I am often asked, “Where did the idea of Optimally Balanced come from?” Optimally Balanced was born out of a simple goal, to find something, anything, that would help reduce and control chronic pain.
Anyone who lives with chronic pain knows that feeling, that pleading, that desperate hope that there must be something beyond just the traditional pain management. There must be something that will let me have some semblance of a ‘normal’ life. A life where I can move or even play with my kids (or grandchildren) without having to be in a foggy state from an overload of pain medications. When you live with chronic pain the physical pain is only half of the battle. What pain takes from you, what it does to your life, is just as devastating as the physical pain itself.
My Personal History With Pain
My physical pain stems from severe arthritis in both of my hips and knees; as if that wasn’t enough I have spinal stenosis and all but 2 of the discs in my back are moderately to severely herniated from the thoracic through the lumbar with several complete nerve root impingements.
Most of the time, the only thing I feel from below my ribs through my legs is a variation of different pain sensations. When I was a young boy I had severe osteomyelitis in my hip and after months in the hospital and numerous surgeries the brilliant nurses and doctors at the Scottish Rite Hospital were not only able to save my life but also to help me walk again. Little did I know that I had a time bomb of damage ticking away inside of me. Most of the damage I now have is due to a cumulative effect of decades of improper gait and weight distribution, all due to the issues with my hip in my childhood and injuries from playing sports.
How Chronic Pain Affects Me
Like anyone in severe chronic pain, we could talk about spoon theory and how chronic pain makes you choose if you are going to be able to go to the bathroom or take out the trash – which is something most people do not consider as an either-or choice in their daily routine. But chronic pain affected me the most by what I had to give up. Only being able to listen to my young children playing while I was trapped by physical pain, lying in the bed or stretched out on a couch, unable to be a part of their lives is what truly hurt the most. Not being able to attend events like my daughter’s ice-skating or gymnastics competitions because I couldn’t physically sit on the bleachers long enough to see her perform. Not being able to get down on the floor and play paw patrol or super heroes with my son because my back would freeze for days if I attempted to sit on the floor. Pain had separated me from my life, it had taken away my mobility, it was taking my family from me. My pain wasn’t only affecting me, it was putting a massive burden on my wife both physically and emotionally – it was hurting everyone I love.
So Did Optimally Balanced Make Me Pain Free?
My experiences with debilitating pain continued to mount and I frequently looked for ways to alleviate the pain and rejoin my life. Specifically, after the birth of my son, I started having severe issues with my back and despite using a cane and wearing a back brace full time, I was unable to move without significant pain. I was told by numerous doctors that I could never lift or carry my infant son without further, more serious injury. Not being able to carry or lift my son and spending my life trapped in pain was really starting to wear on me. Then one day, I was lying in bed in and staring at picture on the wall of my kids and honestly, I was really in a dark place. I was extremely down and wondering if there was any purpose in my life. I really couldn’t be a dad or a husband and really that is all I wanted. At that point, the misery of my pain had completely consumed me; I had given up on my ability to ever live even one day without agony. I started to wonder if there was someone else who would love my family the way I did and could be the father and husband they deserved. Maybe if a replacement existed, I could end this constant suffering. In my pain deluded mind I really started to convince myself that my family would be better off without me. All I could think of was ending my pain. Alright, I know this very dark and that is not the point of this blog, but the reality is that chronic pain wears on the body and mind; it grinds you down day after day obliterating hope. While not a real solution, the allure of ending one’s pain permanently is at times extremely tempting and sadly is a reoccurring part of life for a lot of people with chronic pain.
I was in that extremely low place when I was interrupted by my daughter running in begging for me to play with her. As I was trying to explain, yet again that I would love to but right now I can’t, she said something that changed everything. She asked me if I would ever be able to play with her like her friend’s dads? That was it. That moment, the tearful pleading eyes completely broke me. It was then and there that I knew that either I had to find some other way to overcome this pain filled life. At that point there was nothing left to lose, pain had already taken away everything, even my ability to lift my son. Pain had taken everything from me and I was either going to find a way to be the husband and father I wanted to be or die trying – one way or another I was no longer going to stand in the way of my family having what they deserved.
I began working with some of the best and brightest in their fields and eventually Optimally Balanced was developed. Overtime through trial and error, countless programs, specialists and research; we started developed our own methodology, eventually arriving at our model of encompasses every aspect of the well-being: physical fitness, nutrition and mentality. And now we are constantly working to continue improving and evolving that methodology as new information and technology become available.
In developing Optimally Balanced, we ended up with was something quite amazing. Not only did we have a complementary program for pain management, that helps to significantly reduce pain levels and increase mobility. But what was the most surprising was just how dramatic the body re-composition effects are. Going from being unable to move most of the time to being in the best physical shape of our lives at any age is remarkable but doing it in your late 30, 40’s and 50’s and being in better shape than most 20-year-olds is simply incredible. The body re-composition effects in muscle gain and body fat reduction have significantly surpassed that of traditional diet and exercise programs or spending countless hours in a gym doing high impact cardio and weight lifting programs. This was truly surprising given the program is centered around very low impact activities and exercises designed for people with significant physical limitations – that in most cases could not actually do high impact cardio or traditional weight training programs and getting in that level of physical shape would have been considered impossible.
Ironically now most people have no idea how much pain I live with or just how damaged my body is – most of the time people don’t believe me that I have any physical ailments because of how in-shape I am.
So Did Optimally Balanced Make Me Pain Free?
I am certainly not pain free but I have significantly less pain than a few years ago. While I still live with chronic pain, the difference is now I am in control. I have reduced the number of bad days, reduced my overall pain and drastically improved my mobility. Pain is a very subjective experience, and everyone has different levels of pain and different perceptions of pain; some of our clients have achieved complete pain reduction while many have reduced their pain substantially. Progress is also dependent on the amount of effort put in to making the necessary lifestyle changes. The person who follows all pillars- working to improve their activity level, nutrition and mentality will have more success than the person who only works on one pillar or who only puts in occasional effort.
The most importance result from following the Optimally Balanced lifestyle is that now not only can I be around my family, but I can interact with them. Now my son thinks I am a super hero – super strong like Hulk. That is something I would have never dreamed possible. And that memory of his crippled, pain ridden father who was never playing with him is fading more and more every time I grab him, lift him into the air and hold him tight. I am so grateful that Optimally Balanced has really done for me what nothing else could. And I’m excited to help others achieve the same level of results.
What About People Who Don’t Have Chronic Pain?
Well here is something absolutely insane, the Optimally Balanced methodology will work even better if you are not struggling with pain or a disability – and it is especially effective if you are overweight or obese. The reason is simple: building stabilizing muscles, incorporating multiple low impact activities though out the day, balancing your nutrient intake and overall intake to your activity level as well as understanding and taking control over your mentality creates a self-perpetuating lifelong total body change.
In other words, we are not focused on just losing weight, you lose weight, or gain it, depending on what is best for your body. We focus on matching the intake relative to the activity level to reduce the genetic effect of fat storage and we work on being aware of and balancing the macro and micro nutrients to help control everything from inflammation to providing positive biologic effects.
You will gain strength and muscle but again the focus is not on trying to bulk up muscle, it is about trying to develop strong stabilizing muscles and lean muscle mass which has a cascade of health benefits. Everything from strengthening bones, to increasing your generalized cardiac and pulmonary health, to helping to tap into the pre-wired genetic effects that reduce body fat and produce positive hormones.
The mentality portion is interwoven and is essentially the glue that makes everything possible. Your diet and level of physical activity impact your overall mentality and your mentality impacts your physical activity and diet choices. So developing a strong understanding of how to utilize strengths and tools to overcome tough spots is the key to making everything work and making it a life long change. When you understand the complementary relationship and how to use one or more of the pillars to strengthen another you begin to obtain a level of balance the becomes sustainable.
The results described are based on active and strict participation in our program. Any claim or description of results is not intended to represent or guarantee that anyone will achieve the same or similar results. The testimonial is meant to be a showcase of the best results the program. You should assume that featured results are not typical. Individual results will vary based on several factors and are not guaranteed.
Learn More at www.optimallybalanced.com
