Search the Community

Hi everyone, 

I wonder if any of you have had experience with bilateral ulnar nerve entrapment (not related to any structural problems)? I’m really struggling with this and have been seeing an OT and physio for over 6 months but no real improvement. I’ve had MRI and x-ray showing my neck is in good shape, no nerve impingement there. I’ve been told it’s most likely caused by muscle tension, but not sure which muscles or where along the nerve pathway the impingement is. I wondered if any of you might have some ideas? 

 Further info: The pain I feel is an intensely cold sensation starting at little finger joints and as it gets worse it travels through wrist up to the elbow. Both left and right arm but usually worse on the right (I’m right handed). The nerve pain is worse with computer work (sitting or standing), particularly mouse work (most problematic, my work is > 80% computer based). I have typical forward head posture and rounded shoulders, prone to regular tight and painful neck and upper back muscles. Mid and lower back tightness from time to time. Symptoms are also brought on by driving, four point kneeling position, plank and shoulder rolls (eg. beginning of ABSS-Prog-4: Shoulders and neck). Treatment so far has included: immobilising fingers in a splint, massage, mobilising neck facet joints, dry needling upper traps, rotator cuff and forearms I’ve also been doing daily nerve glide and a range of exercises for posture correction

 I have Kit’s ONBP book and a few of the video series. I've tried many of the stretches, but I'm just not sure where to start with targeting my nerve pain and neck/back pain.

 And the people I've been to see seem to be a bit stumped as to the root cause. If any of you have thoughts or advice I’d be very grateful to hear it!

 Many, many thanks! Kelly

ABSS has massively helped me explore and confirm some observations. I have two main questions relating to my leg length difference. I have a shorter right leg, after years with various issues/various professionals, i believe this is a genuine leg length difference plus my bodys adopted compensations on top. Currently about a 12mm difference. Many of the ABSS stretches to me felt uneven left vs right. 1. Is it OK for me to focus primarily on stretching the respective tight side and more or less ignore the OK/less tight side? I gather we should check each side for daily variation, but after a couple of years exploring hip/back pain, i’m confident of my main imbalances. I heard kit describing pain as not necessarily relating to a lack of flexibility, but an imbalance of flexibility. 2. Should i be doing more than this to address the hip/back pain? How does one actually go about equipping their body to deal with a 12mm leg length discrepancy? How do i know if this is even possible for me? Even if i manage to even out the left vs right flexibility, how do i stop my body carrying out activities in its habituated imbalanced ways? I started wearing a right shoe raise 4 months ago, I resisted at first and actually wore minimalist shoes for a while a year ago, but i think my body wasn’t ready for it and jacked everything up even tighter to protect. I feel it could be a long road before my body is ready for minimalist footwear and/or letting go of the pain, and i have no idea how to get there. Hence question 1 above - is it worth taking it slow on this long road head, and just focussing on evening out the tight side for now? A message of thanks: I’m tired of professionals swinging between denying that LLDs can exist and prescribing nothing but raises - neither appeas to have been helpful to me so far. I’m defeated and recognising that its only mine and no one elses to handle. I’m relieved to find a space where LLD is discussed constructively and with hope, and grateful for the relaxation audios which i can no longer deny being in need of. I’ve searched the ST forum and read extremely helpful posts on LLD - any further advice would be enormously appreciated. Bonus question 3: WTF to do about raises? Since wearing the raise, my right ankle is jammed up, stiff/achy, sometimes releases a little when i ‘pop’ it by flexing the foot. The whole shoe is raised, not just the heel (orthotist slices the sole lengthways, glues in a raise in the middle), which i thought would be better for posture than just a heel raise tilting me forward, but it means the shoe doesn’t flex properly. The timeline suggests the raise is somehow causing ankle to jam up. Or it could be an impingement thing as this right ankle hasnt flexed as well as the left for years. The right calf is tighter which obviously contributes to poor flexion, but it feels more than that. Could switching between minimalist and 12mm raise confuse the body and worsen the problem? I run in minimalist shoes once a month (5k max) because: i enjoy the sensation underfoot and that it likely helps keep my feet strong; it helps me remember to run light rather than heavy heel strike; and it took a few months to strengthen my achilles/calves to cope with barefoot running in the first place over a year ago and i basically never want to lose this. Additional info: *Pain - in the left lower back and bum/hip/back area generally, sometimes in the bum/?piriformis, specific pain points in the lumbar/tailbone/SIJ. *Tight/weak bits that i feel easily - very tight left QL, weak and incredibly tight left glute/piriformis. *Other tight/weak bits: right calf and hamstrings tighter than left. right hip pinching/blocking in flexion, weaker right quad, both adductors both weak and tight, poor hip external rotation especially the right. *Side bends - fine to the right, to the left i can’t lean far, everything just jams up around the hip/just above the pelvis, even with a raise. *Feet - think arches and pronation is OK, but havent honestly assessed them myself. Sincere apologies for lack of brevity and if i posted this in the wrong place! I am genuine absolute beginner!

Hello all, Miss O and I have been working hard on this program; it is finished. Ahead of making it available to all, I want as much advice as possible from the truly web-savvy here on the Forums. The questions is, in addition to our email list (some of you have signed up for it and get the occasional update from us accordingly), the two Facebook presences, and me making contact with people like Marta (Living Limitlessly), Justin Goodhart (Well Rounded Athlete) Sean Mapoles (Move Strong Club) and my friend Ryan Hurst (GMB), what are people's suggestions to make the huge number of people out there who need this program aware of its existence? All suggestions gratefully received! TIA, KL

Hi I'm new to this forum so I'm going to start by giving a short summary of who I am and what I do:) 24 year old Norwegian master student in Engineering Background: -Did powerlifting type training for about 2 years -Got involved in crossfit for 0.5-1year -Is now focusing on gymnastics (doing the foundation series of gymnasticbodies, so I'm one of the guys looking forward to you pancake-stretch program) twice a week, olympic style squatting three times a week and a general fooling around day once a week where I do what I feel like (mostly gymnastics, and recently some boulderign). All heavily influenced by the works of Ido Portal Back pain story: -Last spring/summer - Mild back pain acting up from time to time - Immediately solved by stretching the hip flexors -Last fall, severe back pain - Physician said it was a disc protrusion - Did a lot of stretching and stabilization exercises for the spine that gradually "fixed it" -When the pain that was supposedly from a disc protrusion acted up, I noticed that by either releasing the tensor fascia latae, the gluteus medius/piriformis, or both, my aching back would let go completely. I did this using a lacrosse ball, and would be fine for the rest of the day, and sometimes even throughout the next one too. As an extra piece of information, I have no problem squatting all the way down to the point where my hamstrings meet my calves without rounding the lower back. Now to the point of this post: Having read through a lot of these posts, and read some of your written work, it seems like the piriformis plays a key role to achieve good form on a lot of lower body stretches. I have previously read a lot on stretching and back pain, and from my "studies" I have suspected that piriformis syndrom might have played a significant role in my back pain history. Whenever I have had a stiff lower back, releasing the piriformis and/or the tfl always seem to be the answer. For that reason I tried out your newest piriformis stretch as a means for a more permanent solution. When doing it, and for some time afterwards, my back tightened up severly. It would have to be described as hip/lower back numbness and discomfort. My piriformis seemed tight as well, as if trying to resist the stretch (even after stretching). Does my suspected diagnosis seem reasonable, and how would the best approach for me be to handle that pesky piriformis? I have no intention of aggravating more back again, though neither do I intent on letting the piriformis and tfl keeping tightening up like they do. I have a lot of stuff regarding stretching that I'd like to discuss further with the forum members (hint: loaded stretching, strength and mobility, and the works of Thomas Kurz for those who are familiar with it), but that will be for another post:)

Hellooooo fellow ST's! Happy New Year! Some very good friends of mine have migrated north and now reside in the Brisbane CBD area. They are looking for a Stretch Teacher to join classes for a) (initially) reduce back pain and general health and well-being. They are just on the CBD fringe on the western side. If you are an ST in the area or know of one (or several), please reply ASAP so I can pass the details to them. Much appreciated Thanks! Holly