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A Pain in the Back

People often say to me: »Things seem to be going really well for you!« and to maintain this impression at all costs, I usually leave my problems out of this

Anyway, the fact that I have had back pain for two years is really too banal. Everyone has back pain, since we’re sitting all the time, with our back bent and our eyes that are weak with age glued to the computer screen …

Well, yeah, you should excercise!

But in this newsletter I’m going to tell you about my back pain anyway, because it’s caused me to go to back school for the last three weeks. To be more precise: I did a »multimodal pain therapy« which not only improved my physical fitness, but also allowed me to gain deep insights.

The Program

Doing the program meant getting up two hours before my time every morning, riding my bike to the »Back Center« in minus 8 degrees, working out for three hours in a group of six people and then sitting through theory lessons, which they call »psycho education«.

Oh, really? Pain doesn’t originate in the back, but to 100 percent in the brain?
Who would have thought!

By the way, a colleague happened to be in my group, and I was pleased to not be the only one in the theory sessions who doodled the whole time on the paper binder for our information sheets and training plans.

The Result

When it was over, I wanted to burn my sports clothes and throw my running shoes into a tree. But instead, I’ll probably sign a contract for the in-house gym next week (it’s called »BackUp«—haha!) and work out twice a week. Twice? Three times! And I’ll do a nice »home training« on top.

The lack of sleep made me feel like I had jet lag for the three weeks. But lo and behold, even when I’m super tired working out is somehow sort of fun and above all: it helps. The pain has subsided, there is hope.

Only working or writing newsletters was out of the question during the program. But that doesn’t matter, the main thing is that I can put on my own socks again in the morning and steel my back muscles for all eternity.

Chris Campe – Lettering, Pain is French and it means Bread, 2022

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