This weekend I helped out my friend and fellow CHEK Practitioner Matthew Wallden at The Back Show exhibition in Olympia.
Matthew invited me along to help educate the public on 2 products he sells to help people achieve optimal functioning of their bodies.
His products, The Five Finger Shoe and The Neutraliser caused quite a stir at the show, especially the shoes. Without question, our stand was the busiest at the show.
Both products are tools that can aid back pain when used correctly. The Five Finger Shoe allows you to walk outdoors as if you your were in bare feet. The advantages of this are:
- they increase sensation through the foot and therefore the information to the brain to ensure the correct muscles of the body are being used during movement
- they allow the muscles in the lower leg and foot to do their job which they do not do when wearing a normal shoe
- they are flat are therefore do not dramatically alter posture like any shoe with a heel would do which can cause back pain.
- they also like really funky too.
The Neutraliser allows people with back pain to perform rehabilitation exercises with the knowledge that they have perfect posture. It can be used during initial rehabilitation up to integrative and strength exercises. It also provides feedback via a string to remind you to engage your deep abdominal muscles which support your spine. The deep abdominal wall muscles quite often stop working when someone has back pain via what is known as pain inhibition. It is therefore crucial that these muscles are re-educated to maintain a healthy pain-free back.
If you do have back pain, it is highly recommended that you seek the help of a professional who uses a holistic approach and understands the complex interaction of all the bodily systems, not just the musculoskeletal system and how any of the systems may cause back pain.