How to Fix Pain (Like a Killer Whale)

What lessons about chronic pain can we learn from an orca? What can we learn from flaccid fins in killer whales in captivity? Find out how killer whales can better shape our perspectives on fixing chronic pain.
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At Upright Health we give you strategies and research to get your life back.
With principled functional training, we believe everyone can beat chronic pain and get strong, mobile, and resilient.
Our home training programs help you troubleshoot and train your body safely. We help you tear down fear and build up muscle. We help you think right, move right, and feel right.
Matt Hsu's own battle with chronic pain from the age of 16 in his feet, knees, hips, back, shoulders, elbows, forearms, wrists, hands, and head gives him a uniquely thorough understanding of musculoskeletal pain, the ways in which it can undermine an entire life, and the mental and physical hurdles that keep people from getting out of it.
When not filming videos, he's working out in the living room, surfing, learning dance or gymnastics moves, or riding a bike with his son in tow.
ENDING CREDITS MUSIC
David Cutter Music - www.davidcuttermusic.com
ABOUT THIS VIDEO
Matt discusses Katy Bowman's Move Your DNA, flaccid fin syndrome, and the realities of modern life working at a computer all day.
#painrelief #chronicpain #uprighthealth #jointpain

[@Uprighthealth]

What did you learn from this episode? Drop me a comment!👇

[@sonofabraham4094]

But Matt, I've heard you say previously that the main and most important thing to fix these dissfunctions is to do specific exercises to build the strength and that you shouldn't focus on trying to hold the weak areas contracted all day. Or something to that affect. Not that trying to hold weak muscles contracted all day is the same as the second concept you talked about in this video but doing specific exercises is the same as the first concept you talk about.

[@lellytalks4296]

To read cover cards more carefully. I wasn't looking to 'free myself from willy pain' yet here we are. Lord bless British slang and tired eyes.

[@SandRatCountryMom]

@@lellytalks4296 😂🤣

[@sasquatchrosefarts]

I'm three minutes in and still no tips. I'm out. If you can't be concise, you don't have anything to offer.

[@101personal]

Great analogy. Always wandered why that Orca’s bent fin. I am now focusing on hormesis.

[@corporalcapps]

Thank you. I have a rule "Learn something worthwhile everyday". I am 81 and work hard at being in shape. I go to the gym six days and take Sunday off. One day upper body and the next the lower body. This made me realize that I need to mix up my workouts, not do the same thing week after week. Not work on the same muscles week after week.

[@wholeshebang1]

Bravo! You're an inspiration to me, a woman, at 62. I've been doing yoga for 20 years, and was a "gym rat" (cardio & weights) from my early twenties until I got painful, bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome (nerve damage) from sitting/typing/on the phone at a non-ergonomic work station at age 32. I remained at that job until I was 35, and stopped moving & exercising due to pain & depression. 20 yrs ago, I started goingbto cardio classes & yoga qt the local rec centre for free), and have imoroved a lot. I continue to stay fit as I age, and since other injuries (concussion, broken ankle, back injury.

[@agoogleuser4356]

@@wholeshebang1 Carpal tunnel from the shoulder blades. Do some of Matt’s shoulder work and arm circles.

[@belle6219]

Those skeleton legs hanging over the edge of the couch! 🤣🤣🤣Seriously, though, this is the best video you have ever done. You confirm what I am doing is not crazy. I started doing your shoulder exercises, with amazing success. After several months, they have eliminated the bone crunchiness, as well as the pain, weakness, and limited range of motion. I intend to learn more of your exercises for other specific areas of my body, but in the meantime, I have just incorporated general, full-body movement into my all-day, every-day life. I just move in every way I can think of until I feel that strain (not pain). I don’t know what I’m doing, just that it feels good and keeps me limber and out of pain and stiffness. I’m 64, so at this point, if I don’t keep moving, everything seizes up and I feel awful. If anybody saw me, they would think I was some kind of lunatic. It’s so sad, because we are brainwashed to increasingly limit our incredible natural range of movement so we will just sit or stand and perform repetitive tasks for tortuous lengths of time. Over 45 years of these kinds of workplaces wreaked havoc on my body. Thankfully I’m now retired and live alone, so I can contort all I want to. It's fun to find ways of moving I didn't ever think of before. And it feels wonderful!

[@dingdong6005]

How are you doing now?

[@belle6219]

@@dingdong6005 Great! I continue to learn and practice slow, gentle, consistent movement as taught by Upright Health and other traditions such as yoga, tai chi, and qi gong. After decades of self-neglect, it's like being in rehab. I also notice increased calmness of mind.

[@lilylevental2808]

We are born to move and like it. I am also 64 with aches and pains and I can tell the difference between active days where I move and have much less pain then the days I mostly sit. To moving 😊

[@AnnaMariaWolf]

"The story of Keiko begins when she was just a 3-year-old whale pup who was captured off the coast of Iceland in the 1970s. Keiko was trained to join a group of whales who performed tricks at Marine and was sent to a Marine Park in Mexico. When the film became really popular, the public came to know that Keiko who played Willy in the film was actually kept in captivity in a marine and her living conditions were far from decent. As per an article by the New York times, Keiko was kept in a 12 ft long enclosure, where he was forced to swim in endless circles. As a result, his muscles atrophied and he became seriously underweight. Keiko also developed a skin virus as a result of being kept in contaminated waters. A massive campaign was launched by animal rights activists to free Keiko from his enclosure and give him freedom from captivity. After months of campaigning and fundraising, a new rehabilitation pool which was four times larger than his existing pool was made for Keiko where could swim freely and could start learning things to eventually one day go back to the ocean. Keiko had even started to learn to hunt for his own food and was slowly adapting to being sent out into the ocean. In 2002, Keiko was finally set free from his enclosure and swam away to freedom. Sadly, Keiko died in 2003 in Norway due to pneumonia infection" This is the true story behind the movie. Sadly he did not manage to be physically restored :( my other comment was about a whale they are trying to release now.

[@mlane905]

Great video, as usual; but those legs on the sofa...!? LOL😂

[@deborahshields729]

My husband and I are huge fans of Katy Bowman! I was in a bad car accident five-and-a-half years ago and was not making a good comeback from shattering my kneecap and tearing a glute muscle on that leg. It wasn't until I found her work and switched to Minimalist Shoes that I could walk more than a mile without debilitating pain. That got us to think about how to put more motion in our lives. We switched to a low to the floor platform bed and eat least one meal a day while sitting on the floor. We are the only grandparents of our grandchildren who can get up and down from the floor to play with them. We also got a pull-up bar and I hang from that every night for at least 30 seconds, which completely took care of a shoulder injury from the car accident that I was told I would have to have surgery on to fix! I love your channel and I'm so glad I found it!

[@emazey5044]

Nodded in agreement throughout. My issues started a few months into lockdown, (which included a bout with Covid, and a couple of falls). I used to do a heck of a lot of walking prior to lockdown just to get to the office. Currently working on the corrective work through your healthy hips program. During week 1.5 of healthy hips, I suddenly felt the need to use the leg I struggle with most... to go upstairs! I was like, yes, let's do this! It was hard, but something has kicked in. I'm all about neuroplasticity since I read about it several years ago. Thank you, Matt, for all you do! Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas!

[@saramcbee-vo1wi]

Restarting my restorative PT today! Have spent most of year in PT starting with left hip replacement in January followed by a rightt hip fracture in June. Quit my home program in November for no good reason and procrastination. I am an osteopathic physician retire, now 79, and know better. You are so correct! Thanks you for the great pep talk. BTW! I have followed your do it yourself episodes for anterior pelvic tilt,etc, in addition to formal PT. Has helped my understanding of my issues so much. Please do more on the back and scoliosis pain.

[@allysonthomas6453]

I love it a whole video on exercise and changing your physicality without any demonstration! The power of the mindset is the beginning to changing our function! Keep doing what you do

[@micheleboyer16]

Thank you for sharing all this - it really resonated with me. Your programs have helped me immensely! Happy Holidays to you and your family.

[@panache1127]

I've found I have to spend a least an hour to an hour and a half on my body; a combination of walking plus strength training and stretching in order to feel good. It became easier to find the time once I committed to this and started distancing myself from so much screen time.

[@jodiehunter1313]

Excellent vid information! We often get told to “rest” when in pain and that begins a slow path to weakness and then poor posture, using one foot or arm more to avoid pain on affected limb and it just locks up & goes downhill from there… this really motivated me to think “movement” and finding repetitive motions on that weak leg to stop the leg pain. I SO appreciate your specified isometrics and ways to target each issue of the body! THANK YOU!

[@valerienewby9695]

Love these educational videos with all the instructional and informative information that is being generated and shared here on the Upright Health Channel. I have been a patient of Physical Therapy for many many years and I can literally say I would not be as mobile as I am today without it. I sustained a major health crisis back in 1999 and before that, basically starting at the age of 12 years old I sustained an underwater concussion at a swimming pool that started my life-long journey of seeking consistent better physical health techniques to help keep me upright, mobile, and moving with flexibility... I have limited flexibility, permanently, left from the health crisis in 1999... and it can be a driving force for my entire body ... yet I have stayed vigilant to listening to my body. I was by no means an athletic child or adult... I was a mobile, and active child... yet didn't like exercise or sport activities much. However I did learned the importance, from my parents and others, as to how important being active more than sedentary was for both the body and kind. However, that didn't really ever cause me to want to get into competitive sports. I just wanted to be super aware of how my body works and how to make it function after trauma or injury... based on not only my own health but others close to me. I watched them suffer and work through the pain to persevere to the other side. I learned hard to never give-up on my body. Anyway, I love the teaching style presented within each video with the attention focused on various levels for redeveloping strength to whichever parts of the body that aren't functioning to a capacity that is comfortable to live with on a daily basis and what choices and techniques we have at our fingertips via the videos presented here by all of you at Upright Health. It is obvious, through your video and podcast presentations, each of you have your own personal levels of health struggles and with that the compassion to teach others is genuinely expressed. I sincerely thank you for that. As it has been expressed in various videos and podcasts, sometimes the doctors and specialist become sidetracked so badly with providing the problem solving care, sometimes due to their own limited awareness and knowledge, that they do not provide the true necessary compassionate encouragement to nudge patients to listen to their own bodies and minds to become aware with assisted help through physical therapists they can return to a functional person if they allow themselves to truly listen, become patient, and to do the physical and mental techniques they provide. I personally love learning new ways to stretch and think to exercise my bodies internal muscles. Continuing to learn is something I promote. Why sit still in one's mind thinking "I already know... and it isn't going to help because I don't have time...!" when, depending on each of us's age and health status, we each didn't originally choose for ourselves an unfunctional body, in pain, with a negative mindset. I have been so utterly impressed and truly thankful I stumbled upon your KZbin videos a year or so ago... I have gained so much information that has helped me to regain mobility when I thought all hope was gone... My limited immobility at times has prohibited me from being product many days and as I started surfing online for some simple stretches, unlike the ones I have utilized for years, I stumbled upon Upright Health, and I may not be consistent daily with watching the videos or listening to the podcasts... yet I have implemented various stretching and new mindset ways of thinking to become functional where I thought I would never figure a better way around how I have been for years. New ideas and techniques are necessary because one area of our body and minds are connected to other areas to create a whole person. Therefore, why not start slow, make the suggested subtle adjustments and try some new techniques and ways of thinking to work at regaining mobility. I have and no I am not like I was in my teens or twenties... but I'm upright, breathing, mobile, and know what to do when I wake up and I'm stiff or in pain. It may take some time and lots of focus to work out the kinks, yet I end up successfully getting my body realigned good enough to feel like I focus on my TO DO LIST, or to make those phone calls to uplift friends and family, or go out for a walk, or shopping.., etc... and yes the next day may be an entire repeat of today l's start.... though I'm encouraged by my own past success .. I focus that pain and stiff doesn't have to control me... my desire and perseverance to think clearly and move about are my focus. Keto up the great work at Upright Health as there are those of us out here through social media that look forward to seeing and hearing, by tuning-in to your podcasts and videos, as to what else we can try today that abounds upon yesterday's techniques, that will get me up from a dedicate lifestyle. THANK YOU!!!😉😊🙃 Happy Holidays!!!🎄🎅🏻🎈🎉☃️

[@jameskemp4508]

Thanks Matt. Great Advice. Wishing you a Fantastic Festive Season!

[@davidf9630]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences… I am definitely on the right path to a healthier me… thanks to you. Now I’m going to share this video with one of my loved ones, who is having some trouble with shoulder pain. I can tell her till I’m blue in the face. But hearing it from you just might turn on the light switch.

[@ChroniclesofAlicha_Balaam]

Set the poor Orcas free...omg...great example. We need to apply this to our lives in restoring our own health. Great analogy. Walking, swimming, strengtheing is the way to go in restoring ourselves. I am 60 and facing hip surgery, and I really feel it can all be corrected through exercize, though getting there is going to be work and the pain is awful right now. Thank you for these videos. Huge inspiration. I will donate when I can. Much love and respect.

[@18khunter2]

LOL love Free Willy reference, Willy would say "man, I love to swim clockwise for a few hours" Thanks for all your valuable info and making us THINK about how our bodies are supposed to work without pain. Greetings

[@nancywong889]

You 'walk the talk' . This is why I continue to watch your videos from Malaysia. Keep it up👍🏼

[@janetschmelz617]

Thank you for sharing Katy Bowman's book. As always, your thoughtful commentary inspires and motivates us to learn, change and grow healthier! Merry 🎄 Christmas!

[@SandRatCountryMom]

Thank you--this makes perfect sense. I've watched a couple videos of nomads in middle eastern countries and seeing the elderly lounging on their carpets on the ground or cooking over a fire on the ground or washing dishes while asian squatting...or milking a sheep/goat while squatting...it gives me hope...corrective exercises + different lifestyle = better mobility. Now to get me a sheep to milk 🤔😁

[@koimaster]

This hits home on so many levels. I completely agree with everything you say

[@suzanneevans1771]

Makes great sense! Thanks for sharing the book. Love the couch-potato skeleton off to the side 💀

[@joanowens7941]

I love your content, Matt. I was going strong with you, Katy Bowman, a bunch of KZbinrs who are big on the Barefoot movement. I was totally digging it. Then I broke a metatarsal bone. I'm in pain and I want to keep going.

[@TheCtakacs]

This is such great advice, natural, doable and really motivating. Love your style! I've already taken a dance break today. LOL

[@nuthinbutlove]

Thanks so much! Happy Holidays!

[@lucianmeadows9887]

seriously good content here and in all your videos! they have been a great help to me. thanks !!!

[@SM-by1od]

The audio was a little low but I really enjoyed this video. Thanks, Matt! Merry Christmas! :)

[@KateStevely]

Excellent video .. I purchased the book you mentioned. It is GREAT. I have long believed the things Katy talks about and I try to embody them in my Yoga teaching. It is so nice to relax from teaching on occasion and read a book like that and take in your GREAT videos. Thank you Matt

[@Uprighthealth]

Wonderful!

[@bobdavis1333]

These presentations are very reasonable, healthy, helpful and practical. Thanks

[@lana7422]

Great video. So many good points. I've often observed how much of the time babies move their bodies esp. the large muscles of their legs while they are developing and before they are walking.

[@lindafox3619]

You have made the smartest talk I have ever heard ! Bravo !! Fantastic !!! GENIUS !!!!!!!!

[@dellieb6337]

Thank for all the information

[@barbaraalmond2171]

I recently found you here so I'm definitely going to keep watching. Love your videos. I have been involved in mind body and fitness yoga, mediation my entire life and now at 61 working from home steady for the past 3 years I'm starting to have neck and shoulder pain but also hip pain in the morning and sore and stiffness that I carry with me, my droopy dorsal : ( Even though I work from home, I (sort of) have to be on line through MS Teams for my 8 hours and although I have a sit-stand desk that I should probably use more often here's my biggest dilemma - all this sitting. Doing self care ie neck stretches every 30-40 minutes kind of helps but to your point, I can't do self care stretches and investigation work on my self during the day as much as I would like and going for a walk after work and maybe doing Yin yoga before bed helps but it's not effective enough and doesn't counter balance all my sitting all day. Outside of quitting work, what is a routine or fitness lifestyle hack we could all do to counter balance work that we all do from a desk now. Like maybe calisthenics in the morning, weights (tension band workout) lunch and walking at night, then stretching every hour at our desks. I feel like no matter what routine I try to adopt, it's not working any more due to all this desk sitting. Do you have any suggestions? Sorry for the long comment. Thank you, keep up the good work, I will contribute $ as I love the way you approach things. Thanks for all you do for all of us! Barbara

[@margaritadeverson2098]

Such good insight. Look at the bigger picture/at my whole life to see how I can incorporate movement into each day rather than how do I make time to do those 5 exercises to fix the pain in my arm, and my hip, and my neck….. Thank you for sharing!

[@captainkilos]

Missed you man! Merry Christmas!

[@OfeliaFricker]

Dear Matt every of your vídeos it is very helpful … this one I have watched today the second time and I found it super interesting … serious.. you talk to us as a very close and good friend… who wants to help … i‘m very thankful with all your Inputs… i would like to say this chapter is my favorite… but in reality I already have too Many of them as favorits 🤭 well done Matt 👏🏻 and Thank you very much 😊 Ofelia 🇨🇭

[@patriciavarga4084]

Thanks for the pep talk! 🤗

[@ImHavingaCoronary]

Thanks. Really appreciated the imagery of the whale. It is so funny that we can't look at ourselves and come to the same conclusion. I'm an RMT in Canada, and I am constantly trying to help people understand that their pain points are merely the most obvious symptom of overall dishealth. I have tried so many theoretical explanations, such as dual gate pain theory and Anatomy Train models. Maybe this analogy will help more? The other idea that I am going to "steal from you" is that how are you going to feel working out an hour a day so you can sit for 12 hours. Really, working out so you can work is just increasing your work day. So that's a great contribution too.

[@janetleeharrison]

I've noticed that some of the oldest and physically mobile people got this way by either swimming or dancing daily. Wishing I had a pool to help me get back into shape while taking the weight off of my joints. Great video - makes me realize I've got to DO A LOT MORE!👍

[@Vivian88749]

Loved this! Sooooo good!! 👏👍🤗

[@ph5915]

Such a great communicator!

[@user-nr4yi3hd1p]

i was struggling with pain from last 5 years, sometime its negligiable other time its elevated , it like snake and ladder, this video give a bit hope, and help me to focus on weaker muscles ,focus on my body

[@jude8223]

Slow big movements hydrate the stiff or crimped fascia. I have found this extremely helpful as I age.

[@Ecclectic_citcelccE]

Capiche. Thank you for this! 🙏

[@ucukaoma4551]

WOW, listen how this lesson is being broken down... Amazing stuff.... Metal message: No short cuts to success!!!

[@nfornicole]

Thank you for this! Been struggling/managing for awhile. Any suggestions for sleeping positions? It's nearly impossible to sleep on my back 😅 but lying on my side (or worse, on my arm) makes it worse. I've tried using a pillow to support my arm but hard to set it up right.

[@saraht4973]

Thank y you. We so appreciate all your messages. How about house work? Is that considered something separate from painting portraits all day

[@Mabelstarot]

thank you so much

[@CheriBomzArt]

MOVE IT OR lose it!?🤔 Could try walking lunges or stairs on the way to bathroom. Exercise during commercials, eye & stretch breaks.

[@madda5133]

I loved the film Free Willy! And I was very concerned about the orca who was acting into the film. Thank you very mutch for this very instructive video by the way!

[@marychampion8716]

What is ur book title? So far u r helping me avoid hip replacement! Seriously! Dexa scan shows my hip socket, nor my hip ball joint is deteriorating!!!! So, why do I need to replace my entire hip. My hip feels so much better just in a week! I’d like to read ur book! 😊

[@thomasgarratt8206]

Please can you do a video specific for long head bicep tendinitis? I had a slap repair that went well and my pain was next to nothing but every time I try go back to the gym my LHB flair’s up and I feel like I’m back to square one. I’ve done some of your shoulder programs I’ve seen on here but stretching it seems to hurt most of the time. I’ve had a new MRI and they said it’s just inflammation. Tom

[@John-D.]

Thank you! 🙏

[@5maz]

Grateful for you

[@adrianafox4451]

bless you sir ❤️

[@SteveClayson]

a way tp fix pain and local community ....... this should be on the news , thank you

[@tigisttadesse1291]

Hi my brother you so strong 💪 good Tanks 👍

[@rachelk7555]

I have never been able to sit in a deep squat-even as a very young child and toddler.

[@SleightWryder]

One thousandth like! Glad to add this video to my...collection.

[@steveruffennach6418]

Wisdom...

[@godislove5751]

*Like a FREE Orca Love your channel❤Science based. No annoying background music. Pleasant voice. Funny, fr. Recommend you often.

[@chriswilliams5291]

When I apply pressure on my right forearm such as when doing the yoga pose downward facing dog I get a sharp pain in my right forearm on the ulnar extensor side. Do you know of any good exercises to treat this sort of condition?

[@Tiffany1541]

Oh, I need to know if you are knowledgeable and willing to share how do I get rid of rolling cramps in the back of my calf and thigh

[@Daywalker777r]

what is your opinion on kneeling chairs ?

[@lesliebaird8011]

FYI. The whale that was Willy in the movie was placed at the Oregon Aquarium. They did free Keiko but it was not a good ending. He died from a virus of some kind. Keiko also had problems joining a whale pod. He had gotten used to being around humans.

[@lbea4659]

I learned that I am meant to move like a human animal: active and engaged with my environment.

[@lisacollins3304]

Orcas are very intelligent,beautiful mammals. No Being can live in a Constricted Way without Negative Consequences. P.S. Yes,I love dancing in my closet with my Orca. Thanks!

[@carolynstewart8465]

You are charming, grasshopper!

[@wayneeligur7586]

The answer may actually be this question: Why keep these animals captive in the first place? They're out of their element, this 'action-cannot-be-undone'. If any person is genuinely happy in the occupation requiring 'non activity', then, 'naturally' they will be holistically at one, in sort of a optimal health.

[@maxpeterson8616]

Sorry to be pedantic, but the orca's name is just Willy. Free is what they were trying to do for him.

[@user-yb9mj9wq3z]

Thank you very much for sharing.there is a lling time saying if the devil bring it ,It's God send your message 😂

[@heroofthyme4237]

I wonder if these issues are more common in men than women too

[@ninagoldiloks]

All tru. And many appliances were made for women only in post modern times. More nookie time for modern man 😍, here's hoping🤣💃. I just hate your squat though. Yu make me sick🤣. Lawd, I need to be able to move so. I'm thin, but stiff af, was athletic but at 74 I'm not happy with my flexibility. Yuk. I'm gonna start by reaching much more in my movements, off the top. You're right. Ty 👋💜

[@rachelk7555]

Hooberman??

[@real.jayden_savage3053]

what happened when x did this

[@rachelk7555]

Not sure why you’re taking so long to get to your main points.

[@spymaine89]

speak up cant hear

[@sticksbass]

intelligencia

[@potapotapotapotapotapota]

I swear you intentionally made this video really sus