Why Your Back Still Hurts: A Guide to Lasting Relief

Feeling frustrated that your St. Louis back pain treatment isn't working? Brentwood chiropractor Dr. Josh Wideman, DC, MS, explains why bracing and generic exercises often fail and reveals the movement-based solution at The RANGE: Rehabilitation and Performance.

The Story Your Back Is Trying to Tell

If you’re reading this, you’ve likely spent time on the winding trails of Castlewood State Park, cheered at a Blues game at the Enterprise Center, or simply dreamed of playing in the backyard with your kids in Webster Groves without that familiar twinge in your back.

You’re also likely frustrated. You’ve tried the stretches. You’ve been told to “strengthen your core” and “protect your spine.” You may have even experienced temporary relief, only to have the pain return when you lifted a grocery bag in Brentwood or bent down to garden in Kirkwood.

The question isn’t just about pain; it’s about your story. It’s about the moments you’re missing. And the conventional wisdom of bracing and immobilization might be the very thing keeping you stuck.

At The RANGE: Rehabilitation and Performance in Brentwood, MO, we see things differently. We believe your body isn’t a machine to be fixed, but a garden to be tended. Our purpose isn’t just to treat your back pain, it’s to put you back in your story.

Let’s unravel the mystery of why your back still hurts and explore a more effective path forward.

Part 1: The Well-Intentioned Lie: Why “Protecting” Your Spine Makes It Worse

If you’ve sought help for back pain in St. Louis, you’ve probably heard this advice: “Keep a neutral spine.” “Brace your core.” “Don’t slouch.”

This advice comes from a good place. The idea is to create stability. But it’s based on a fundamental misunderstanding of your spine’s anatomy.

Your Spine is a Symphony, Not a Soloist

Your spine isn’t one solid bone. It’s a brilliant, intricate stack of 24 vertebrae, each designed to move just a few millimeters in relation to its neighbors. This segmented design allows for graceful, powerful, and resilient movement.

When you consciously try to “lock” your spine into a rigid, “neutral” position to protect it, you are essentially telling this symphony to play a single, frozen note.

• The Consequence: This rigidity stops the natural, tiny movements between each segment. Without this motion, the discs and joints don’t get the nutrient exchange they need to stay healthy. It’s like forgetting to water one part of your garden; it will eventually wither and become brittle.

• The St. Louis Analogy: Think of your spine like the traffic flow on I-64/40. When all lanes are open and moving smoothly (each segment doing its job), traffic flows. When you close two lanes for construction (bracing and immobilizing), you force all the traffic onto the remaining lanes, causing congestion, wear, and eventual breakdown. The problem isn’t the cars; it’s the lack of available lanes.

The well-intentioned advice to “protect” your spine often leads to immobility, and immobility is the enemy of joint health.

Part 2: Beyond the “Quick Fix”: Why Generic Exercises (Like Bird Dogs) Aren’t The Answer

So, you took the advice. You started doing planks, bird dogs, and other “core stability” exercises. And yet, here you are.

Why didn’t it work?

These exercises often teach you to “chunk” your spine, to move your arms and legs while keeping your entire back completely rigid. If you have an injured or stiff segment (let’s say between the L4 and L5 vertebrae), the exercise doesn’t fix it. Your body simply learns to move around the stiffness, compensating with healthier segments above and below.

You’re not training the weak link. You’re reinforcing the compensation pattern.

Furthermore, the deep muscles of your spine, like the multifidus, are designed for endurance. They need to be “on” all day to monitor your posture and prevent injury. Telling them to do “three sets of ten” is like training a marathon runner with 100-meter sprints. It’s the wrong type of strength.

The “Why” Behind the “Buckling” Feeling

This explains the terrifying moment your back suddenly “goes out” when you pick up a laundry basket. It’s not a bone slipping out of place. It’s a segmental buckle.

Because one segment is stiff and “forgotten” by your brain’s movement map, it can’t do its job. When force is applied (like lifting), that force can’t be distributed evenly. Instead, it all dumps into that one stiff, weak segment. The load exceeds its capacity, and the tissues, ligament, muscle, disc, and protest with a painful protective spasm.

This is why people in St. Louis who have had one back injury are far more likely to have another. The root cause is the stiff, untrained segment, which was never addressed.

Part 3: The RANGE Approach: How We Cultivate Resilience in St. Louis Backs

At our Brentwood clinic, The RANGE, we take a different approach. We don’t see ourselves as mechanics fixing a broken part. We are guides, helping you tend to your personal movement garden. We don’t just treat your pain; we decode your body’s unique language to solve the movement riddles holding you back.

Our process is built on three core principles:

1. Reconnect the Brain and the Spine

Before we can build strength, we must rebuild connection. If a segment hasn’t moved properly in years, your brain loses its detailed map of how to control it.

• How We Do It: Using manual biofeedback, I’ll help you rediscover how to feel and gently activate those deep spinal muscles without bracing your entire core. It’s about finesse, not force. It’s the first step in relearning how to “water” that neglected part of your garden.

2. Train Specific Movement, Not Global Bracing

We need to train the specific segment that failed, not just make everything around it more rigid.

• How We Do It: Instead of generic “back exercises,” we use targeted, pain-free movements designed to restore those precious millimeters of motion at the exact level of your injury. This isn’t about doing more; it’s about doing what is precisely right for your body. This is the essence of our N-of-1 approach, your program is yours alone.

3. Build Specific Capacity (The Right Kind of Strength)

We train your deep stabilizers for the endurance they need to protect you all day long, whether you’re sitting at a desk in Clayton or walking the hills of Tower Grove Park.

• How We Do It: We prescribe exercises based on “time under tension” and quality of movement, not just arbitrary rep counts. We aim to build resilient, slow-twitch endurance in the muscles that matter most, so they support you when you need them most.

Part 4: Your Journey Back to a Pain-Free Life in St. Louis

Healing is a collaborative journey. It’s not something I do to you; it’s something we figure out together. Your journey at The RANGE might look like this:

• The Discovery: We start by deeply listening to your story, not just your pain, but the activities it has stolen from you. We perform a comprehensive exam to find the specific segments that have lost their way, decoding the unique language of your body.

• The Cultivation: Together, we begin the careful work of restoring motion and rebuilding your brain’s connection to your spine. This is your daily practice on your personal “Range.”

• The Empowerment: As you regain control and confidence, we integrate your new movement patterns into the life you love, whether that’s training for a goal, returning to golf, or simply playing with your kids without fear.

• The Freedom: The ultimate goal isn’t just a pain-free back. It’s a resilient back that allows you to fully engage with your life in St. Louis. It’s putting you back in your story.

It’s Time to Move and Think Differently

If you’re tired of the cycle of pain and temporary fixes, it’s time to try a different way.

You don’t have to settle for less. You can have more play, more passion, and more life.

As a Brentwood chiropractor serving the St. Louis community, my mission at The RANGE: Rehabilitation and Performance is to provide a different way. We merge the heart of a Healer with the mind of a Sage and the spirit of an Explorer to guide you home to your body.

Your story isn’t over. Let’s write the next chapter together.

Are you ready to solve the riddle of your stubborn back pain? Contact The RANGE: Rehabilitation and Performance in Brentwood, MO, today to schedule a comprehensive consultation. Let’s figure it out, together.