Integrated Functional Performance - Jeff Powell

Your MRI says the neck and nerve pain problem is in your neck… or it says it’s not.
But your fingers are numb, your arm hurts, and your hand feels weak.
So where should we start?

When someone has cervical radiculopathy, it’s easy to become completely focused on what did or didn’t show up on the MRI.
A bulging disc, stenosis, arthritis, bone spurs or, as possible, nothing “significant”.

Those findings can matter.

But I’m mostly interested in the nerve that’s actually struggling.

Why is it still irritated? Can we reduce the stress on it? Can we change how the nervous system is responding to it?
And when we do any of those things, what changes?

Those responses give me clues.
That’s why I don’t automatically start by asking:
“How do we fix what the MRI showed?”

I start investigating what your nervous system needs to function better.
I go “nerve first” because in my 35+ years of experience speeding my own recoveries and hundreds of others,...when we can get an irritated nerve happier and functioning better, something interesting often happens.
Those scary findings on the MRI may still be there but my clients’ symptoms fade and disappear.

Images matter but they don't necessarily have to determine what you can do with your life.
And that’s the outcome I care about.
Not a prettier MRI.

A confident, capable you.

Sciatic and nerve pain folks, what do you do when the right skill helps w relief, but not enough?
That’s exactly what happened with my client Christina this week.

She’s been dealing with IT band pain, and my investigation pointed to neurodynamic involvement from her sciatic nerve.
So we started there.
We used a very specific lumbar nerve root opener for about three minutes to unload the sciatic nerve.

It helped!

Not dramatically, but enough to tell me we were probably knocking on the right door.
For me, this is useful information.
And, of course, I wanted to know if we could get a bigger response.

So we SuperCharged it.
I added a specific setup using her unique SuperCharged deep pulsed DC device, targeted to what we had just discovered.

The result?
Significantly more benefit.
From this systematic process, we now have a focused plan for the next week to work on eliminating the neurodynamic contribution to her IT band pain.

Then I'll reassess.
If the IT band is comfortable and functioning well, great.
If something remains, we investigate what’s left locally and address that.

The goal is not simply to make Christina’s leg hurt less.
I want her comfortable and confident using that leg again.
This is what excites me about adding SuperCharged technology to my process.

The technology doesn’t decide what Christina needs.
My process does.
Then we use the technology strategically to see if we can accelerate the response.

For someone who values their time and wants to get back to an active life, that added leverage can matter.

Curious what adding SuperCharged to your recovery might look like?

Comment “SuperCharged” or message me privately.

The day this photo was taken, Robin was supposed to be having major surgery.
Instead, she was on her favorite horse.
On one of her favorite rugged trails.
With a great big smile on her face.

That picture meant a lot to me.
You see, when Robin first came to see me, this was NOT what she expected.
She had suffered with sciatic pain for years and already had major surgery scheduled.
Robin really wasn't coming to me expecting me to change that.
She was hoping I could simply help ease some of her suffering until surgery day arrived.

I understood so well.
I had my first lumbar disc injury at 19 and was floored for days from it.
It took weeks before I felt like I was improving.
And, ultimately, I was told my passion in combat sports, hiking, camping, etc was over.
Thankfully, they were very wrong.
They were wrong about Robin too but years of increasing pain and limitation had stopped her in her tracks :(

When you've hurt for that long, eventually your world starts getting smaller.
You stop doing things.
You start questioning what your body can handle.
And eventually, things you love can start feeling like part of your old life.

For Robin, one of those things was riding her favorite horse.
So imagine how I felt when surgery day arrived and, instead of hearing from Robin from a hospital bed, I received this picture.

There she was. Horseback. On that rugged trail.
..Smiling. :)

That smile is why I do what I do.
Yes, I help people with stubborn disc and nerve pain.
But my real goal isn't simply to make someone's pain number smaller.
I want to help them reclaim the parts of their life that pain has taken away.

Robin's picture captured that perfectly.

So here's my question for you:

If your sciatic pain stopped deciding what you could and couldn't do, where would we find YOU?

I'd genuinely love to hear your answer. ❤

Your MRI says disc.
Your symptoms say sciatic nerve.
Which one should get your attention first?

Everyone knows the sciatic nerve is the thing suffering.
You DEFINITELY know it! :(
But still most people approach the problem in a way I consider and after over 35 years of helping people, have observed as,.. backwards.

You’re told about the bulging disc, the stenosis, the bone spurs, the arthritis, etc.

So, naturally, all your apprehension goes toward fixing or working around those structural findings.
Meanwhile, the nerve that’s actually producing the burning, shooting pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness can become almost an afterthought.
But a nerve left improperly cared for can become more and more irritable and actually create many more serious problems and barriers to a full and confident recovery.

After decades of solving my own sciatic issues as well as for so many clients over the years, I prefer to start with the nerve.

The nerve is what your brain is perceiving as the greatest threat.
So you have protective tension, limited circulation, evolving and dangerous movement compensations, and more.

Relieve the nerve, help it have a safe and nurturing environment and all of that begins to fade quickly making you more comfortable, more safe, and in my observations, much more likely to recover fully.

So that’s where I want to start.
And, in my experience, those scary findings on the MRI often stop being the thing that determines what my clients can and cannot do.

The disc may still not be pretty.
The stenosis may still make space appear more narrow.
The osteophytes may still be there.
But the person can be living a very different life and be comfortable and confident again.
And, the nerve, well, a healthy nerve is actually built to handle all kinds of forces w grace.
So those things don't really trouble the nerve once we're able to get it healthy again and keep a modest routine of caretaking.

That’s why, with stubborn sciatic pain, my first question isn’t simply:

“What does your MRI show?”

I want to know:

“What does your nerve need?”

Because when we start there, we often find a much more clear path toward a full, confident recovery.

If you've read this far and you've been told the things I once was about recovering stubborn sciatic pain, please, feel free to comment w your questions or message them to me directly. :)

You’ve been hurting for months.
Maybe years like many of my remote clients.
Call me odd but I get the biggest kick solving Disc and Nerve issues that have stumped everyone else.

So when I find a way to potentially accelerate recovery, I pay attention.
I’m always looking for ways to help my clients get better results, faster.
But I’m pretty picky about what earns a place in my toolbox.

One longstanding addition to my approach is a deep pulsed DC device.

Why am I excited about it?

Why have I been using different variations for 20 years?

Because once I’ve investigated what your nervous system is responding to and identified what we need to change, I can use this technology to target that work and potentially accelerate the response.

These machines aren’t cheap but the impact to results coupled w my approach have fully justified the investment for me and many of my remote clients.

To be clear, I don’t believe a cool piece of equipment replaces knowing what to do.
I just have not seen that happen.

So, first, I investigate.
- What is your nervous system protecting?
- What is the “threat” driving things?
- Where are we seeing weakness, inhibition, or poor movement?
- What changes when we follow my Testing Method?

Then I can layer tools like deep pulsed DC into the process when they make sense.
I like to call this SuperCharging my approach.
It’s my existing system plus carefully selected tools designed to help us get where we’re trying to go more efficiently.

For someone who has been dealing with stubborn disc or nerve pain for months or even years, efficiency matters.
You want your life back.
And I want to find the smartest path to help you get there.

Curious about the new technology?

Comment “SuperCharged” and I’ll show you what I’m doing with it.

Still have Disc or Nerve pain after trying everything?
I specialize in solving those problems. Comment or message “Me” to chat.

“Four years of stabbing sciatica.”
That’s how Rebecca described what she had been living with.
She had tried shots, pt, and more but nothing worked.

And when she first started working with me she was of course skeptical.
I don’t blame her.
After four years of pain and treatments that were supposed to help, why would she assume this would be any different?

But just under two weeks into our work together, the relief started becoming more lasting.
And when Rebecca later wrote in a 5 Star Review about her experience, she said she had been pain-free for more than five years.

I love her story because she got her life back.
Another reason I like this story is that it represents the struggle and path many walk..
When you’ve tried one treatment after another without getting better, eventually you start wondering:

“Am I just going to have to live with this?”
Or,
“Is surgery my only option?”

Given the conclusions people hear from therapists and doctors who haven’t succeeded in helping, many just feel too defeated to think:

“Maybe the problem isn’t that I’m unsolvable, maybe no one has discovered the real source yet?”

That’s the question I’m interested in.
I don’t want to give everyone with sciatica the same set of skills to solve it.
I want to investigate what your nervous system is responding to and what changes that response.
Your history matters, your symptoms matter, your movement matters, and your response to my unique Testing Method gives us clues about what to do next.

If you’ve tried multiple things for your disc or nerve pain and you’re still struggling, I’d be curious to hear your thoughts...

If your disc or nerve pain disappeared in the next two weeks, what’s the first thing you’d get back to doing?

What all have you tried so far for your disc or nerve pain?

"When to have spinal surgery and when to avoid it"

Anybody still need this FREE resource? Type "Me" 👇