Greg Lehman on Why Exercise Helps With Pain

Welcome to the first episode of the Better Movement Podcast. The subject matter will be more expansive than the blog. It will be centered around the main topics discussed in the blog (pain, motor control, and play) but move into new areas like nutrition, sport science, evolution/biology, and science in general. The plan is to have a new show every two weeks, and most shows will be interviews with experts.

My first guest is Greg Lehman, a researcher and clinician who helps people with musculoskeletal pain.Most of my readers will know from his excellent blog, his lively Twitter feed, and his very popular course called Reconciling Biomechanics With Pain Science, which I highly recommend. Greg’s main expertise is evaluating the research about connections between pain and “dysfunctional” posture or movement. He makes a strong case that mainstream opinions and practices related to these issues are inconsistent with the evidence.

We had a lively talk that covered many different topics, including:

* the real reasons exercise helps with pain

* whether pain treatment requires a diagnosis

* what actually happens when your back “goes out”

* Greg’s own recent terrifying experiences with pain

* the need to be humble about the limits of our knowledge

* what kinds of research Greg would do if he had infinite time and money

Even if you are familiar with Greg’s work I think you will find some new insights here. Hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think.

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