Latest / The Power of Doing What Matters / What Happened? Dr. Lindsey Helmerich on Rebuilding Confidence After Back Pain
Transcript
- Dr. Lindsey Helmerich: And it felt like as soon as I, left your clinic, or the, from the first time I saw you, I remember telling you, "I can't have anything touch the bottom of my right foot, especially at night when I sleep, 'cause it's so hypersensitive." And you said, "Oh, we'll get that fixed." And I remember thinking, "There is no way." This has been like this for," you know, eight, it was eight months at that point where nothing could touch that foot. And I left and got home, and I remember, "Oh, my goodness. I can touch the bottom of my foot and it doesn't hurt, and it doesn't, like, set me off." And I was just like, "Okay, there's something to this." Dr. Lindsey Helmerich: So I kind of before I came to you had been struggling with lower back pain, on and off really for eight years before I came to see you. But it, it got significantly worse about probably six months before I came to see you to where my whole right leg went numb and I couldn't walk. had kinda looked into surgery, but the, the neurosurgeon had kinda said, "Well, let's try an epidural steroid and get you in PT." And so I did that and started walking again, so the neurosurgeon said, "Okay, let's hold off on surgery for now." And I had herniated a disc in, my lower back, which is what I guess affected that sciatic nerve all the way down to my foot. So yeah, had done some pretty intense PT and it was getting better, but then there came a point where it started getting worse again, and I was very desperate to find an option for me that would give me my quality of life back. Having three kids, you know, at that time they were, gosh, I guess seven, five, and three, and I just couldn't do the things with them that I was used to doing, and I'm a pretty active person. And so I just felt like a lot of my quality of life had been taken away from this pain and especially my nerve pain down my foot. And so I was actually on a Facebook herniated disc group, and somebody had said that a McGill-trained clinician changed their life, and so kind of went down that rabbit hole, and, that's how I found you guys. So Dr. Clayton Skaggs: I remember your case specifically in that, when we started with you and I told you, "Look, here's some things that are going on. I think we can help you, and I think we've identified why." and then I told you my, common, common phrase that I want you to do these things and nothing else, and you, I remember you being kind of excited that- Dr. Lindsey Helmerich: Yes. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: You were, at the time, you were doing acupuncture physical therapy, maybe something else too. I don't know. It seemed like a multitude of things, that, you were gonna have more time now. Is... Do you remember that? Dr. Lindsey Helmerich: So vividly. Oh my gosh. I remember thinking, "This, if this really is true, this is gonna again just give me so much of my life back." So I was seeing seven different providers before I came to you, and I was scared to stop seeing one because, you know, if there was like a holiday where I'd have kind of five days off from any one of those certain providers, I would... The pain and all my symptoms would start coming back, and I was so scared to... I didn't know which one to stop. I didn't know which one was working. And I mean, so any free time outside of work, I was spending in one of those provider's offices getting therapy, and it was just all-consuming. So when you told me, "I just want you to do these things and stop..." You know, you said, "Stop seeing everybody else, because we gotta know what's working and, what's not." And I said... I was just so excited. Okay. I'm gonna get so much of my life back, so much time back. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Yeah. And as I, often say, you know, those folks that you were seeing, they certainly had the best intentions and were trying to help and, and at the same time, often it, if you're at a spot where things aren't improving, then it is time to, to say, "Well, what, what's happening?" You know, we're relating to our story today. what's happened, up to this point and, and, then likely something new, you know, take some new steps. Dr. Lindsey Helmerich: Yes. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Yeah. Wonderful. And, I know you've, had some good success. we're, excited about the progress you've made and, and yet as with a lot of our clients, it certainly wasn't, all, resolved, all resolved immediately. It, took some gradual time. I mean, you, had some good response early. maybe speak to what was key for your trust in continuing to lean in? Dr. Lindsey Helmerich: Yes. So I think you were the first provider that I felt like truly listened, to my story and took the time to evaluate my issues, and really being able to speak into, "Hey, I think this is the, kind of the root cause of why your body has done this." And then you were able to give me what felt to me like a real timeline of, "Hey, it's probably gonna take you two full years to get to where you don't think about your back all the time." And you were the first provider that really could give me what I felt like was an honest, true timeline of healing with how big of an event this felt in my life. And I thought, "Okay, I feel like I can trust this guy. He's, like, really listening to me, really speaking into what feels like this is a, a big thing that is gonna take a long time," and I just felt like I can trust him because this all feels like it makes sense to me. and it, also felt like, you know, I've tried so many things, so I am very willing to give this, a go. And it felt like as soon as I, left your clinic, or the, from the first time I saw you, I remember telling you, "I can't have anything touch the bottom of my right foot, especially at night when I sleep, 'cause it's so hypersensitive." And you said, "Oh, we'll get that fixed." And I remember thinking, "There is no way." This has been like this for," you know, eight, it was eight months at that point where nothing could touch that foot. And I left and got home, and I remember, "Oh, my goodness. I can touch the bottom of my foot and it doesn't hurt, and it doesn't, like, set me off." And I was just like, "Okay, there's something to this." So I think a, a combination of feeling heard and feeling like you were willing to educate me and give me a truthful, honest answer, and then giving me therapy that actually worked kind of were the things that made me, "Okay, I'm gonna lean into this and, trust this process." Dr. Clayton Skaggs: That, that's wonderful. Yeah, I think so often that, you know, if we can get that combination of really helping people understand and, giving them some time, you know, amongst the team, myself and, the whole team, plus, make a difference in the signal, early so we can show that, hey, we can affect this. It's... 'Cause it's gonna take time. But we can change it, and if we can change it within that visit, then we just have to figure out how to keep it moving in that direction, right? Dr. Lindsey Helmerich: Yes. Yes. And that's kind of, yeah, what I thought. Like, wow, if this- that, that thing, even though it was a small part of my body, felt very significant to me. That, okay, I think he, he knows what he's talking about and he knows what he's doing, and it's working, so. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Oh, wonderful. Wonderful. Yeah. All right. Well, I'd definitely wanna hear, maybe a little more of your story or our listeners to hear more of your stories about, some of that, those transitions in your journey. But let's go ahead and do our reading, and that might, spark a, a little bit of, those conversations. Dr. Lindsey Helmerich: Okay. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: What happened? We were all gathered around the table for dinner, my wife and I, my daughter and her husband, and the three grandchildren, ages eight, five, and two. There's usually a committee of preparation, grilling, salad, and vegetables all while entertaining the kids. Everyone had just sat down and ready to enjoy our meal when my two-year-old grandson reaches across for something on my daughter's plate and knocks his glass of water over. The water spills across my son-in-law's plate of food, across one side of the table, and onto my eight-year-old's lap. My two-year-old grandson immediately and congruently said, "What happened?" Many of you have likely experienced this event. For most with children, you've experienced it many times. When you've experienced it a lot, there's hardly a notice. The conversation might shift a little. There will be casual efforts to remedy the spill, repair the food, dry some clothing, and usually with the poise of a Roger Federer backhand. I especially marvel at mothers' poise during these events. Moms know this is no big deal. Their experience has taught them the best way to respond is to be relaxed, focused, and understanding. When this is a new or uncommon experience, your response is more reactive. There are often elevated voices, startled movements, anger over disrupted food. The feelings and emotions sometimes linger and affect the rest of the dinner or longer. My two-year-old is honest in asking what happened. He didn't even see the glass and is still discerning why water flowing across the table is undesirable. He loves spraying water all over his cars, on the ground, up in the air, and even pouring it on his feet. He was laser-focused on getting the food on his mom's plate and didn't even feel the arm hit the glass. Importantly, he quickly moves on. His view is there are still people around me who love me, and unending amazing things to see, feel, and hear. What's next? At the Institute, we encourage clients with persistent pain or injury to pause and interpret what happened. When you have a pain and/or injury experience, take a moment or a few and evaluate what this means. To help with this, we teach to reframe the pain experience as a signal. Saying the word "signal" helps to create a question in your mind. What has occurred or not occurred to create this signal to my brain? Did I spend too much time in an undesirable position? Did I play a sport outside my capacity? Did I not prepare? Have I not completed my exercises? Did I do too much or too little? The idea is to stay in discovery mode. What happened? The opposite of discovery mode is to know. If we react as if we know, we do not give our brain a chance to think. The brain will simply react based on previous experiences. When you use the word pain in a context where you have experienced it before, you're telling your mind you know what to expect. You're telling your mind what happened. Our mind most often will associate this experience as bad and with no resolution. Sometimes there may not be an answer to the question what happened. Sometimes why something happens or why we get a signal does not make sense or have an apparent reason. Accepting that there will be these times is part of the answer. When this happens, our approach is to keep doing what matters, trust, keep moving, and focus on good things. During these times, it is valuable to have a circle of advisors that has prepared us to lean in versus out. Your circle of advisors is probably one of the most important things. When you practice using the words like "signal" and phrases like, "That's fascinating," "That is curious," "What happened?" you train your responsiveness. Your habituated state will become like the poised and caring mother combined with the childlike indifference of a two-year-old. As you build your experiences in discovery mode, you may find that your answer to what happened will often be no big deal. There are still people around me who love me and unending amazing things to see, hear, and feel. What's next? All right. Well, how does that story resonate with you, Lindsey? Dr. Lindsey Helmerich: Yeah. I love it. It resonates with me a lot. I feel like coming to you guys at the Institute, one of my biggest questions was what happened? Why did this happen? And I was not able to get that answer from, other providers, and that was something that I felt like, gosh, if I just know what happened, it's, gonna help a lot because then I can know not to do that again. And so I thought that's what I gotta find out. And, I do think after our first evaluation, spending so much time on, "Hey, this is, how you breathe. This is how you walk. This is how you sit correctly. This is how you get out of bed properly." All of that finding, oh, I did all of these things much different than this. So, kind of learning, you know, you had told me you think I, a part of it was my hypermobility, but I'll also kind of learning I have been, kind of functioning my, in my daily life, in my daily movements in a way to avoid pain, and that combination of things adds up over time if they're done in a way that's not healthy for your body, if, that's a good way to put it. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Yeah. Dr. Lindsey Helmerich: and then I think also just thinking of, how our brain, like you you said, that's curious, that's fascinating, and this is just a signal, has really helped me when things have kind of backslid a little bit. I feel like now I have this different view of, okay, this is just a signal, let me think through exactly what you said. did I do something in an undesirable position for too long, or did I not do enough? Have I done my exercises this week? And it has just shifted my brain's almost anxiety towards this. Is it gonna happen again? Is, you know, is, my leg gonna go numb again? Is the back pain gonna come back to, okay, what happened? What can I do differently moving from here forward? And having the tools you guys have given me. But also, just like you said, having a team. You guys have given me an incredible team with Dr. Bunge and you to be able to reach out to with, when I'm not sure what happened, to kind of, let's troubleshoot what we can do from here, on out, has just given me so much peace of mind in a, yeah, yes, and just has made my kind of mental space feel, about this issue, feel so, so much lighter and more hopeful for the future. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: That, that's great. That's great. And, you know, I think what you're describing is you're gaining, you've gained, you know, pain literacy, and so, you know, knowledge and experience about pain that's important and it'll help you with all kinds of things moving forward. and that is, that's a real, it's a real gift and as I often say, you know, when you have these problems, it's an opportunity, it's a gift for you to learn resiliency forever that you can use again and again. And, you know, I think the other piece that you're speaking to is that, you know, this knowledge, this experience, it takes time, it takes going through, some of these challenges, and not, you know, it can't happen within, in a month. And so maybe tell a story of one of those challenges that you maybe had. Dr. Lindsey Helmerich: Yes, like one of the, one of my backs kind of after coming to you and kind of the back backsliding? Okay. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Yeah. Dr. Lindsey Helmerich: Yes. So, I do definitely feel like when I came to you, I, even before talking to you, I knew this was not gonna be a fast, easy fix. And again, you kind of giving me a, what felt like a real timeline of healing felt so, I don't know, just real and practical. But it has been slow in my but it has been mostly up and to the right. And you, kind of have said this multiple times visiting, you know, you'll have these small dips. And I would say back in the spring, just this spring actually, I had one of my biggest kind of what I felt like setbacks and just more pain in my lower back, more signal down my leg than I'd had in a while. and Dr. Bunge was great, and reached out, and was so encouraging, you know, took the time to call me and talk me through it, and listen to me, and took the time to, "Okay, let's kind of change up these, these exercises you're doing daily and your exercises you're doing at the gym, and let's go through these and see if that helps. And was it an overnight fix? No. But was I slowly again starting to, get back to less pain and more mobility and what I felt like more strength at the gym? Yes. It took, a little bit of time, but I just feel like you guys are so great at, listening to an issue and being able to tweak, tweak little things at, that we're doing at home that really makes a big difference over time. And I think just knowing, hey, I've been here for two years, I've seen this constant improvement, is so helpful for me mentally that, okay, if I have a dip, they're gonna know what to do to change it, and I'll start climbing back up again. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Okay, great. Yeah, and, and, each time there's usually an explanation, right? There... If you... When you ask what happened and you talk to your circle about what happened, oh yeah, well, here, there's some, you know, there's some new stress here physically or emotionally. There's, there was some other things. So there's, almost always a, logical explanation about what's going on and then once you have certainty around that, then fear and anxiety can go down and you can just lean into it and, start doing your exercises at a, graded pace or, close to what you were doing. Dr. Lindsey Helmerich: Yes. Yes, for sure. And I would say every time I've had kind of a, backslide, you guys have been great at asking, really pointed questions on, okay, what did, you know, what, did your last week look like? How have you been doing this? And yes, we've been able to kind of narrow it down to, oh, that was a big travel week, or, you know, or yes, I really haven't been doing good at my exercises every night, being consistent every day with them. and yes, it's just been helpful to, to have, oh, there is a logical explanation to this. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Great. And so maybe to recap your, and it's to, just help our listeners understand that, you are now practicing dentist with, you know, without compromise. I know when you started you were thinking you weren't gonna be able to practice dentistry anymore. You've gone on some fun trips. I think you went skiing, in the past, year or so. so maybe just add in a little bit of that. Dr. Lindsey Helmerich: Yeah. Yes. So I, when my, herniated disc happened, I, yeah, I tried to go back to work a month after it happened, and I was in so much pain. I mean, I did, I think, three exams, and my exams, you know, I'm not in there for an exam usually for more than 5 or 10 minutes, and I just remember leaving the office in tears thinking, "I don't think I'm gonna be able to practice dentistry again" 'cause it's hard on one's body over time, and so I was out, out of work for three months. And, and then, yeah, but kind of like you said, skiing, I also... We've gone skiing every year since I've been married to my husband. He's a big skier, and I thought, "I don't know if I'm ever gonna be able to do that again either." But I kind of had given you guys that as I would like to work again, I would like to ski again, and you guys had said, "All right. Well, we're gonna get you ready for it," and you guys kind of have given me exercises for that. So I work, I do dentistry without signal or pain, you know? And sometimes I do come home and notice after, if it was a longer appointment, I'll have more signal, but I'm able to, with what I know from you guys now, get that signal to go down really by the next day. And then, yes, I've skied twice. Two, two seasons skiing since I've seen you and have not had pain and have been able to ski with my kids and still have fun. So it's... You've just given me, again, so much quality of life that I was so scared I would not ever have again after this had initially happened. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: That's great. Great stuff. Well, Lindsey I, just, really appreciate you coming on and sharing, your, story, and certainly grateful for your trust in our team and, helping us to, move this, you know, move some of this, this thought process, these, these, clinical processes towards hopefully serving more, folks, and getting more, practice, in this direction. Dr. Lindsey Helmerich: Yes. Thank you for having me on and for all that you do. I'm just forever grateful for you and your team, for sure. Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Thank you Dr. Clayton Skaggs: Thank you for listening to The Power of Doing What Matters, a podcast that brings stories and experience and science to you, the listener. Reach for the stars for you and for others. Imagine 100 million people focused on doing what matters.