex.
For instance, when you have aheart attack, people tend to
feel it on the left side oftheir neck, their jaw, shoulder,
and possibly arm.
And they might not even feel itin the chest.
I mean, a lot of people do.
(30:30):
But why are you feeling the painin your arm if it's a heart
attack?
Right?
That is what we callviscerosomatic.
So viscero means organ, somaticmeans musculoskeletal system in
this case.
So when you have inflammation inyour gut, what it actually does
is it sends a signal to thebrain to say, look, there's an
(30:50):
issue here.
So the brain sends a signal backto say, Well, I need to relax
the muscles around the gut so itdoesn't press on it.
So what happens is there areparticular muscle fibers in the
abdomen that become inhibited.
Now, when they're inhibited, thejoints in the body become more
(31:11):
unstable.
When they become more unstable,they move more, there's more
wear and tear.
Okay, so it's a bit of a doublewhammy with nutrition.
Now there's an interesting storyof a guy I worked with again, it
was a few years ago now.
His name was Trail, and he wasuh chief executive of a company.
(31:33):
When he came to see me, he hadpain in his chest, and whenever
he ate, his throat would swellup and he would choke, and he
found it difficult to breathe.
And by the time he came to seeme, he'd been to see many
experts, many doctors, spentthousands of pounds on doctors'
fees.
No one really knew what waswrong.
(31:54):
He'd been given a diagnosis ofcostochondritis, which is
inflammation of the cartilage ofthe ribcage.
And he said to me, I it doesn'tfeel right to me, it doesn't
feel like it's that.
And by the time he came to seeme, he he was frightened to eat
because every time he ate, histhroat would swell up.
And he'd lost about 35-40 poundsof muscle because he wasn't
(32:17):
eating.
And he said to me, Do you thinkyou can help?
And I said, Well, if every timeyou eat your throat, throat is
swelling up, it sounds to melike you're having some kind of
anaphylactic phylactic reaction.
And he said, So what would wewhat would you do?
And I said, Well, let's run ablood test and see if anything
comes up.
And he said, Well, that sounds alot better than what one of the
(32:39):
specialists has suggested, whichwas to cut through his uh
sternum, open up his ribcage,and have a look inside to see if
they could find something,right?
That's shocking, yeah.
So he was horrified by thatidea.
Okay.
So started working with him, hehe did a blood test, the results
(33:00):
came back.
There were several foods that hewas sensitive to.
We did an elimination diet, sowe completely changed his diet,
and within a few weeks hestarted to feel better.
Within a few months, he waseating full you know full
amounts of food again.
And the next time I saw him wasabout six months later, and he
(33:21):
came to where I was working.
He actually didn't he actuallytravelled quite a long way to
come and see me initially, buthe came back to see me and he
didn't tell me he was coming.
So he turned up at my facilityin in London, and I opened the
door and I said, Oh, can I can Ihelp you?
And he said, Lee, it's me.
Like, and then when he spoke, Irealized who it was.
(33:42):
I didn't recognize him becausehe'd put on so much muscle mass
from when I first saw him.
I literally didn't recognizehim.
I was in I was in absoluteshock.
But obviously, for him, he wentfrom fearing for his life
because he wasn't eating, okay,he was literally wasting away,
to being this beacon of healthand vitality again.
(34:04):
You know, so food is is very,very powerful.
SPEAKER_01 (34:10):
If you've not caught our episode on gut microbiome
and the importance of what youeat, make sure you catch that on
New Normal Big Life.
And we'll be right back to talkmore with Lee about the
emotional healing process and ithow it relates to chronic pain.
(34:31):
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Lee, what are the steps thatlisteners can take to begin the
hard work of emotional healing?
And how does trauma impactchronic pain?
SPEAKER_00 (36:06):
Yeah, again, this is a big one, and this is the one I
feel most people are unaware of.
So, you know, as I said earlier,pain is like an alarm system.
And as I've also mentioned, theconcepts of central
sensitization.
So when we've got all theseinputs coming into the nervous
system, it ramps up those painsignals.
(36:27):
So anything like stress,emotional stress, financial
stress, relationship stress,unresolved childhood trauma
keeps your nervous system onhigh alert.
So again, what that will do isit will lower someone's
threshold before they feel pain.
(36:49):
Okay.
Now, one lady that I worked withsome years ago, she's actually
from Hawaii, and I worked withher whilst I was in San Diego.
She was 50 years old when shecame to see me.
So this isn't her real name, butI don't have her permission to
tell the story, so I'm gonnacall her Karen.
It's not a very Hawaiian name,but we'll go with Karen.
(37:10):
And she had had pain for 25years, and it was on the left
side of her neck, left shouldergoing down into her left arm,
and also her left lower back.
Now she had um fallen and hither lower back, and she'd also
fallen off a mountain bike andlanded on her left hand.
(37:34):
Okay, but they were both 25years ago, right?
Now, when you think every cellin your body turns over at least
every two years, she'd had a newbody 23 years ago from the time
she had those accidents, but shewas still in pain.
So I I literally had four daysworking with her before she was
(37:55):
flying back to Hawaii, I wasflying back to the UK, and you
know, I did my assessment on herstructure, I designed a
corrective exercise program, wewent through all the nutritional
aspects, but what what I foundquite interesting reading her
paperwork, her questionnairesbefore we started working was
(38:18):
where her pain was.
Now, in in a lot of situations,but not all, in a lot of
situations, where the pain iscan tell you a lot about what's
going on with that person.
And I'm really referring to moreeastern philosophies, so things
like Ayurveda, traditionalChinese medicine, etc.
(38:41):
And what I was hypothesizing, orat least considering, was the
fact that first of all, all herpain was on the left side of the
body, not on the right.
Now, in those easternphilosophies, they suggest that
the left side of the body refersto female energy, and the right
side refers to male energy.
So I thought, okay, I'm justgonna park that for now.
(39:06):
But then also from the Ayurvedicsystem, and you can see actually
over my shoulder here, there'sthe the seven chakras of the
body.
Okay, now each chakra refers tospecific emotions, specific
events, specific functions, etc.
(39:28):
And you know, the neck, theshoulder, and the arm relate to
the fifth chakra.
The fifth chakra is all aboutcommunication.
So I was wondering (39:37):
is there something that she's not been
communicating with a female inher life?
Now, quite often for most peopleit relates to their parents.
And if you've got a neck issue,that can cause a lower back
issue and vice versa.
But what was kind of pluggingaway at my um intuition, if you
(40:01):
like, was is there an issue withher and her mother?
It was just a question, I didn'tknow I didn't know if this was
gonna be anything.
But in our first day, you know,we were we were consulting, and
I just said, I'm just curious,like this might be nothing, but
what's your relationship likewith your mother?
(40:22):
Oh boy.
I opened up a big can of worms,right?
And and to cut a long storyshort, as a child she felt very
unloved by her mother, and shefelt like her sister was the
favourite, and when they whenshe got but when she became a
young adult, her and her motherhad a big falling out, and they
(40:45):
hadn't spoken for decades whenshe came to see me.
So there was obviously this bigoutcry when I asked that
question.
You know, she was almost annoyedthat I even asked her the
question, but I thought, ah,okay, we could be on to
something.
So I kind of explained to herwhat I was thinking, and she was
quite open to what I wassuggesting.
(41:08):
And so, what I did in the timethat we had, as well as showing
her some exercises, and youknow, I'd we'd go out for lunch
each day, and I would show her,you know, how to eat correctly.
We worked on a technique callednonviolent communication.
And what I was suggesting to herto do when she went back home to
(41:28):
Hawaii was to reach out to hermother and use the techniques I
was teaching her of non-violentcommunication to let her mother
know how she feels and how shefelt as a child, and to let her
mother know what she would haveliked then as a child and what
she would like now, and also tolisten carefully to the mother
(41:52):
as well, right?
So time the time you know, ourtime went, she flew off to
Hawaii, I flew back to the UK,and about six months later, I
get a letter from Hawaii, so Ithought I know who that's from.
And I open up the letter and toparaphrase, she said, I can't
(42:12):
thank you enough.
Not only is my neck, shoulder,arm and back pain gone, but my
relationship with my mother isamazing.
Not only have we made up, we seeeach other every day, and we're
enjoying every minute of it.
SPEAKER_01 (42:26):
That's incredible.
And how did it impact your pain?
SPEAKER_00 (42:29):
Her pain was gone.
Amazing, yeah.
So, you know, one of the thingsthat we try and get across is
that we call it the painteacher.
When you're in pain, what is thebody trying to make you aware
of?
And it might be it might be yourposture, it might be you're
(42:50):
eating some bad stuff, it mightbe that there's something
emotional going on, it might bethat there's just too much
stress in your life, it might bethat there's toxins in your
environment that you need todeal with, you know, and you
need to you need to be able todecode what your body's trying
to tell you.
Now, sometimes, of course, youmight need to reach out to
(43:13):
someone and ask for someone tohelp decode that for you.
But what I what I would say isdon't expect someone else to
take the pain away for you.
What someone might be able to dofor you is to teach you how to
do it for yourself.
So with Karen in Hawaii, Ididn't I didn't do the work for
(43:34):
her, she still had to do it.
I just gave her the steps totake, but she still had to take
those steps.
SPEAKER_01 (43:41):
That makes sense.
So, what nervous systemregulation techniques should
chronic pain sufferers and thosewho want to prevent chronic pain
be doing, and how often?
SPEAKER_00 (43:52):
Yeah, really good question.
And and I'll say there's not oneanswer.
Um, and the reason I say itbecause there's so many, there's
so many techniques.
And what I what I tend to do isI tend to when I'm working with
someone, I ask them a lot ofquestions and try to give them
(44:13):
the ones that I feel they'remost likely to do.
So, you know, there can be somereally simple breathing
techniques, for instance, justto help calm the nervous system
down.
And it might be as simple as youknow, breathing in through the
nose for five seconds.
And the other thing I would justbe really clear about as well,
(44:35):
as you inhale, make sure thatyour tummy is moving outwards.
Unfortunately, a lot of peoplein the Western world have
developed what's called aninverted breathing pattern,
which creates more stress.
So, if when you breathe in, ifyou feel your tummy's coming in,
that's actually creating more ofa problem.
So you need to let the bellyrelax and come out as you
(44:55):
breathe in because that meansthe diaphragm's dropping down.
And then as you breathe out, Idon't mind whether you breathe
out through the nose or throughthe mouth.
To me, it doesn't matter, butthere are techniques that
specifically suggest through thenose, and there are some
techniques that's uh thatsuggest particularly um out
through the mouth.
(45:16):
People can try different formsof meditation.
I know some people reallystruggle with meditation.
Um I I've been using uh a formof meditation called the Pashna
for a long time now, about 13-14years.
But there's there's so manydifferent types, and I would
say, you know, I tried probablyseven or eight different types
of meditation for many yearsbefore I come across one that
(45:40):
really worked for me.
If people find meditation verydifficult because they've got a
very active mind, then I wouldsuggest a form of movement
meditation.
So, what does that mean?
You've mentioned one already,yoga.
Okay, so it might be somethinglike you know, kundalini yoga as
(46:00):
an example, or it might be taichi, qi gong, or in in the in
the Czech system we teach whatare called zone exercises.
Now, zone exercises are forms ofmoving meditation, but they they
specifically focus on one of thechakras in the body.
(46:21):
So, again, we mentioned thechakras earlier.
So, if I remember right, Iprobably gave Karen some
movements that stimulated afifth chakra, first and second,
because of her lower back.
Um, so that there are there aremany.
I mean, even just going for awalk in the forest, going for a
(46:41):
walk on the beach, going for awalk in the park.
Um, there are things now.
We've got there are so manytechniques.
So, I mean, for one is a walkingmeditation, and so what you do
for walking meditation, gosomewhere that's in nature, and
then with each breath, or sorry,with each step, you might
(47:02):
breathe in for four steps.
The fifth step, you hold yourbreath, and the next four steps
you breathe out, and then youjust repeat and repeat and
repeat.
This is actually one that Ipractice.
Yeah, it's amazing.
You know, there's there's slowwalking where you walk as slow
as you can possibly walk, butyou know, as long as you're
still moving, that's okay.
(47:24):
Um, there's one called the stalkwalk.
There's just so there's so manytechniques, but the best one is
the one that you'll do everyday.
So, to answer your question, um,how frequently I would suggest
every day.
And you know, if you feel likeyour schedule is very full,
start with five minutes.
(47:45):
If you can get to five minutes,try and find another five
minutes in your schedule and tryand build up.
I mean, 30 minutes, even 20minutes is is a good uh time to
aim for.
If you could do 20 minutes twicea day, that would be even
better.
SPEAKER_01 (48:01):
Lee, this has been so insightful.
Thank you so much.
What else do you want listenersto know?
SPEAKER_00 (48:07):
Well, you know, if people are stuck in pain and you
know they they they feel lost,they might have been told they
can't get rid of pain.
I do offer a free guide topeople, and it's called the
Chronic Pain BreakthroughBlueprint.
And they can find that at mywebsite, which is www.bodycheck.
(48:28):
Now that's spelled b-odych.co.ukforward slash free pain guide.
SPEAKER_01 (48:36):
Well, thank you so much.
I'll make sure that the linksare in the show description, and
I'd love to have you back soon.
Uh, thanks for having me,Antoinette.
It's it's uh been real fun.
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SPEAKER_00 (00:04):
The people that suffer from chronic pain, it
tends to be as you get older, ittends to become more likely.
Now, I want to just put a caveaton that.
It doesn't mean as you getolder, chronic pain is
inevitable.
It doesn't.
Okay.
Now, in the UK where I'm from,over 75, 76% of the population
(00:25):
suffer with chronic pain.
Right?
Which is, you know, that's notgood.
But 24% don't.
So it's not inevitable.
Now, if you look at a youngerpopulation, if you look at the
entire adult population abovethe age of 18, it's around 43%
suffer from chronic pain at anyparticular time.
(00:47):
Right?
Which is again very high.
But it can happen to anybody.
So there's no like you can'teven say, oh, if people play
football or basketball or theydo triathlons, they're more
likely to feel chronic painbecause that just simply isn't
the case.
SPEAKER_01 (01:06):
Imagine this.
Every day, over one billionpeople worldwide battle chronic
pain, a silent epidemic robbingthem of joy and vitality.
In America alone, more than 50million adults suffer, including
over 8 million veterans.
But what if pain isn'tinevitable?
Welcome to today's episode ofNew Normal Big Life with guest
(01:28):
Lee Brandon, functional medicinepractitioner, where we'll
uncover the root causes andempower you to heal through
biomechanics, nutrition, andnervous system regulation.
Get ready for life-changinginsights that can set you free
from pain.
Hi friends, welcome to the NewNormal Big Life podcast.
We bring you natural news andstories about nature that we
(01:50):
hope will inspire you to getoutside in adventure, along with
a step-by-step plan to help youpractice what you've learned and
create your own new normal andlive the biggest life you can
dream.
I'm your host, Antoinette Lee,the Wellness Warrior.
Today I'm joined by Lee Brandon,a functional medicine
practitioner, Czechpractitioner, Czech faculty
instructor, active releasetechniques therapist, author,
(02:11):
and podcast host.
His extensive training and yearsof clinical experience have
given Lee the ability to providea truly holistic approach to
helping his clients overcomepain over the years, which they
found very effective.
While after other approacheshave failed to relieve their
pain, Lee's mission is to helpas many people as possible to
(02:34):
lead a healthy, productive,fulfilling, and happy life.
For listeners in the US, a Czechpractitioner is a health and
fitness professional trained bythe Czech Institute to assess
and address clients' health andfitness needs using a holistic,
individualized approach.
They focus on identifying theroot cause of issues rather than
just treating symptoms anddevelop personalized programs
(02:57):
incorporating correctiveexercise, nutrition, and
lifestyle coaching.
Hi Lee, welcome to New NormalBig Life.
Hi, Antoinette.
Thanks for having me on yourshow.
Lee, let's get right into it.
What is chronic pain?
Who gets it?
Can you reverse it?
And why is so many peopleexperiencing chronic pain these
days?
SPEAKER_00 (03:18):
Yeah, good question.
The first thing I would probablythink is important to explain is
what is pain, right?
Before I even talk about what ischronic pain.
So for me, pain is a signal.
It's a signal from yoursubconscious mind to your
conscious mind to make you awareof danger.
Okay, so as an example, if youjust started to tread on
(03:42):
something sharp, like a nail ora piece of glass, broken glass,
obviously you wouldn't do thatconsciously.
Right?
So as soon as the receptors onyour base of your foot, what are
called gnosyceptors, which gtorjust means um danger receptor,
will send a signal up throughyour nervous system to your
(04:04):
brain, and your brain will say,Ah, I need to protect my foot.
So what I'm going to do is I'mgoing to contract the muscles
that are going to lift my legoff of the foot.
Because if I press down on it,then I'm going to cause damage.
Okay.
So understandably, most peoplethink that pain is something to
be suppressed.
(04:26):
Take it away from me.
I don't want it.
But pain is pain is a veryimportant gift that we have as
humans.
Now, people that suffer withleprosy do not feel pain, which
is why they end up losingfingers and toes.
Because you know they might bechopping vegetables and not
(04:48):
realize they've just chopped theend of their finger off until
they see blood everywhere,right?
So when you think of it thatway, pain is a gift.
But obviously, when we have painfor a long period of time,
that's what we call chronicpain.
So the term chronic comes fromchrono, meaning time.
So any pain that someone's hadfor more than three months is
(05:10):
considered chronic.
Now, there's not one type ofchronic pain in terms of the
causation.
So, for instance, you couldinjure yourself.
Now, what should happen is thebody should heal and the pain
goes away, right?
But what sometimes happens isthe pain remains after the
(05:32):
tissues have healed.
So, what happens there is thatyou've got you get the pain
signals going from the receptorsite to the brain.
That that that alerts the brainto the damage in the body, and
then it can work out how to healthat tissue damage.
But sometimes what happens isthe pain signal doesn't get
(05:55):
switched off.
So I liken it to a fire alarm inyour house.
So if you imagine you're asleepat night and there's a fire in
your house, you will want yourfire alarm to go off.
Right?
That is your warning system,just like pain is to our body.
(06:17):
The fire service turn up, theyget you out of the house, they
put the fire out, you rebuildyour house, but the fire alarm
is still going off.
Okay, that's what chronic paintends to be.
Now, there are other there areother potential causes, and I'll
probably talk about that alittle bit later.
(06:37):
So, so that's what pain is.
That's what chronic pain is.
SPEAKER_01 (06:41):
Why do so many people suffer from chronic pain?
And uh is there a way to reverseit or cure it?
SPEAKER_00 (06:48):
Yeah, so the people that suffer from chronic pain,
it tends to be as you get older,it tends to become more likely.
Now, I want to just put a caveaton that.
It doesn't mean as you getolder, chronic pain is
inevitable.
It doesn't.
Okay.
Now, in the UK where I'm from,over 75, 76% of the population
(07:14):
suffer with chronic pain, right?
Which is, you know, that's notgood.
But 24% don't.
So it's not inevitable.
Now, if you look at a youngerpopulation, if you look at the
the entire adult populationabove the age of 18, it's around
43% suffer from chronic pain atany particular time, right?
(07:37):
Which is again it's very high.
But it can happen to anybody.
So there's no uh like you can'teven say, oh, if people play
football or basketball or theydo triathlons, they're more
likely to feel chronic painbecause that just simply isn't
the case.
It can happen to anybody, it'sjust as likely to happen to
(07:57):
someone that works at a deskthan it is to someone that maybe
does martial arts.
I mean, that might not be a goodexample.
Martial arts people probably dosuffer from from pain, but it's
probably not chronic pain.
Okay, so then people think, oh,you know, particularly as people
get older, they think, oh, thisis inevitable, or they might
(08:19):
have been told, oh, you've hadpain for five years, there's
nothing we can do.
But I'm going to say that formost people, I'm not going to
say for everybody, most peoplecan overcome their chronic pain.
Now, the reason why I can saythat quite confidently is
because I've been helping peoplefor the last 24 years overcome
(08:42):
chronic pain um conditions.
And I put the causes of chronicpain into three different
categories (08:49):
structural, nutritional, and neurological.
So neurological means you knowof the nervous system.
And when I work with people,what I tend to do is I look at
all three areas because for somepeople it might be one of those
(09:10):
issues, for some it might theymight have two of those issues
that's caused the pain, and someof them might have all three.
So, you know, someone might havebeen to see someone that looks
at the structural system andthat hasn't got the job done,
and it might have been theymight have helped, but not got
the pain completely eliminated.
(09:32):
You know, someone might have anautoimmune condition, and they
might have been to see someonelook at it from more of a
nutritional aspect, and it mighthave helped, but it might not
have got a the complete jobdone.
And then the neurological, whichis the biggest aspect in my
view, all pain is neurological,but there are there are a number
of subsets of neurological thatthat we can potentially talk
(09:55):
about.
But just to summarize, peoplecan can eliminate pain, or most
people, I'm not gonna sayabsolutely everybody, most
people can eradicate chronicpain, but they need to look at
all of those three areaspotentially.
SPEAKER_01 (10:10):
So you talked about structural, nutritional, and
neurological reasons for chronicpain.
Could you break down each ofthose so that we can understand
how they relate to youdeveloping pain initially and
why it might become chronic?
SPEAKER_00 (10:27):
Yeah, so if we look at it from a structural, so I'm
talking about the structure ofthe body, or so we're talking
about you know your skeleton,your posture, the way you carry
yourself.
And I compare the human body toa bicycle wheel.
Okay, two amazing inventions.
To a degree simple as well.
(10:48):
Now, if you look at a bicyclewheel, when it's completely
round and straight, all of thespokes on the wheel have the
same length tension.
Now, if you had a crooked wheelor a buckled wheel, what you
would find is some of the spokeswould be too tight, other spokes
would be too loose.
If you took that wheel to abicycle engineer, they would
(11:11):
loosen the tight spokes and theywould tighten the loose spokes,
and that would straighten thewheel.
Now, in our bodies, our bodiesare similar, but instead of
looking at spokes, I'm lookingat the muscles of the body.
So you can have muscles on oneside of a joint that are too
tight, muscles on the oppositeside that have got too much
(11:33):
length tension in them.
Okay, now what that will do isthat will alter the positioning
of the joint, and it will alterwhat is known as the optimal
instantaneous axis of rotation.
So every joint has an optimalaxis of rotation, but when
you've got that muscle imbalancethroughout a joint, what it will
(11:53):
do is it will create excessivestress through the joint in all
three dimensions.
And that can lead to wear andtear, which can lead to injury.
Now, in some instances, I'm notsaying all, in some instances,
if the structure isn'trealigned, that will continue
(12:15):
the pain condition.
SPEAKER_01 (12:18):
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(12:39):
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(13:02):
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Now back to the show where we'retalking with Lee Brandon.
So if you have a if you areoutside of your optimal access
of rotation, does that meanyou've hyperextended uh that
(13:26):
joint, or how can that happen?
How can you prevent it?
SPEAKER_00 (13:31):
Well, that's a really good question because in
modern society, because most ofthe time we're spent seated, we
we never we were never designedto sit in a chair, we were
designed to squat on the ground,right?
So when we're in abnormalpositions for long periods of
time, muscles will I don't wantto get too technical, but they
(13:55):
will drop sarcomeres.
So within a muscle, the tiniestunit of a muscle is called a
sarcomere.
Well, if a muscle shortens for along enough period of time, the
body likes to save energy, itwould say, Well, I don't need
that many sarcomeres.
So now it's going to shorten andit's going to be stuck in that
shortened position.
So any unnatural movement forlong periods of time, like
(14:18):
sitting, and that's a big one.
I mean, I guess today usingmobile devices is another one.
You know, you see people lookingdown at their phone for hours
and hours of a day, that thatwill create muscle imbalances in
the body.
So the way the way to prevent itis to try and just, you know,
(14:41):
just simple things.
If you if you're standing upstraight, you know, shoulders
back, shoulder blades squeezedtogether, chin in a little bit,
just being more aware of yourposture.
Now, the way that I tend to workwith people is I I analyze them,
I analyze their entire body, andI establish which tissues are
(15:01):
tight, which tissues are loose,and I teach people how to you
know mobilize joints, how tostretch tight muscles, how to
reactivate inhibitive muscles,how to strengthen weak muscles.
And there's actually um a greatstory of a guy, he came to me a
few years ago now.
He was a rugby player.
So, you know, in the UK we wesay rugby players is is like
(15:24):
American football, but for realmen because they don't wear
padding, right?
I was just seeing that in myhead, mind you.
Um, so anyway, so this guy cameto me, he wasn't actually one of
the bigger guys, he was one ofthe small because there's big
and small guys in rugby.
I mean, not that he's small, butanyway, he he came to me and for
(15:46):
the last three seasons he'd hadwell he'd missed three, sorry,
he'd missed 50% of the matchesover the last three seasons, and
it was due to pain in his groinand um pain in his uh thigh.
So he was he was one of the guysthat kicks the ball, okay.
(16:06):
So a bit like a goal kicker inin football, and of course, that
was a major problem for him forkicking and for running and
tackling.
And he said to me, Look, I'vegot eight weeks until I start
pre-season.
Is there anything you can do tohelp me with with this injury
that he'd have for three years?
So it's definitely a chroniccondition.
(16:28):
So my first thought was, Wow,you're not giving me a lot of
time because there's you knowthere's potentially a lot of
work to do.
So anyway, I said, look, let'ssee what we can do.
So I did my analysis and Idesigned a program to realign
his structure, posture, and hedid that program for four weeks.
He came back, I reassessed him,and then I had to give him a
(16:50):
different program to build uponthe foundations that we'd
created in order for him to notbecome re-injured when he when
he started his training.
So, to cut a long story short, Iworked with him for these eight
weeks.
He had the two programs that I'dgiven him.
He then had the best season ofhis career.
(17:11):
And he played, he probablyplayed for another five years or
so before he retired.
And after he retired, he said tome, he said, I never ever got
injured again.
And he said, All I did in thegym, I would switch between your
first program and your secondprogram every four weeks.
He said, That's all I ever did.
(17:31):
And he said, I never got injuredagain.
SPEAKER_01 (17:33):
So just to get this straight, you you first gave him
a restorative program, the firstprogram, and then you gave him
sort of a maintenance program,the second program, and he
switched between the two andnever had another injury.
SPEAKER_00 (17:48):
Yeah, it was more, I would say it was more than
maintenance.
So in rugby, there's a lot ofyou need a lot of strength and a
lot of power.
Okay.
So it was actually a program ofstrength and power and agility
so that he could survive.
Because, you know, when you gothrough any kind of
rehabilitation, it's importantthat your structure can handle
(18:11):
the stresses it's just about togo through, otherwise, it's just
going to become re-injured.
Because what I didn't tell youis that this rugby player Billy,
he he obviously went to see hisphysiotherapist and he received
massage and acupuncture, and hewas given stretches to do, but
(18:32):
sadly for Billy, he was giventhe wrong stretches, and he'd
been doing he'd been workingwith his physiotherapist for
three years who couldn't helphim, right?
But when he worked with someonewho was able to fully analyze
his structure and to realign itand to strengthen him in the
right places, then you know it'sit's it's amazing when you give
(18:57):
the body what it needs, what itcan actually do.
SPEAKER_01 (19:01):
So, Lee, to bring this back around to the ordinary
person.
Well, I I don't consider myselfthe ordinary person because I'm
not a sedentary person.
I do all the adventure sports.
And so I really am of, althoughI am a former competitive
bodybuilder and power lifter,today I really am more of a um
(19:24):
my workout is really more of afunctional workout because I
live on a very rural property.
I do lots of manual things, eventhough we have a lot of
mechanized equipment.
You still have to do a lot oflifting.
I routinely lift over a hundredpounds by myself.
And then I have the adventuresports with lots of bending and
(19:45):
stretching and climbing andturning and flipping my kayak
upside down and falling off mypaddleboard, all the things,
right?
Yeah, it's a lot of fun.
So to bring the story of thisprofessional athlete back home
to an ordinary person like mewho does extraordinary things
sometimes, um, how can I put uhfunctional rehabilitation into
(20:12):
practice in my own life?
SPEAKER_00 (20:13):
Yeah, I think the the uh the crucial thing is
assessing.
You know, that there's a sayingwithout assessing you're
guessing.
And that comes from the guy whotaught me most of the things
that I know.
It's a guy called Paul Czech.
I don't know if you've ever comeacross him.
And he is what the founder ofthe Czech Institute?
That's right.
Okay.
So he's he's written a book uhcalled How to Eat, Move, and Be
(20:37):
Healthy.
There's another one called theGolf Biomechanics Manual, and I
wrote a sister book to that onecalled the Tennis Biomechanics
Manual.
Now, within each of those books,there are chapters where people
can assess their own body tofind out where their tightness
(20:57):
is, where their weakness is, andthen it takes you on a journey
on how you actually correctthose imbalances.
So that that would be theeasiest way for most people.
That's an incredible takeawaythere.
Yeah, so that that would thatwould be you know where I
suggest most people um couldstart to you know really
(21:19):
investigate where their body isout of balance and and how to
put it back into balance.
SPEAKER_01 (21:25):
So movement, nutrition, emotional healing,
and nervous system regulationare at the heart of your
practice.
What movement techniques shouldchronic pain sufferers and those
wanting to prevent chronic painbe doing?
And how often?
SPEAKER_00 (21:38):
Yeah, so with movement, obviously the thing
we've been talking about so faris called corrective exercise.
So that would be one good thingfor people to do to optimize
their posture, their structure.
But I would say for most people,movement, if you're in pain,
movement is really important.
(21:59):
If you're not in pain, movementis really important for many
reasons, right?
But one of them is that youknow, a lot of people with that
are in pain, the issue they haveis in their joints.
Now, most of our joints are whatare called synovial joints, and
in synovial joints, you havesynovial fluid that lubricate
(22:24):
the joint itself.
Now, the only way to get the thefluid into the joint is with
movement.
Now, I completely appreciatewhen someone's in pain, quite
often movement creates pain.
So, what I invite people to doit is to investigate or to trial
(22:46):
different types of movement thatthey can do without pain.
Or at the very least, whatmovements can they do without
increasing their level of pain?
Like if they're already in pain,as long as they're not
increasing the pain, then thatthat's a good thing.
One of the ways in which a lotof people can move without pain
(23:07):
is in water.
You know, if you go to aswimming pool, you know,
swimming, you might be okayswimming, you might not be okay
swimming.
If you're not okay swimming,maybe try walking or jogging in
the pool.
Because once you're in thewater, it's taking all the
stress off your joints becauseit's almost you know, it's like
it's no gravity in the water.
So they're they're good thing,things, you know.
(23:30):
So I would say whatever movementyou can do that's pain-free, and
it might be you need to trydifferent things, and also, if
possible, do a type of movementthat you enjoy doing.
Now I'll tell you a quick story.
So at my dad's um 80th birthdayparty a few years ago, leading
(23:51):
up to it, one of my sistersbroke her ankle.
And my sister loves UK garagemusic, and I I was I was doing
the music, and she kept sayingto me, I hope you're gonna play
UK garage, and then she keptbadgering me.
And it's not my thing, you know,I I don't have any.
So I said to her, look, if yousend me some tunes, I'll put it
on the list.
(24:12):
And for weeks and weeks she keptsaying to me, Are you gonna play
some UK Garage?
And I was like, Well, I don'thave any.
So, anyway, right up until theday she kept asking me, and I
said, Well, you haven't sent meany.
So, the party's going,everyone's dancing.
Next thing I know, I see theseum crutches going up in the air
like this when the UK garagemusic came on.
(24:35):
So, this is another thing whenwhen you're in a state of joy,
your pain levels reduce, and theother thing as well, music is
vibration.
Now, I've got a story myselfthat relates to this as well.
So I I was actually um in SanDiego, this was a few years ago,
(25:00):
12 years ago actually, I'druptured two discs in my lumbar
spine, but I was at a meeting uhamongst the the Czech faculty,
and we were doing NativeAmerican drumming in a circle.
There was about I think therewas about 13 of us, and the
whole time I was drumming, I hadno pain in my back whatsoever,
(25:21):
and for several hoursafterwards.
Again, it shows you when you'rein a state of joy and also when
you when you're in a particularvibration, what an effect that
can have on pain.
SPEAKER_01 (25:36):
I wholeheartedly agree with that.
I broke my back and I am achronic pain sufferer.
And um what I noticed is thereare some days when I start my
yoga routine and it feels like Ican barely move.
Just I'm almost moving in slowmotion.
But then I get into the rhythmicmusic and the poses, and not
(26:02):
only do I loosen up, but mybrain stops registering the
message of stop moving becausethis hurts.
I want you to stop right now.
And then my brain just feelshappy and lighter, and it lasts
for hours, if not the rest ofthe day.
Yeah, absolutely.
So when you were talking aboutwalking in water, swimming in
(26:26):
water, one of the things that Ilike to encourage people to do
is to do their aqua exercises innatural bodies of water, like
rivers and lakes, because it hasthe uh magnesium that can take
away some of the pain andsoreness.
So I live on the river and Iroutinely get in the river with
(26:47):
incredible amounts of pains.
I don't take medications andI'll get in the water and the
pain is gone, and it sometimeslasts for days.
SPEAKER_00 (26:56):
Yeah, I mean the the ocean can be good as well.
Yes.
Um, because obviously you youyou can get rid of a lot of free
radicals as well, which canwhich can uh increase your pain
signals.
unknown (27:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (27:08):
So Lee, what nutritional changes should
chronic pain sufferers make umand those who want to prevent
chronic pain?
SPEAKER_00 (27:17):
Again, this is a really important question.
And it does it does overlap withthe neurological aspects, but
I've kind of put nutrition onits own one because it's a big
enough subject.
But what we know with pain isthat there's a a concept called
central sensitization, and whatthat means is so again, remember
I said right at the beginning,what is pain?
(27:39):
It's a message from the painreceptors to the brain via the
nervous system.
Well, our nervous system isconstantly surveying our
environment for danger,constantly.
Any input into the nervoussystem, what we call afferent
drives, can increase thesensitization of the nervous
(28:04):
system, hence the term centralsensitization.
So, what are some of thesethings that can increase the
sensitization of the nervoussystem?
Well, from a nutritional pointof view, foods that are grown in
non-organic environments becauseyou know they're often grown
with pesticides, herbicides, MPKfertilizers, sometimes you know,
(28:26):
glyphosate is quite a big one,and these create quite a lot of
damage to the gut and the gutmicrobiome.
Anything that can causeinflammation in the body can be
an issue because, again, that'sstimulating the nervous system
as well as the immune system,which obviously creates
(28:47):
inflammation.
Now, some of the key foods thatare problematic for a lot of
people are things like processedvegetable and seed oils.
Um, gluten-containing foods canbe an issue.
Again, it might be because oftenthey're sprayed with glyphosate,
particularly in the dryingprocess.
(29:08):
Um, processed sugar, like whitetable sugar, can be an issue.
Um, pasteurized dairy can be anissue for some people.
But the other aspect to be awareof as well is what we call um
food sensitivities, and this canbe any food, and we're all
different, and we change fromtime to time.
(29:29):
It's not like if you'resensitive to one food now,
you're going to be sensitive toit in four months' time.
So, any of these foods canstimulate the nervous system and
increase your likelihood of painbecause part of what it does it
reduces your threshold tofeeling pain.
(29:49):
So, anything that's putting youknow a drive into the nervous
system can increase pain, andthere is another aspect as well
if a food It causes inflammationin your gut.
There's also um a concept calledviscerosomatic reflex.
(30:10):
Now it sounds like a very longterm, but it's very simple.
And everyone knows of a type ofviscerosomatic reflex.
For instance, when you have aheart attack, people tend to
feel it on the left side oftheir neck, their jaw, shoulder,
and possibly arm.
And they might not even feel itin the chest.
I mean, a lot of people do.
(30:30):
But why are you feeling the painin your arm if it's a heart
attack?
Right?
That is what we callviscerosomatic.
So viscero means organ, somaticmeans musculoskeletal system in
this case.
So when you have inflammation inyour gut, what it actually does
is it sends a signal to thebrain to say, look, there's an
(30:50):
issue here.
So the brain sends a signal backto say, Well, I need to relax
the muscles around the gut so itdoesn't press on it.
So what happens is there areparticular muscle fibers in the
abdomen that become inhibited.
Now, when they're inhibited, thejoints in the body become more
(31:11):
unstable.
When they become more unstable,they move more, there's more
wear and tear.
Okay, so it's a bit of a doublewhammy with nutrition.
Now there's an interesting storyof a guy I worked with again, it
was a few years ago now.
His name was Trail, and he wasuh chief executive of a company.
(31:33):
When he came to see me, he hadpain in his chest, and whenever
he ate, his throat would swellup and he would choke, and he
found it difficult to breathe.
And by the time he came to seeme, he'd been to see many
experts, many doctors, spentthousands of pounds on doctors'
fees.
No one really knew what waswrong.
(31:54):
He'd been given a diagnosis ofcostochondritis, which is
inflammation of the cartilage ofthe ribcage.
And he said to me, I it doesn'tfeel right to me, it doesn't
feel like it's that.
And by the time he came to seeme, he he was frightened to eat
because every time he ate, histhroat would swell up.
And he'd lost about 35-40 poundsof muscle because he wasn't
(32:17):
eating.
And he said to me, Do you thinkyou can help?
And I said, Well, if every timeyou eat your throat, throat is
swelling up, it sounds to melike you're having some kind of
anaphylactic phylactic reaction.
And he said, So what would wewhat would you do?
And I said, Well, let's run ablood test and see if anything
comes up.
And he said, Well, that sounds alot better than what one of the
(32:39):
specialists has suggested, whichwas to cut through his uh
sternum, open up his ribcage,and have a look inside to see if
they could find something,right?
That's shocking, yeah.
So he was horrified by thatidea.
Okay.
So started working with him, hehe did a blood test, the results
(33:00):
came back.
There were several foods that hewas sensitive to.
We did an elimination diet, sowe completely changed his diet,
and within a few weeks hestarted to feel better.
Within a few months, he waseating full you know full
amounts of food again.
And the next time I saw him wasabout six months later, and he
(33:21):
came to where I was working.
He actually didn't he actuallytravelled quite a long way to
come and see me initially, buthe came back to see me and he
didn't tell me he was coming.
So he turned up at my facilityin in London, and I opened the
door and I said, Oh, can I can Ihelp you?
And he said, Lee, it's me.
Like, and then when he spoke, Irealized who it was.
(33:42):
I didn't recognize him becausehe'd put on so much muscle mass
from when I first saw him.
I literally didn't recognizehim.
I was in I was in absoluteshock.
But obviously, for him, he wentfrom fearing for his life
because he wasn't eating, okay,he was literally wasting away,
to being this beacon of healthand vitality again.
(34:04):
You know, so food is is very,very powerful.
SPEAKER_01 (34:10):
If you've not caught our episode on gut microbiome
and the importance of what youeat, make sure you catch that on
New Normal Big Life.
And we'll be right back to talkmore with Lee about the
emotional healing process and ithow it relates to chronic pain.
(34:31):
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Lee, what are the steps thatlisteners can take to begin the
hard work of emotional healing?
And how does trauma impactchronic pain?
SPEAKER_00 (36:06):
Yeah, again, this is a big one, and this is the one I
feel most people are unaware of.
So, you know, as I said earlier,pain is like an alarm system.
And as I've also mentioned, theconcepts of central
sensitization.
So when we've got all theseinputs coming into the nervous
system, it ramps up those painsignals.
(36:27):
So anything like stress,emotional stress, financial
stress, relationship stress,unresolved childhood trauma
keeps your nervous system onhigh alert.
So again, what that will do isit will lower someone's
threshold before they feel pain.
(36:49):
Okay.
Now, one lady that I worked withsome years ago, she's actually
from Hawaii, and I worked withher whilst I was in San Diego.
She was 50 years old when shecame to see me.
So this isn't her real name, butI don't have her permission to
tell the story, so I'm gonnacall her Karen.
It's not a very Hawaiian name,but we'll go with Karen.
(37:10):
And she had had pain for 25years, and it was on the left
side of her neck, left shouldergoing down into her left arm,
and also her left lower back.
Now she had um fallen and hither lower back, and she'd also
fallen off a mountain bike andlanded on her left hand.
(37:34):
Okay, but they were both 25years ago, right?
Now, when you think every cellin your body turns over at least
every two years, she'd had a newbody 23 years ago from the time
she had those accidents, but shewas still in pain.
So I I literally had four daysworking with her before she was
(37:55):
flying back to Hawaii, I wasflying back to the UK, and you
know, I did my assessment on herstructure, I designed a
corrective exercise program, wewent through all the nutritional
aspects, but what what I foundquite interesting reading her
paperwork, her questionnairesbefore we started working was
(38:18):
where her pain was.
Now, in in a lot of situations,but not all, in a lot of
situations, where the pain iscan tell you a lot about what's
going on with that person.
And I'm really referring to moreeastern philosophies, so things
like Ayurveda, traditionalChinese medicine, etc.
(38:41):
And what I was hypothesizing, orat least considering, was the
fact that first of all, all herpain was on the left side of the
body, not on the right.
Now, in those easternphilosophies, they suggest that
the left side of the body refersto female energy, and the right
side refers to male energy.
So I thought, okay, I'm justgonna park that for now.
(39:06):
But then also from the Ayurvedicsystem, and you can see actually
over my shoulder here, there'sthe the seven chakras of the
body.
Okay, now each chakra refers tospecific emotions, specific
events, specific functions, etc.
(39:28):
And you know, the neck, theshoulder, and the arm relate to
the fifth chakra.
The fifth chakra is all aboutcommunication.
So I was wondering (39:37):
is there something that she's not been
communicating with a female inher life?
Now, quite often for most peopleit relates to their parents.
And if you've got a neck issue,that can cause a lower back
issue and vice versa.
But what was kind of pluggingaway at my um intuition, if you
(40:01):
like, was is there an issue withher and her mother?
It was just a question, I didn'tknow I didn't know if this was
gonna be anything.
But in our first day, you know,we were we were consulting, and
I just said, I'm just curious,like this might be nothing, but
what's your relationship likewith your mother?
(40:22):
Oh boy.
I opened up a big can of worms,right?
And and to cut a long storyshort, as a child she felt very
unloved by her mother, and shefelt like her sister was the
favourite, and when they whenshe got but when she became a
young adult, her and her motherhad a big falling out, and they
(40:45):
hadn't spoken for decades whenshe came to see me.
So there was obviously this bigoutcry when I asked that
question.
You know, she was almost annoyedthat I even asked her the
question, but I thought, ah,okay, we could be on to
something.
So I kind of explained to herwhat I was thinking, and she was
quite open to what I wassuggesting.
(41:08):
And so, what I did in the timethat we had, as well as showing
her some exercises, and youknow, I'd we'd go out for lunch
each day, and I would show her,you know, how to eat correctly.
We worked on a technique callednonviolent communication.
And what I was suggesting to herto do when she went back home to
(41:28):
Hawaii was to reach out to hermother and use the techniques I
was teaching her of non-violentcommunication to let her mother
know how she feels and how shefelt as a child, and to let her
mother know what she would haveliked then as a child and what
she would like now, and also tolisten carefully to the mother
(41:52):
as well, right?
So time the time you know, ourtime went, she flew off to
Hawaii, I flew back to the UK,and about six months later, I
get a letter from Hawaii, so Ithought I know who that's from.
And I open up the letter and toparaphrase, she said, I can't
(42:12):
thank you enough.
Not only is my neck, shoulder,arm and back pain gone, but my
relationship with my mother isamazing.
Not only have we made up, we seeeach other every day, and we're
enjoying every minute of it.
SPEAKER_01 (42:26):
That's incredible.
And how did it impact your pain?
SPEAKER_00 (42:29):
Her pain was gone.
Amazing, yeah.
So, you know, one of the thingsthat we try and get across is
that we call it the painteacher.
When you're in pain, what is thebody trying to make you aware
of?
And it might be it might be yourposture, it might be you're
(42:50):
eating some bad stuff, it mightbe that there's something
emotional going on, it might bethat there's just too much
stress in your life, it might bethat there's toxins in your
environment that you need todeal with, you know, and you
need to you need to be able todecode what your body's trying
to tell you.
Now, sometimes, of course, youmight need to reach out to
(43:13):
someone and ask for someone tohelp decode that for you.
But what I what I would say isdon't expect someone else to
take the pain away for you.
What someone might be able to dofor you is to teach you how to
do it for yourself.
So with Karen in Hawaii, Ididn't I didn't do the work for
(43:34):
her, she still had to do it.
I just gave her the steps totake, but she still had to take
those steps.
SPEAKER_01 (43:41):
That makes sense.
So, what nervous systemregulation techniques should
chronic pain sufferers and thosewho want to prevent chronic pain
be doing, and how often?
SPEAKER_00 (43:52):
Yeah, really good question.
And and I'll say there's not oneanswer.
Um, and the reason I say itbecause there's so many, there's
so many techniques.
And what I what I tend to do isI tend to when I'm working with
someone, I ask them a lot ofquestions and try to give them
(44:13):
the ones that I feel they'remost likely to do.
So, you know, there can be somereally simple breathing
techniques, for instance, justto help calm the nervous system
down.
And it might be as simple as youknow, breathing in through the
nose for five seconds.
And the other thing I would justbe really clear about as well,
(44:35):
as you inhale, make sure thatyour tummy is moving outwards.
Unfortunately, a lot of peoplein the Western world have
developed what's called aninverted breathing pattern,
which creates more stress.
So, if when you breathe in, ifyou feel your tummy's coming in,
that's actually creating more ofa problem.
So you need to let the bellyrelax and come out as you
(44:55):
breathe in because that meansthe diaphragm's dropping down.
And then as you breathe out, Idon't mind whether you breathe
out through the nose or throughthe mouth.
To me, it doesn't matter, butthere are techniques that
specifically suggest through thenose, and there are some
techniques that's uh thatsuggest particularly um out
through the mouth.
(45:16):
People can try different formsof meditation.
I know some people reallystruggle with meditation.
Um I I've been using uh a formof meditation called the Pashna
for a long time now, about 13-14years.
But there's there's so manydifferent types, and I would
say, you know, I tried probablyseven or eight different types
of meditation for many yearsbefore I come across one that
(45:40):
really worked for me.
If people find meditation verydifficult because they've got a
very active mind, then I wouldsuggest a form of movement
meditation.
So, what does that mean?
You've mentioned one already,yoga.
Okay, so it might be somethinglike you know, kundalini yoga as
(46:00):
an example, or it might be taichi, qi gong, or in in the in
the Czech system we teach whatare called zone exercises.
Now, zone exercises are forms ofmoving meditation, but they they
specifically focus on one of thechakras in the body.
(46:21):
So, again, we mentioned thechakras earlier.
So, if I remember right, Iprobably gave Karen some
movements that stimulated afifth chakra, first and second,
because of her lower back.
Um, so that there are there aremany.
I mean, even just going for awalk in the forest, going for a
(46:41):
walk on the beach, going for awalk in the park.
Um, there are things now.
We've got there are so manytechniques.
So, I mean, for one is a walkingmeditation, and so what you do
for walking meditation, gosomewhere that's in nature, and
then with each breath, or sorry,with each step, you might
(47:02):
breathe in for four steps.
The fifth step, you hold yourbreath, and the next four steps
you breathe out, and then youjust repeat and repeat and
repeat.
This is actually one that Ipractice.
Yeah, it's amazing.
You know, there's there's slowwalking where you walk as slow
as you can possibly walk, butyou know, as long as you're
still moving, that's okay.
(47:24):
Um, there's one called the stalkwalk.
There's just so there's so manytechniques, but the best one is
the one that you'll do everyday.
So, to answer your question, um,how frequently I would suggest
every day.
And you know, if you feel likeyour schedule is very full,
start with five minutes.
(47:45):
If you can get to five minutes,try and find another five
minutes in your schedule and tryand build up.
I mean, 30 minutes, even 20minutes is is a good uh time to
aim for.
If you could do 20 minutes twicea day, that would be even
better.
SPEAKER_01 (48:01):
Lee, this has been so insightful.
Thank you so much.
What else do you want listenersto know?
SPEAKER_00 (48:07):
Well, you know, if people are stuck in pain and you
know they they they feel lost,they might have been told they
can't get rid of pain.
I do offer a free guide topeople, and it's called the
Chronic Pain BreakthroughBlueprint.
And they can find that at mywebsite, which is www.bodycheck.
(48:28):
Now that's spelled b-odych.co.ukforward slash free pain guide.
SPEAKER_01 (48:36):
Well, thank you so much.
I'll make sure that the linksare in the show description, and
I'd love to have you back soon.
Uh, thanks for having me,Antoinette.
It's it's uh been real fun.
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