BASH Methodology

I have put my 25 years of experience in rehabilitation and strength coaching to bring you a proven way to rid yourself of chronic back/sciatica pain.

A large part of my 21 day lower back pain recovery program is implementing the BASH methodology

BASH is an acronym for:

• Brace
• Avoid flexion before noon
• Support
• Hip hinge

What does it all mean and how does it tie into lower back pain recovery?

Let’s take it from the top.

B

Bracing refers to bracing the core muscles in the body, our abdominals, which help support the spine and protect it from injury.

Bracing, specifically abdominal bracing, happens when you contract the muscles around your spine to create a rigid midsection. This protects your spine from moving in a position that can cause damage or injury.

The most common movements that cause injury to your spine include loaded spinal flexion and loaded spinal flexion with rotation.

To get a better idea of abdominal bracing in action, think of it as creating a stiff muscular corset, which protects your back and nervous system. This is especially important when moving heavy loads, or moving in explosive ways that generate a lot of force.

I teach people to Brace before they undertake large movements to help perform daily movements in a pain free position.

Here is a link to a video of me explaining how to perform the abdominal brace.

A

Avoid flexion before noon –

In an 18 month clinical trial, researchers examined the significance of avoiding flexion for the first four hours of the day in  chronic lower back pain sufferers. In the study, a control group was given sham exercises to follow. It was discovered that the group that avoided flexion for the first few hours of the day reduced their pain intensity by 29% and their days in pain by 23%, whereas for the control group, there was no significant change in pain intensity and days in pain.

These results were achieved without any typical interventions such as physiotherapy, chiropractic care or specific stretching. The outcomes were a result of these subjects simply changing their morning movement patterns.

This is one of the main reasons i included this modality in my lower back pain recovery program, i want to get clients results and fast.

You can read a more in depth explanation of why avoiding flexion before noon is so effective at reducing lower back pain here.

S

Support –

When you have chronic lower back pain, you need to implement every little trick you can to take the stress off that area, and to reduce the pain factor.

Take brushing your teeth, for example. Most people simply stand in front of the mirror in a slouched position, staring aimlessly into the mirror while performing this daily task.

However, those of you suffering from chronic lower back pain know only too well how painful a task this can be.

Something as simple as placing your non-brushing arm on the sink for SUPPORT, therefore taking some of the load off of your lower back, can lead to a marked reduction in pain while performing this task.

Another classic scenario is putting on or taking off shoes.

Instead of trying to balance on one leg and placing extra stress on your lower back, you can choose to use a support.

Placing your foot up on the side of the couch or a small step (your support) can provide a more stable surface from which to untie or tie your shoes, leading to less stress overall throughout the day.

Here is a link to a video of me explaining the Support technique in daily living.

H

Hip hinge – in order to get in and out of chair without pain or to move a heavy object it is necesaary to position the body in the correct way to aboid exaccerbating our injury.

Hip hinging is all to do with correct lifting mechanics and allowing the hips to shift back whilst maintaining an upright posture thereby taking excess shearing loads off of our discs and placing more emphasis on our hips and leg muscles.

You can look at the video below, for a full description of how to perform the hip hinge and pick objects up off the floor, without unnecessary forward flexion.

If you are suffering from chronic lower back pain then you will want to avoid unnecessary forward flexion (as we discussed above) when carrying out tasks or picking up objects that require you to perform a bending motion.

Instead of flexing forward, we can use the aspect of support, which we talked about earlier and hip hinging.

When rehabilitating an injury, we need to find the best movement pattern to encourage healing and remove any potential stress that could be exacerbating that injury.

The BASH methodology is only one part of my forthcoming program but is a necessary component to ensure you get the most out of my rehabilitation program.

My goal is to help as many people as possible reduce their chronic lower back/sciatica pain and get their life back.

Trust me I have been in your shoes… herniated discs and screaming sciatica nerve pain.

I know what it is like to live with chronic pain…and all the stress that comes with it.

However, I was able to bring myself back to full strength and with my 25 years of gained knowledge in the rehabilitation and strength coaching world i want to pass this knowledge on to other lower back pain sufferers.

Please feel free to share this article with others you may know who are also struggling with lower back/sciatica pain and feel free to email me with any questions, feedback or suggestions for my blog, newsletter or website.

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