I don’t want to oversimplify things … but, OK, never mind … I’m going to oversimplify things.

When a new client comes to me and asks why their shoulders hurt, I immediately begin exploring their upper back strength. 

Almost always, I can tell right away that their upper back is weak. Thus, their shoulders hurt … because they’re being asked to do things they’re not supposed to do in order to compensate for muscles that aren’t doing their jobs.

When a new client comes to me and asks why their lower back hurts, I go right to exercises that require strength and activation of the core, glutes and hamstrings.

Almost always, I can tell right away that two of the three are weak and/or underactive … oftentimes, it’s all three. Thus, their lower back hurts.

Now look, there are certainly times when I can’t quite put my finger on what exactly is causing pain. That’s what orthopedic doctors and physical therapists are for, and I have a short list of both to whom I refer clients when I can’t help them.

Those instances are rare, though.

To review:

Pain is often a response to weakness.

Tightness is often a response to weakness.

Doing more stretching is not going to solve the underlying problem.

In most cases, following a well-designed strength training program will.

If that doesn’t work, then it’s time to see a doctor or physical therapist … but if you go that route, please take a couple of things into account:

If you tell your doctor, “It hurts when I do this …” and he or she says, “So stop doing that …” RUN … don’t walk … to another doctor. There are patterns and planes of human movement that have been established over thousands of years. In my experience, nobody is such a unique snowflake that they should just erase one or more of them from existence.

Second, a doctor or therapist’s job is to help you live in such a way that you can move in these well-established patterns and planes of human movement until, quite literally, the day you die. If they seem more interested in helping you sit comfortably in a chair, then it’s time to find another doctor or therapist.

As with most things, the answer to a better, longer and higher-quality life is to get stronger and more active … not weaker and less active.