I was asked this question on a martial arts board. This was my answer. I thought others may be interested so here is is. You are going to find this hard to believe…

Personally, I have had many back injuries over the years being involved in many different sports including martial arts. I had a friend who had pain in the neck. Doctors fused two disks together. This was irreversible and he regrets it everyday! His pain is still there and he cannot turn his head fully either!

There was a study done on this topic. A group of Doctors studied the BP phenomenon for 35 years, make some remarkable discoveries.

1) 99% of the time, there is no physical or mechanical reason the back should be in pain. E.g., there was no obvious trauma to the area like a compound fracture.

2) In some people, disks were herniated (fluid leaking out) yet the patient was NOT in any pain or discomfort.

3) Some people were BORN with imperfect disks and operate perfectly well under the circumstances that one would think would cause pain.

4) The pain in some patients that were "mechanically correct" was excruciating.

What was the common thread among these cases? "Tension in the mind!"

For instance, we know that the largest bone in the body the femur can regenerate and heal itself after a full break in just six weeks. So how then could patients have the same pain of an alleged injury after 10, 15 or 20 years or more? Again the common factor was the brain.

The brain is so powerful, we don’t even realize when it’s telling us the truth. For instance, Pavlov’s Dogs. The dogs were trained that every time they heard a bell, they would be fed. After much programming, the bell could ring, the dogs would automatically salivate and believe they were hungry even if they had just been fed. No my friend, don’t discard this as to say "Its all in your head". In fact it is, but we must realize the power of the brain.

We have been conditioned in so many ways over the period of 20, 30, 40 50 years and more of CONDITIONING! You don’t think this can make a difference?

If one did have a physical injury at one point in their life, the physical side would have healed by now. The physical injury could be like a bruise. We know they go away. An impact can also cause a lack of oxygen to the area, which depletes the muscles ability to perform property. But fact is, even neurosurgeons are guessing to some degree. No one knows for sure how the physical pain is created.

What has not healed however is the emotional side. We start to become tense about something - family, financial, health, business, outside influences like road rage, taxes, and things beyond our control. The mind only needs a small trigger, like a bell, to set the program in action. The brain has a perfect memory of how painful that fall was in 1975 and bingo! Now its there in the forefront of your mind in full colour! Now, it’s a vicious circle! The more you think about it, the more tense you become. The more tense you become the more it hurts!

Physically you have to relax the muscles. The best way I know how is to sit in the hot hot whirlpool at your local Holiday Inn. Once the muscles relax you have to be able to realize your brains trigger signals and stop them in their tracks. In this manner, you will never have back pain again!

My current martial arts teacher Vladimir Vasiliev, has taught me that muscles form memory. Recently it was broadcast that the "stomach is a second" brain. In fact I believe each cell has its own intelligence. We know from DNA that each cell holds the entire blueprint for its host organism. We can clone an exact replica of the first from the DNA of one single cell - and those cells live and die like anything else on the planet. Vladimir is constantly telling us to relax. But it’s not superficially relaxed that he means. He means to relax from the inside. It’s very difficult to do. After four years, I still find it hard, probably due to the fact that I’ve had 35 years of training my brain otherwise and only 6 or 7 of training it properly.

There are other questions to consider:
- how could someone, with arms ripped off from a bomb blast in the war go on to save others?
- how could the old lady lift the car off her trapped child?
- how can people walk on fire and not be burned?
- what about the construction worker that works physically all day with no problems, then he comes home and sits on the couch. All of a sudden - Back Pain! Why? Because, now his focus is off his work and his mind is uninterrupted that it can work on "why it should have back pain".

I’ve had the privilege of seeing first hand some pretty incredible demonstrations that would seem to defy our core beliefs. A few examples:
1) A 125 lb martial arts master sits cross-legged on the floor. Four big guys (roughly 200 lbs each) could not pick him up or move him very much either.
2) a guy throws a normal playing card clear through a regular size watermelon. The same guy throws wood chopsticks (not sharpened) stick half way through a solid wood door.
3) A guy demonstrates breaking bricks and can focus his energy so the 7th brick (in this case) of a stack of 10 breaks only!
4) My teacher shows us how it is possible to push, move or "take away the support" of myself and class mates with very subtle movements.

These are just a few examples of the power of the mind.

Oh yes, It’s all in the mind! But don’t pass this off to "Oh I think its in your head." Yes, it is but you have to realize what a powerful machine that is sitting on your shoulders. It’s capable of much greater things that we can imagine. Its power can be harnessed for pain or for pleasure as you wish.

Another thing about the brain, "It will only do what you ask it!" That is, if you keep asking, "Why does my back hurt?" It will search far and wide for an answer" Yes, of course, I fell in 1975 therefore, my back should hurt.
Look at the "references" we have given it in past, subconsciously, and you didn’t even study to make these associations!

E.g.; if you stand too long, you’ll get back pain! Lift the wrong way, you geat back pain. Pick up your child? Back pain! Don’t use your back support? Back pain! Bad posture? Back pain. No exercise? Back pain! Too much exercises? Back pain! You watched the TV instead of jogging? Back pain! You were golfing! Silly you! Back pain! You reached for the magazine on the top shelf! Guess what? Back pain! The list is endless and subconsciously, we all take them to be gospel!

Do you see where I’m going with this? We have been CONDITIONED! EXACTLY LIKE PAVLOV’S DOGS! God knows how many other associations we have taken in over the years, subconsciously.

By the way, since I realized this, I have not had back pain. We have to realize, what a "trigger is" and when the pain will start. We have to realize that the pain is not harmful to us and that it will go away because now we know where it comes from.

Please do not take this as a subscription saying you do not have to do anything to remain healthy. I do subscribe to regular exercises and a good diet. Just be aware of this and you need never have back pain again!