Rebuilding Strength from Injury: Lessons on Movement and Mobility
We’ve been having a lot of conversations lately about back pain. It’s one of those things we all hope we’ll never face, but when it hits, it can stop us in our tracks. Whether it’s a flare-up, a herniated disc, or a strange immobility that seems to come out of nowhere, back pain doesn’t just affect your body. It affects your identity, your confidence, and your ability to take part in your own life.
As we celebrate, or maybe acknowledge is a better word, Andrew’s disc herniation anniversary, I thought it would be useful to recap on everything that we’ve learnt since.
It’s tempting to blame the last movement you remember doing before the injury. We hear it all the time, “Oh I hurt my back because I was [moving plants in the garden, picking up a sock, deadlift in the gym].” But often the injury happened because your body wasn’t ready for that position, because you haven’t been training the messy, in-between, not-so-easy-to-catagorise ways your body is capable of moving.
If you're only training strength in a narrow, controlled way and then life asks you to twist, lean, or catch something, you're vulnerable.
It’s like only training on smooth tarmac and then being surprised when you trip on gravel. Weird positions are part of life.
Last year, Andrew suffered a Stage III herniation in his L4/5 disc and for a week, he couldn’t walk. Getting out of bed felt like an impossible task. He described it as one of the most terrifying experiences of his life, not just because of the physical pain, but because of what it meant: “Will I be able to play with the kids? Will I still be able to do my job? Will this ever go away?”
Anyone who’s worked with Andrew knows he doesn’t just “wait and see.” He got to work reading research papers, speaking to clinicians and coaches, listening to stories from others who’d recovered and experimenting with different movements. When something breaks, he rebuilds not just for himself, but to understand the problem enough to help others.
And despite the fear, he managed to stay curious even when it hurt, even when it felt like nothing was improving very quickly.
As movement coach Tom Morrison put it recently on the Playful Nature Podcast (Episode below), one of the most revealing moments came months later after he had hurt his back. Tom was finally able to walk, move, and workout again, he felt strong, pain-free and then, the MRI results arrived. Reading that report, which confirmed the disc herniation, sent his nervous system spiralling and the pain returned, almost immediately.
“I was feeling amazing. No pain at all. Then I read my MRI results and suddenly felt this tingle in my back. It was the words that brought the pain back. Not the injury.”
This isn’t to say that injuries aren’t real, they are. But it’s a reminder that pain is not always a direct measure of damage. The stories we’re told (and tell ourselves) hold so much weight. They shape how we feel and they affect how we move, or allow ourselves to move..
Recovery isn’t about pushing through pain but it’s also not about waiting for permission to move again. Andrew realised, as Tom did, that movement is a conversation between your brain and your body, one that requires patience, creativity, and trust.
When you’re in acute pain, the most basic movements can feel impossible..
“You’re not looking for pain-free,” Tom says. “You’re looking for a 5 or 10% improvement. Something that says: I made this slightly better today.”
Andrew’s recovery followed a similar non-linear pattern.
One of the most useful discoveries Andrew made during this time was how central the hips are to back health. We often think of our hips as just another joint but they are the power source for most of the movements we do.
Squats and deadlifts are great, but they mostly work the hips in flexion and extension. What about rotation, abduction, adduction? Those are often neglected and yet important for movement in the real world.
Tom calls his approach “clockwork hips” exploring full ranges of motion, gently, in all directions. Every morning, he’d get up at 5am just to wiggle his hips enough to be able to coach the 6am class. That’s what recovery looked like, a slow reclaiming of freedom of movement.
After months of experimenting, Andrew created a simple recovery protocol that he finds useful, and that we now share with anyone going through something similar. It’s a map and like any good map it can be redrawn to fit the terrain you’re in.
Here’s what it looks like:
1. Don’t panic, this will pass.
Pain can feel catastrophic. But it’s also communication, it’s your body saying: “Something’s wrong here. Let’s pay attention.” Not: “You’re broken forever.”
As Tom says: “Pain is just awareness. Your body doesn’t speak brain, so this is how it gets your attention.”
This mindset shift is so important especially when the fear is high. Trust that your body is capable of healing,even when progress feels slow.
2. Start very small.
For Andrew, it started in bed: ankle pumps, pelvic tilts, breath work. Moving again wasn’t about achieving anything, it was about proving that movement was safe.
Use your breath. Relax your jaw. Reclaim ease before intensity.
3. Flirt with pain, don’t fear it.
Borrowing from Nil Teisner, don’t avoid all discomfort. Get curious, stay in conversation with it. Can you move into a position for two breaths? Can you return tomorrow and do it again?
“Retraining yourself out of pain is a skill,” Tom says. “It’s something you get better at.”
4. Avoid passive quick fixes.
Foam rolling, one-off stretches, magic gadgets - nothing works in isolation. Tom shared how he wasted 15 minutes every day on a foam roller before realising active hip work calmed his pain much faster.
Movement is the long-term solution. The question is often - what kind of movement are you missing?
5. Train your hips, they really matter
If your hips aren’t moving well, your back pays the price. So do your knees, your ankles, even your neck. Movement is a chain, and when one link is stiff, others compensate.
The goal is useful, intentional movement in all planes.
Weird strength and real resilience
So what do we do once we’re out of the pain cave?
We build weird strength, strength that isn’t just about barbells and symmetry, but about the ability to move confidently in life’s unpredictable shapes. That might mean lifting odd objects, crawling, carrying uneven loads, climbing, or rolling around on the floor.
As Katie Bowman reminds us, injuries often happen at stress risers, the point where well-trained meets under-trained. That mismatch is where we break. So the answer isn’t to stop moving, it’s to expand the map of what you can do.
Tom puts it this way: “Once you’ve earned the right to lift in a neutral spine, you can start lifting in weird ways too. Your spine is supposed to twist. Use it.”
If you’re early in your recovery, or still navigating fear, here’s what we want you to know:
Your body is adaptable
Movement is a conversation
And you’re not alone and this will pass
And if you’re already out the other side, if you’ve recovered, relearned, and rebuilt, consider this your reminder to keep training those weird ranges. Keep playing. Keep exploring.
Every injury tells a story and this one taught us a lot.
Resources:
If you’re dealing with back pain, I’ve compiled a playlist of 20 videos that I found helpful during my recovery. These include movement suggestions and tips for easing discomfort:
