A client came in a few weeks ago and mentioned her husband in passing.

"He would be the perfect patient for you," she said. "He would do absolutely everything you asked."

"He might actually be my worst client,” I responded

Here’s why.

The people who are willing to do whatever it takes, the high achievers, the Type A personalities, they often carry a neurological block that makes getting out of pain genuinely difficult.

That constant drive, that undercurrent of diligence and chronic vigilance, that always-on, go-getter energy, it keeps the sympathetic nervous system activated. Fight or flight is running in the background at all times.

And when fight or flight is on, the body responds in a specific way. The ribs flare. The pelvis tilts. The spine extends. The body shuts down everything it considers non-essential.

Good posture and good breathing mechanics are victims of this response.

So no matter how hard they work, no matter how diligent they are with every exercise we give them, if we do not address what is happening inside the nervous system first, we simply will not get there.

Sometimes the most important thing a go-getter can do is learn to stop going.

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