Upright Health: Recent Episodes
Matt Hsu
This podcast covers ideas, tips, and tricks to help you help yourself overcome pain, get stronger, and become a more resilient and energetic version of yourself. Hosted by Matt Hsu, a former chronic pain sufferer turned orthopedic massage therapist and movement coach.
Is Feldenkrais a scam? Is the Feldenkrais Method of somatic education powerful or just a money grab for the naive? In this video, I'll share my experiences and thoughts on Feldenkrais and whether it's something worth trying.
This episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/CXtUru2dXUs
HELPFUL LINKS
How to Stretch for Flexibility: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhAdwWv5hws
Follow Along Strength Workout: https://youtu.be/QjLETE6IsAw
Practical Fitness Test to Save Your Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPGoIOdDbJI
How to Fall Safely FORWARDS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ329FGa5u4
🔖Strengthen Your Mind: https://www.uprighthealth.com/help
SUPPORT THE MISSION AND YOURSELF
👉Rebuild Your Body At Home with a DIY Program: https://uprighthealth.com/diy
💪Donate: https://www.uprighthealth.com/donate
❤️Become a Patron: https://patreon.com/uprighthealth
👉Sign Up for the Newsletter: https://uprighthealth.com/newsletter
⚡️Become a member on YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCwj1xAY55Dd-H281T1g-bQ/join
👍Recommended gear (shoes, bands, etc.): https://uprighthealth.com/recommended-by-upright-health/
SOCIALS
➡️ Facebook: http://facebook.com/uprighthealth
➡️ Instagram: http://instagram.com/uprighthealth
➡️TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theuprighthealth
🙉 Podcast: https://www.uprighthealth.com/podcasts/upright-health/
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David Cutter Music - http://www.davidcuttermusic.com
ABOUT THIS VIDEO
This video is in response to a Patreon patron question from Janet. In her sixties, Janet wants to know if doing more Feldenkrais is worth it, whether Feldenkrais is effective in the long run, or if she should focus her time, money, and energy elsewhere. I explain my own experience with Feldenkrais and other similar movement therapies, and I help you understand the potential benefits and clear limitations of the Feldenkrais Method.
I am NOT an expert in the minutiae of Feldenkrais theory, methodology, or praxis nor am I in any way associated with the Feldenkrais Method. I do support these kinds of movement and proprioceptive improvement methods.
uprighthealth #feldenkrais #chronicpain
Don't be blind to this simple truth about your body. If you remain clouded with ignorance, you'll be hurting, frustrated, and helpless. Once you understand this key idea, you'll be able to help relieve yourself of back pain, hip pain, knee pain, and shoulder pain.
"Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know." Pema Chödrön
On YouTube: https://youtu.be/UdTT1OR9ix4
HELPFUL LINKS
Top 5 Shoulder Impingement Exercises: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-oHVOrZEWw
Hip Pain Sleeping on Side: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLAm_Hbbvfw
Placebo vs Joint Surgery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plSC4C-u3ws
Don't Get Caught in RIIPS: https://www.uprighthealth.com/blog/riips
🔖Strengthen Your Mind: https://www.uprighthealth.com/help
SUPPORT THE MISSION AND YOURSELF
👉Rebuild Your Body At Home with a DIY Program: https://uprighthealth.com/diy
💪Donate: https://www.uprighthealth.com/donate
❤️Become a Patron: https://patreon.com/uprighthealth
👉Sign Up for the Newsletter: https://uprighthealth.com/newsletter
⚡️Become a member on YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCwj1xAY55Dd-H281T1g-bQ/join
👍Recommended gear (shoes, bands, etc.): https://uprighthealth.com/recommended-by-upright-health/
SOCIALS
➡️ Facebook: http://facebook.com/uprighthealth
➡️ Instagram: http://instagram.com/uprighthealth
➡️TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theuprighthealth
🙉 Podcast: https://www.uprighthealth.com/podcasts/upright-health/
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David Cutter Music - http://www.davidcuttermusic.com
uprighthealth #chronicpain #wisdom #painrelief
Physician John Sarno wrote a book called "Healing Back Pain" that introduced the idea of tension myositis. Does this theory of chronic pain make sense? What about when doctors tell you that your pain is all in your head? Do you need to heal your emotions before you can heal your back pain, hip pain, shoulder pain, knee pain, etc.?
HELPFUL LINKS
Hip Impingement: Therapy vs Surgery - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gtikRw6VQs
History of Shoulder Impingement (Bogus Surgery): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlwrrmCeojk
Hip Impingement Scam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3kCV6ju2IU
Back Pain Science: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIH1xJwOJFA
Why Am I in Pain? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eECqE3wkBvU
🧠Strengthen Your Mind: https://www.uprighthealth.com/help
SUPPORT THE MISSION AND YOURSELF
👉Rebuild Your Body At Home with a DIY Program: https://uprighthealth.com/diy
💪Donate: https://www.uprighthealth.com/donate
❤️Become a Patron: https://patreon.com/uprighthealth
👉Sign Up for the Newsletter: https://uprighthealth.com/newsletter
⚡️Become a member on YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCwj1xAY55Dd-H281T1g-bQ/join
👍Recommended gear (shoes, bands, etc.): https://uprighthealth.com/recommended-by-upright-health/
SOCIALS
➡️ Facebook: http://facebook.com/uprighthealth
➡️ Instagram: http://instagram.com/uprighthealth
🙉 Podcast: https://www.uprighthealth.com/podcasts/upright-health/
What to do about tension headaches? Is swimming good exercise? Can't feel one side of your glutes (gluteal amnesia)? Barefoot shoes for small feet? A big day of questions!
Splay (affiliate link): https://splayshoes.com/?ref=3ismzdrjvjxr
Vivobarefoot(affiliate link): https://bit.ly/uprightvivo
Kids barefoot shoes video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_Po2sQwyyI
Glute Exercise video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMEqPeiUyfQ
SUPPORT THE MISSION AND YOURSELF
👉Rebuild Your Body At Home with a DIY Program: https://uprighthealth.com/diy
💪Donate: https://www.uprighthealth.com/donate
❤️Become a Patron: https://patreon.com/uprighthealth
👉Sign Up for the Newsletter: https://uprighthealth.com/newsletter
⚡️Become a member on YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCwj1xAY55Dd-H281T1g-bQ/join
👍Recommended gear (shoes, bands, etc.): https://uprighthealth.com/recommended-by-upright-health/
SOCIALS
➡️ Facebook: http://facebook.com/uprighthealth
➡️ Instagram: http://instagram.com/uprighthealth
🙉 Podcast: https://www.uprighthealth.com/podcasts/upright-health/
uprighthealth #barefootshoes #swimming #glutes #barefootkids
Can get more flexible with pills? Does taking painkillers help you get more mobile? Are painkillers a good way to prevent joint pain during athletic activities? Find out the pros and cons of taking painkillers and how this strategy can backfire for chronic pain.
HELPFUL LINKS
Video: https://youtu.be/vOq2AzMJckM
How to stretch properly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhAdwWv5hws
Stretching Before a Workout? https://youtu.be/zFmWiHOeZC8
Key to a Better Stretch: https://youtu.be/55Gb4IBHL8Y
🔖Strengthen Your Mind: https://www.uprighthealth.com/help
SUPPORT THE MISSION AND YOURSELF
👉Rebuild Your Body At Home with a DIY Program: https://uprighthealth.com/diy
💪Donate: https://www.uprighthealth.com/donate
❤️Become a Patron: https://patreon.com/uprighthealth
👉Sign Up for the Newsletter: https://uprighthealth.com/newsletter
⚡️Become a member on YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCwj1xAY55Dd-H281T1g-bQ/join
👍Recommended gear (shoes, bands, etc.): https://uprighthealth.com/recommended-by-upright-health/
SOCIALS
➡️ Facebook: http://facebook.com/uprighthealth
➡️ Instagram: http://instagram.com/uprighthealth
🙉 Podcast: https://www.uprighthealth.com/podcasts/upright-health/
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David Cutter Music - http://www.davidcuttermusic.com
ABOUT THIS VIDEO
Should take painkillers like ibuprofen, acetaminophen, or opioids to help you get more flexible? Will pain pills improve flexibility in your hips, spine, and shoulders? Find out why people take painkillers to get more flexible and why I don't recommend this strategy.
You will choke when you hear what this doctor said about neck pain.
HELPFUL LINKS
Relieve Neck and Shoulder Tension: https://youtu.be/HxxNIK0hTtw
Weak Neck Muscle Test: https://youtu.be/6VWbAnJ7J6c
🔖Strengthen Your Mind: https://www.uprighthealth.com/help
👉Fix Your Hunchback with the Hunchback Fix Program: https://www.uprighthealth.com/hunchback
SUPPORT THE MISSION AND YOURSELF
👉Rebuild Your Body At Home with a DIY Program: https://uprighthealth.com/diy
💪Donate: https://www.uprighthealth.com/donate
❤️Become a Patron: https://patreon.com/uprighthealth
👉Sign Up for the Newsletter: https://uprighthealth.com/newsletter
⚡️Become a member on YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCwj1xAY55Dd-H281T1g-bQ/join
👍Recommended gear (shoes, bands, etc.): https://uprighthealth.com/recommended-by-upright-health/
SOCIALS
➡️ Facebook: http://facebook.com/uprighthealth
➡️ Instagram: http://instagram.com/uprighthealth
🙉 Podcast: https://www.uprighthealth.com/podcasts/upright-health/
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David Cutter Music - http://www.davidcuttermusic.com
This is something we all do, but you have to stop if you want to feel good and pain-free!
YouTube Video of This Episode: https://youtu.be/4YSoK25dv2c
Helpful links
Top 2 Stretches For Cyclists - 2 Stretches And One Hip Strength Drill For Bikers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRpcRaJ_wtU
Study on Dysplasia, FAI, and Hip Arthritis: https://journals.lww.com/clinorthop/Fulltext/2016/02000/The_2015_Frank_Stinchfield_Award__Radiographic.13.aspx
The Radiohead Public Library: https://radiohead.com/library/
Buy Your Way Out Fallacy Part 1 https://www.uprighthealth.com/podcasts/upright-health/episodes/2147733868
Buy Your Way Out Fallacy Part 2: https://www.uprighthealth.com/podcasts/upright-health/episodes/2147738239
SUPPORT THE MISSION AND YOURSELF
👉Rebuild Your Body At Home with a DIY Program: https://uprighthealth.com/diy
💪Donate: https://www.uprighthealth.com/donate
❤️Become a Patron: https://patreon.com/uprighthealth
👉Sign Up for the Newsletter: https://uprighthealth.com/newsletter
⚡️Become a member on YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCwj1xAY55Dd-H281T1g-bQ/join
👍Recommended gear (shoes, bands, etc.): https://uprighthealth.com/recommended-by-upright-health/
SOCIALS
➡️ Facebook: http://facebook.com/uprighthealth
➡️ Instagram: http://instagram.com/uprighthealth
🙉 Podcast: https://www.uprighthealth.com/podcasts/upright-health/
ENDING CREDITS MUSIC
David Cutter Music - http://www.davidcuttermusic.com
In this episode, we dive deeper into the Buy Your Way Out Fallacy to see how it relates to orthopedic diagnoses and treatments like FAI (hip impingement) and back pain.
RESOURCES
Upright Health articles
BMJ Opinion: The illusion of evidence based medicine
Let's look at one of the most ubiquitous fallacies floating around the medical and health industries. Save money, get stronger, and reap the rewards when you recognize the game that's being played with so many "expert" health recommendations!
Free Resources: https://www.uprighthealth.com/help
One example of the Buy Your Way Out Fallacy for Foot Pain: https://creakyjoints.org/living-with-arthritis/coronavirus/daily-living/arthritis-foot-pain-barefoot-covid-19-pandemic/
In this episode, I discuss why I don't trust doctors. I share personal anecdotes of being fed medical falsehoods and big-time foul-ups in medical history.
www.uprighthealth.com
Support this podcast: https://paypal.me/uprighthealth
What is healthy? How do we get ideas about what is healthy for us?
In this episode we discuss:
- Why do we think some things are good for us?
- Who promotes the idea that certain things are healthy for us?
- What is our responsibility in determining what's ACTUALLY healthy?
- How do we work with this physically and mentally?
www.uprighthealth.com
Wallow in weakness? Today we discuss:
- Fibromyalgia and why it makes me mad
- Medical diagnoses that make no sense and how they trap you in pain
- Wallowing in weakness and the antidote that will bring pain relief and massive improvement in your life
Resources www.uprighthealth.com
In today’s episode we discuss:
- how screen time contributes to chronic pain
- how to cut screen time effectively limits that will lead to better sleep
- compulsive email checking
- compulsive social media usage
- how to break free from these compulsions and experience pain relief
Resources Article: https://www.uprighthealth.com/blog/screens-cause-chronic-pain
Freedom app: https://freedom.to/
AppBlock: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cz.mobilesoft.appblock&gl=US
We discuss how to identify habits that put us in pain, how to identify them, the most common excuses we come up with when confronted with them, and a simple assignment to get you thinking right and moving right. Inspired by a passage from In Love With the World by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche.
www.uprighthealth.com for free resources to help you understand and beat chronic pain.
Can you naturally build hip strength without going to gym? What is the best sport for developing and maintaining hip strength naturally? Find out how soccer, golf, tennis, and weightlifting stack up!
Video version: https://youtu.be/dTGD6GxcClY
Is it safe to fix hunchback posture while pregnant? Can you even exercise while pregnant? Understand how women can fix their posture safely while carrying a baby!
Video version: https://youtu.be/CTtEU4LCr8M
I often used to ask myself, "why am I in pain?" I couldn't figure out why I had chronic pain. In this episode, I discuss the perspective and strategies that helped me get chronic pain relief.
HELPFUL LINKS
👉Chronic pain and Functional Training: https://www.uprighthealth.com/blog/why-chronic-pain
👉The ATM theory (ALWAYS THINK MUSCLES): https://www.uprighthealth.com/blog/chronic-joint-pain-atm-theory
👉Why you DON’T Need Orthopedic Surgery for Joint Pain: https://www.uprighthealth.com/blog/avoid-orthopedic-surgery-joint-pain
What would you do if doctors promised you that they could take away all your pain with a simple surgery? You would do it, right? How would you feel if you underwent the surgery, and none of the benefits materialized?
What would you do if the post-surgical physical therapy seemed to get you nowhere?
In today's interview, we're talking to Troy Malone. He's going to share his entire saga with the dreaded "hip impingement" diagnosis. He's going to explain everything the doctors said, and he's going to share the things he's learned navigating the medical system while trying to heal his own body.
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8hK1JHCsNcw
RESOURCES
- Check out the FAI Fix home program at https://thefaifix.com
- Find Troy at https://chasingthetension.com
Want to get angry? Follow this 3 step process, and you can get mad at anything that anyone says or writes. You'll feel more stress, less happiness, and have fewer friends!
Of course, if you want to be less angry, be happier, and have more friends, you can reverse-engineer the process laid out in this episode!
RELATED
VIDEO: 3 Tips to Improve Mental Health
Check out this in-depth interview with Josh Hash of Strength Side. Learn how to get flexible, why you should travel, and what happens you dedicate all your time to weightlifting vs. bodyweight training...
HELPFUL LINKS
👉Strength Side on YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/strengthside
👉Crush Chronic Muscle Tension with a free program at https://uprighthealth.com/
UPRIGHT HEALTH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/c/uprighthealth
Interested in how to increase your hip range of motion? Can you manage hip pain without surgery? Today, I'm interviewing Peter, an attorney, who spent decades at his desk before back and hip pain really started to ruin his life. Peter was told that based on the severity of the damage in his hips and spine, he needed to just wait until things got so bad he needed surgery. Over the past few years, Peter has made gradual but fantastic gains in his functional range of motion and has made great decreases in his own pain levels. And today he's sharing his insights and the things he's learned over the course of the last few years.
Resources
The FAI Fix: https://thefaifix.com
When you’re stuck in chronic pain, you’ll believe and do just about anything to get out of it. Butoften what the doctor tells you can make your chronic pain worse in the short term and the longterm. But you can make a choice that will change the course of your life.
Resources
https://www.uprighthealth.com/blog/why-chronic-pain
How does arthroscopic hip surgery compare to nonsurgical treatment of hip impingement? What explains the results? The results of studies on hip surgery vs. conservative treatment are often misleading. Let’s look at how the data is getting twisted.
Resources
Article: Arthroscopic hip surgery vs. physical therapy for FAI
DIY program: The FAI Fix
Why does hip surgery work? Why does hip surgery work sometimes and sometimes not? In this episode, Matt talks about the two major reasons hip surgery DOES relieve hip pain - and why it’s still not a good idea to get hip surgery!
RESOURCES
Hidden Brain Placebo Podcast: https://www.npr.org/2019/04/29/718227789/all-the-worlds-a-stage-including-the-doctor-s-office
Surgery: the ultimate placebo: https://amzn.to/34ivwQ7 (affiliate link supports this podcast)
Pain Science orthopedic procedures and placebo: https://www.painscience.com/biblio/four-orthopedic-surgeries-no-better-than-placebo.html
Why do back pain treatments fail? Why do so many medical and alternative treatments for back pain provide dismal results? In this episode we talk about the fundamental problem with back pain treatments and two strategies to help you with your back pain.
Resources
Crooked by Cathryn Jakobson Ramin: https://amzn.to/2JWknNo (affiliate link supports this podcast)
The Back Pain Fix from Upright Health: http://uprighthealth.com/backfix
Are you too old to get more flexible? Does old age mean you can’t get more flexible? Does it mean you can’t make muscles stronger? In this episode we talk about one mind-blowing case of flexibility training, mistakes adults make when trying to get more flexible, and one stretching technique that a lot of people miss.
Resources
How to get flexible as an adult (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6bNq3-Le4s
Improve hip flexibility (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLGcxQoRIp8
Interested in PRP injections? Hoping PRP will help your shoulder, back, hips, or knees? See what the research really says about PRP.
Resources
Article on PRP injections: https://uprighthealth.com/prp-injections-are-they-worth-it/
Video on knee arthritis: https://youtu.be/YznnelN8Q7Q
Video on hip arthritis: https://youtu.be/L0CA5YxF8Cc
In this episode Matt shares his biggest roadblock to getting out of hip pain. He covers his worst, least-productive reaction to hip pain and how he deals with it as he ages.
Resources:
https://uprighthealth.com/healthy-hips
https://uprighthealth.com/diy
Mitch has been inflexible (a tinman) as long as he can remember. His run-in with chronic pain as a young athlete had him scared about his future. He questioned the connection between his chronic pain and lack of flexibility. With time and research spent on specific training, he now lives a pain free and confident life.
Training out of chronic pain can be tough physical and mental work. You may encounter roadblocks and mysteries that tear down moral and belief. If your goal is to relieve chronic pain, discover the key ingredient you may be missing to propel you to a pain free life.
Shari started having hip pain in high school. Physical therapy didn’t help. Doctors told her that she had femoroacetabular impingement and that surgery was the only answer. She never got the surgery, but she’s been able to get back into yoga without hip pain, and she shares the lessons she’s learned along the way.
Why is healthcare in America so expensive? Find out what this doctor and tireless researcher has discovered is going on behind the scenes in the American medical system. The same pill could cost you $1 or $10. The same medical procedure could cost you $400 or $4000. Healthcare pricing in the U.S. is insanely opaque, and this physician is on a mission to shed light on the problem. Find out how money is corrupting the American medical system and how you can save money when navigating it.
Resources
True Cost of Healthcare - Dr. Belk’s website
High cost of collusion (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYKYvWybVFA
Goodrx.com
Clearhealthcost.com
Affordablescan.com
Are you suffering with chronic pain? Could you be making mental mistakes that are leading to this suffering? Listen in for four and a half common mental mistakes that can lead to pain and unnecessary suffering!
Is there a right number of reps for exercise? How do you know how many reps to do? If you’re like most fitness seekers these are questions that have played through your mind. Is there a right answer? Listen in for insights and tools to help you find the answers you’ve been looking for.
What is exercise? Should you be doing it? In this episode we discuss what exercise really is and how to use it to improve your life. We talk about key areas of focus that a lot of trainers don’t talk about (and it isn’t HIIT). Listen in to discover what exercise can and CAN’T do for your life.
In this episode we discuss what meditation is and isn't. The conversation provides insights about how meditation can improve exercise, stress, anger, and more. Meditation is an incredibly valuable practice to incorporate into day to day life. Listen in to get a better idea of why and how!
Do stem cell or PRP injections work for back pain? What do X-rays and MRIs really mean for your spine? What can you do to get out of chronic back pain? Find out from investigative journalist and author of Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery.
Get the book: https://amzn.to/2nrErdS (purchasing using this link helps support the podcast)
Surgeons often make optimistic claims about their surgeries – in spite of evidence to the contrary. Do these doctors lie? Are they regularly lying about surgery results? Or is something else at play? Find out what’s at the heart of this problem.
Episode 28 – The Secret History of Joint Pain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LID6uyCPoWE
Nick’s video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFG31ZeFtMk
Open Payments: https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/
What is the purpose of pain? If you have chronic hip, back, or shoulder pain, what does the pain really mean? Does it mean you’ve got permanent damage of some kind? How can you use and think about pain in a way that gets you back to enjoying your life?
Resources
https://www.uprighthealth.com/blog/why-chronic-pain
Chronic pain sufferers often get conflicting information from doctors and other experts. One doctor tells you this surgery is the best. Another says this one is better. Another says none of them will help. Another doctor tells you this pill will solve your problems. If you listen between the lines, there’s a deeper message that undermines your ability to get out of chronic pain.
Resources:
Why am I in chronic pain?
Why does the medical system seem to be surgery-happy? Why do even physical therapists seem to think surgery is the only option for some kinds of joint pain? In this episode, we’ll look at the history and systemic issues that infuse the medical system with a love of surgery. And we’ll talk about what YOU can do to protect yourself!
Resources
Avoid orthopedic surgery for joint pain
In today’s episode, Matt talks about news of opioid painkillers and what the history of opioid prescription means for you and your body.
Resources:
FDA requires strong new safety warnings for opioids
Opioids for chronic pain video
In today’s episode, Matt lays out the risks and rewards of thinking about muscles instead of focusing on the alleged problems inside your joints. When faced with joint pain, why is better to think about muscles?
In today’s episode, Matt discusses the prevailing ideas of how our bodies absorb impact and how these ideas affect the decisions we make. Doctors often warn us that "impact" from activities like running and jumping wear out our joints. But does this really make sense?
Article: Muscle as a molecular machine for protecting joints and bones by absorbing mechanical impacts
In today’s episode, we answer an Upright fan’s question about his stubborn anterior pelvic tilt.
Get free Anterior Pelvic Tilt tips here: https://uprighthealth.com/fix-apt-info
Is sitting as bad for you as everyone says? Should you burn your seat and stand for everything that you do? In this raging battle against sitting and the rise of "stand-up" desks, figure out what really makes sense for workplace ergonomics and your life in general.
In this episode, we talk about how to trick your brain and body into accepting new norms so you can achieve what you’re trying to achieve.
Stuart was told he needed surgery to fix his hip pain. Doctors said he had FAI, and that the only cure was to saw down his bones. Hear how Stuart’s hip impingement has been doing since he started using the FAI Fix approach to his hip problems.
Get the program at https://www.thefaifix.com
What sets pro athletes apart from us mere mortals? What lesson did Matt learn from his body’s failure to handle a power skating clinic? What the heck is a power skating clinic? What can we learn from the physical feats of pro athletes and members of elite military units?
Achieving your goals with your body depends on your ability to set a clear goal and being willing to falter on the road to those goals. Learn how to set goals and what to expect on your journey out of chronic pain.
Feel guilty because you can’t do all the exercises you want to do? Do you do exercises that are supposed to make you feel good BUT discover they make you feel bad? Learn how to fix your approach so you can fix your body.
Training programs are often focused on burning more calories, moving faster, and "blasting" your fat.
This approach could land you in a load of trouble.
Partial Transcript: Hey, everybody! It's Matt Hsu from Upright Health and welcome to the Episode 17 of the Upright Health Podcast. Today, we're going to be talking about the priorities and the goals of a personal trainer. What should those priorities and those goals be? So before I get to that, I do want to mention that I've been super, super, super, super, super busy and that's why the podcast episodes have been a little spotty and not on a regular basis. The reason I have been super busy is because we are entering the home stretch for the release of The FAI Fix -- which you can see previews of at TheFAIFix.com. And you can sign up there. Enter in your name and email address and you will be put on the notification list, so you will find out when The FAI Fix is available for you to purchase and download and use to troubleshoot your hip problems -- whether you've been given the diagnosis of FAI or you feel like you just have a bunch of hip problems. We have created this eBook and video package, so that you can go step by step to try out the most common things that are going to help, based on the client's that we've seen and our own personal issues. And go step by step and just work through until you figure out what's bugging your hips. So this is a package that my friend, Shane, in San Diego and I have been working on for the last four to six months, that's been kicking around in my head for about a year. And basically, we've thought through the most common hopeful stretches, tissue work, re-activation exercises that we use and put them all into this eBook. And then we shot a whole bunch of pictures and a video and linked everything together so that you can just go through this eBook. Keep track your progress with the handy TSR tracker, which helps you basically keep track of your troubleshooting and helps you narrow in on what you need to be doing on a daily basis. So go to TheFAIFix.com, check that out, sign up and stay tuned. Now, as for the other reason I've been super, super busy, I've also been doing some mentoring sessions with some other trainers here in the Bay Area. Started doing them a little bit more regularly and we’re trying to get those scheduled to be more regular. But it's keeping me busy and it's also been making me think about what the goals and the normal, the more common goals that trainers have and how that does or doesn't align with the needs of many, many, many clients. A lot of times, I hear that people get hurt. I've had people come to see me and say, “I went to this other trainer and I got hurt in the first session; my back went out and it's taken me six weeks to get better.” Or the one story that actually I heard and that mind fledgling trainers also heard last week was, “I went to a group exercise class. We were doing squats for like four or five minutes and I was fine during the class but the next day, it was just terrible and I haven't been able to walk properly for three weeks because my back, my hip hurt so much and it just feels terrible now.” So those were really common stories and it's gotten me thinking, “Well, why does that happen? What is it about the training paradigm, the perspective that trainers usually have? What is it that makes them so common?” And what I think was going on was a lot of the trainers think their job is to just help you move a lot. So, most trainers, the scope of practice seems to be your job is to help somebody lose weight, burn calories, provide a good example so that people burn more calories than they consume and help them work up a sweat. Make them do multi-joint exercises; make them feel like they are just really just having to kill, right? They are just having to kill it in the gym...
Climbing around on rocks can teach you unexpected things about life and about yourself.
Partial Transcript: Hey, everybody! It's Matt Hsu from Upright Health and welcome to Episode 16 of the Upright Health Podcast. Today, I’m going to be talking with about two lessons I learned while climbing on rocks. I’m going to keep this pretty short because I am short on time these days. I have been working, as you may know, very hard on the FAI Fix.
That is an e-book supplemented with a ton of videos to help you troubleshoot pain, discomfort and mobility problems with your hips, so that you can get your life back again. This is a project that I've been working on for quite a while and I'm very excited that it's almost done. It's looking like it’s going to be done by the end of March like I had planned. And I'm really excited by the prospects of being able to help so many people: (1) understand that surgery is probably not a good answer for hip pain and hip mobility problems; and (2) to help people solve that problem. So look out for that. The website is not complete but I will share that with you when it is good and ready, so keep your ears open for that. Now, a couple weeks ago, I went with a couple friends to go run around some rocks and jump around on boulders and just climb around like a bunch of ten year olds. We had a spectacular time. We were just sprinting around, jumping up and down on rocks, climbing rocks. It wasn't exactly bouldering; it was just sort of, from what I can tell from my research, it qualifies a class 3 kind of hiking-ish. So, we were just, no ropes or anything; nothing fancy, just good mobile shoes and our bodies climbing around on rocks. So I was with two friends: one's name was Henry and one’s name was Mountain. We were running around on these rocks, and the three of us have… we have pretty athletic backgrounds. We're all relatively in shape. And we like to do fun stuff, so we would try climbing on these rocks and approach these different steep angles and try to get ourselves up and over these boulders. And we learned one really important lesson that I wanna share with you today. And it's important because of not just, you know, bouldering but because of how it would apply to your regular life. It was a lesson I did not expect to learn, but I think it was a really important lesson to have learned. So we kept approaching these different challenges. We'd ran into these situations where were trying to climb higher and higher on these rocks, on these boulders. And we all had different body types, and we had different strengths and weaknesses. One guy, Henry, is extremely strong. Tons of muscle on him. Just an incredible athlete. And so he had that body type. My friend, Mountain, also very strong. Very lean, very mobile. But he had a bag, kind of like a… I don't know what you would call it, just a man bag, but a small man bag slung around one shoulder and around his chest, that kind of changed his balance point and effected what he was able to do. And then there's me who, you know, is just incredibly, incredibly good looking. And you know, I have my own body type which you can see online when you watch my YouTube videos. And you know, we're all a little bit different height. One of us is taller; one is shorter, a little bit leaner, a little less lean, whatever. So we all had our different backgrounds and different tolerances for risk. And so at one point, we were climbing up these boulders and my friend Henry started going up this path to try to get up over these boulders. And I was watching him and I thought, “Oh my god, that's crazy! That’s just too hard. Whatever you're thinking, I'm not doing that.” And you know, I said, “Why are you going that way? Over here is the easy way.” And Mountain was like, “Yeah, that way does look pretty hard.” He was having very similar thought. Like, “Wow, the way that Henry is choosing looks really, really difficult...
Find out how flawed measurements of improvement in hip surgery patients make hip surgery seem like a great idea.
Resources:
Harris Hip Score
Arthroscopic Femoroplasty in the Management of Cam-type Femoroacetabular Impingement
Partial Transcript:
Hey, everybody! This is Matt Hsu from Upright Health and welcome to Episode 15 of the Upright Health Podcast. Today, I am looking at something called the Harris Hip Score. And we're looking at that in the context of hip surgery for people who Femoroacetabular Impingement nerve who have been given the diagnosis of FAI. I’ve talked in depth about this in videos and online in many different formats. I believe that this diagnosis is one of basically illusory misplaced faith in diagnostic imaging, and then you pile surgery on top of that and you leave people in a pretty terrible lurch. So I have been getting a lot of comments and emails from people who have been doing those stretches and taking a different approach to their hip problems and they've been seeing marked improvements. And I really appreciate your sharing those stories with me because it motivates me to continue digging deeper into the research and helping share more information that others can use to first, change their mindset and second, start doing different things like stretching properly, addressing muscle properly, addressing coordination issues properly so that they can start moving their hips better. So for all of all of you who have already sent those messages to me, I really appreciate it. I really enjoy hearing your stories of success and seeing you succeed, really with what can be a really frustrating, painful and stubborn problem. But in any case, today, we're talking about the Harris Hip Score because it's something that I noticed was referenced in a lot of studies on surgery for hip impingements. So basically, the Harris Hip Score is a questionnaire that's used to determine how healthy your hips are. It's only thirteen questions in its full form. There's a modified version which is a little bit shorter. It takes out a number of questions that have almost no… I mean very little amount of points that they add to your total score and that, you know, from my experience are probably -- from my vantage point anyway – are probably not that effective and useful for assessments, but in any case, it's got thirteen questions in its full form and you can have a total score of 100 points. The Harris Hip Score is used to determine whether or not surgery is successful. So in order to consider a surgery a success, you are supposed to have improvement in your Harris Hip Score of 20 points. So for example, if I were going to consider surgery for my hips, I would graded using the Harris Hip Score before surgery and after the surgery, I’d follow up, whatever, a couple months down the line, a year down the line, two years down the line. We’d check in and see what my Harris Hip Score is. As long as I'm maintaining a twenty point improvement, it's considered a successful surgery. So, I'm going to give you a study here to take a look at and it's from March 2009 edition of the clinical orthopedics and related research journal by J. W. Thomas Byrd and Kay S. Jones. What they had was two hundred people with hip problems. A couple of them had more than one hip that was problematic, so they had 207 hips to work on. Average age was thirty three years with a hundred and thirty eight men and sixty two women. They underwent correction of cam impingement, and also forty two patients underwent surgery for cam and pincer impingement. So in this abstract they mentioned that the increase in the Harris Hip Score -- the average increase -- was twenty points. Yes! So, based on the average, pretty successful. If we look deeper into the results,..
Learn how to identify issues and possible solutions for your aches and pains, and then discover how to gauge progress.
Partial Transcript: Hey, everybody! It's Matt Hsu from Upright Health. Welcome to Episode 14 - How to troubleshoot your own body. So, today, I want to help you learn how to identify issues and possible solutions for your own aches and pains and also, how you can figure out whether what you're doing is the right thing. You'll have to excuse my voice today; a cold is attempting to take root in my sinuses and I am doing everything I can to destroy it and excise it from my body. So, I do still want to share this information with you, however, so just bear with my voice. Now, to talk about this, I wanted to start with a real life example.
So this is a situation that I actually had personally. So I used to find it extremely, extremely uncomfortable to lie on my side whether I was on a hard surface or a soft surface. I had a couple of things that hurt actually: if I lay down on my right side, then my right shoulder and my right hip would hurt; if I lay on my left, it will just be my left hip. So, today, I wanna focus a lot on the hips since that is a big thing that a lot of people struggle with. So, lying on my side, if I was on the floor, I would feel like it's as if the bone was really, really sensitive.
So the bone that actually sticks out and hits the floor around the hip joint area is actually your greater trochanter. It's not where your actual hip joint. It's where your femur, the thigh bone, actually just sort of jets out a little bit. It's also where you get a lot of attachments for muscles, so the muscles that do influence your hip joint movements, there are many that actually attach to the greater trochanter. So, if I went and lay in bed, then I would have less of the sharp pain but still get a lot of this very hard to describe kind of achy, gnawing kind of, agitating sensation in my hips. So it wasn't like there was pinching happening.
It wasn’t like there was sharpness that a hard surface would give me, but there was definitely this internal sense, like, “Good Lord! I need to get out of this position.” And I would turn up, you know, face up and I would still have this odd, achy sensation. I didn’t know what to do about it. I tried to do some different things. We’re going to go through some of those options today, in discussions with clients and with people who've been trying to train their bodies to feel better. I've kind of narrowed it down to very simple three things that you can do to try to help yourself when something hurts. So, we can look at those three things and those three things are: stretch, smash or strengthen. So, “stretch,” I think everybody is familiar with. That's when you are trying to make a muscle used to stretching, in getting used to a different range of motion. You can “smash,” which is like form rolling. If it's a ball, you can have somebody give you a deep tissue massage. And you can “strengthen,” which is to attempt to make something stronger by training it, by making it do a certain motion with some resistance. So with my hips, what I ended up doing was trying to stretch the areas that were uncomfortable; so that includes the again, the outer area of my hips, so that's sort of like the proverbial “side butt”, it's the side of your thighs. So I tried some things that stretch there. I did some glut stretches. I tried to do some IT Band stretches. And those actually really did not feel good.
They did not help anything. And actually, they tended to make my hips feel less stable and more sensitive. So that did not work very well and that was easy for me to see. The stretching even immediately, didn’t seem to help. I tried smashing, so I’d use a ball. I used a Lacrosse ball or foam roller and that kind of helped a little bit....
How important is terminology to solving your problems? Poor use of language can trap you in pain.
Transcript: Hey, everybody! Welcome to Episode 13 of the Upright Health Podcast. This is Matt Hsu. And today, we're going to be talking about “sloppy thinking down a slippery slope.” So I had a discussion with a guy a couple weeks ago in the locker room about some of the issues he was having with his hip and knee. A couple of us were in the locker room after a pickup game, just talking about how we're going to be stretching our hips in different ways. And we were all very excited to be stretching in different ways and another guy chimed in and said that he had been working on different ways to stretch his hips because he had been having some knee and hip issues. And basically, the doctors had said, “Well, might be some Tendinitis near the knee. It might be Piriformis. It might be your SI Joint.” And when he said “SI Joint,” I said, “That doesn’t even makes sense.” And then we got into a debate about whether or not terminology is really that important when you're discussing things like this. And my contention is that you need to be very, very, very, very clear when you are using language about cause and effect, and you're dealing with the human body. So you know, he was saying it might be the tendon. It might be Piriformis. Both of those, I could say, “Okay, let’s make some sense. Those are soft tissues that can affect things. That makes sense.” And then when he said “SI Joint,” I said, “That doesn’t make sense. The joint doesn’t control anything.” And that’s when he said, “No, no, no, no, it is the joint but blah, blah, blah.” And I said, “Look, the joint is just two bones meeting. The joint is the space where two joints meet. It doesn’t include the muscles around the joint.” Sometimes when we're just sort of talking casually, we may say, “Oh, yeah, SI Joint includes all muscles around that joint.” But when we're trying to be very clear, the joint is simply where two bones meet. And when we think about it that way, we need to realize that that is not going to cause you any issues, right? Even if you have signs of joint degeneration in any joint, it's not, not, not, not, not a sign that the joint degeneration is causing you pain. Quite to the contrary, right? There have been many studies that show that signs of joint degeneration do not correlate at all to whether or not you have pain. So when we say, “Oh, a joint is causing you pain,” we have to actually back up and realize that the joint is probably not doing anything. If you have a skeleton lying in the dirt with no muscle, no soft tissue and no brain sending any commands to anything, you have a skeleton that isn't moving, right? It's not going to do anything. You're not going… that skeleton is clearly not experiencing pain, whether from joint degeneration or from the lack of a brain. So we got into this discussion about a concise use of language and that's an idea that is extremely, extremely important to me as somebody who has studied literature and tried to learn a number of languages in my life. I think the clearer use of language is fundamental to having a good discussion on anything, and to solving any problem. You just have to be very clear about all the words to you use. And so this whole discussion got me thinking about how sloppy we can get when we start talking about a cause of pain in our body. And I'm realizing I'm going back to the whole arthritis idea again, and I hope you are not tired of me beating this horse but the idea of arthritis is that we're looking at signs of degeneration in the joint where you have pain and we say arthritis is causing you pain. To even get the diagnosis, you already have the pain and then you have the joint degeneration and then you say you have arthritis, then you say the arthritis is causing you pain. This is not really true, right? We're looking at arthritis with its pain a
Frustrated as you journey out of chronic pain? Matt explains three key strategies that you can use over and over again to maintain motivation and make progress in your functional training.
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Matt Hsu explains how specificity can lead to better results. Functional training without some specific functional goals can be pointless and frustrating. Here’s how to make it more practical for yourself in the long-run.
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Knee pain sucks. Doctors often say it’s caused by arthritis. But research points to muscles that could actually stop your knee pain - regardless of the “bone damage” in your knees…
Study on knee arthritis: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22961435/
Why you don’t need surgery: https://www.uprighthealth.com/blog/avoid-orthopedic-surgery-joint-pain
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An Upright ally, Liam, asks about a solution for his wrist that keeps on clicking. Matt tries to explain some possible solutions…
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Sometimes the most important question to ask is the one that you don’t even think you need to ask. Discover how to answer this question for yourself.
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Arthritis is bad. Arthritis is bad for your hips, your knees, your shoulder, your spine…OR is it? Rigorous scientific research on arthritis paints doesn’t jibe with what doctors often tell us. What’s going on with arthritis and joint pain?
Videos
Hip arthritis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0CA5YxF8Cc
Knee arthritis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9y5DeXjqZo
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There’s an oft-repeated rule that says “NEVER STRETCH BEFORE YOU EXERCISE.” And there is another rule that says “ALWAYS STRETCH BEFORE YOU EXERCISE.” Which one is right? Why is there such disagreement? Find out in this episode and learn how to apply the rules properly in your own life.
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If you’re struggling with chronic hip pain, you might be considering hip surgery. Let’s talk about the reasons surgery might be a good idea - and why it could be a terrible idea to fix hip pain.
Real success rates for hip impingement surgery: https://www.uprighthealth.com/blog/real-success-rates-surgery-femoroacetabular-impingement
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Matt Hsu discusses posture - what it means and what it DOESN’T mean. Many people get lost in the idea that posture is the end-all, be-all for understanding chronic pain and overall health. Many health professionals think it’s the ONLY thing you need to look at. Meanwhile, other practitioners believe posture means NOTHING. Let’s dive in to make sense of it.
What does good posture look like? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6E-m0CgG1E
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Meditation is amazing, right? But when is it bad for you? Matt Hsu explains when you might NOT want to meditate to fix chronic pain, and he gets into the binary nature of the human body…
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Functional training expert Matt Hsu discusses one of the most important pieces of beating chronic pain. Drawing on his own experience with years of joint pain, he shares key perspectives that help you heal, get stronger, and get your life back.
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