Carrie (46) went from chronic back pain to hiking Colorado pain-free
WATCH CARRIE’S STORY
How Carrie went from planning life around her back pain to hiking for two weeks – and feeling better at 46 than she did at 26.
Carrie stopped planning her life around what her back might allow
A year before this conversation, Carrie could barely walk two miles without worrying about what her back would do: standing at the sink, loading the dishwasher, walking around her neighbourhood, sitting in the car long enough to go somewhere ... so much of everyday life came with the same calculation –
Will my back let me do this, and what will it cost me afterward?
Carrie had tried chiropractors, physical therapy, pain management, intensive massage, and exercises to strengthen her core, but nothing had helped long-term.
At 45, Carrie had started believing this was simply what her body was going to feel like from now on.
But one year after starting the Reshape Method®, Carrie spent two weeks hiking in Colorado with her husband. Her longest hike was 6.5 hours ... above the tree line.
No back pain.
CARRIE'S BEFORE & AFTER RESHAPE METHOD® ALIGNMENT RESULTS
CARRIE’S RESULTS AT A GLANCE
EVERYDAY MOVEMENT STOPPED LOADING INTO HER BACK
Carrie describes her old movement pattern very simply:
“I did everything with my back.”
She stood with it. Walked with it. Lifted with it.
Even exercises intended to strengthen her core often made things worse because her low back kept doing the work instead.
As her movement patterns changed, she began noticing something completely new: her hamstrings working when she loaded the dishwasher; her abs working when she walked; her glutes helping propel her forward ...
and her back finally got some relief.
WALKING BECAME SOMETHING SHE WANTED TO DO
Carrie had always walked. But before the Reshape Method®, even a neighbourhood walk could end with her reaching for the heating pad and lying down afterward.
But once walking stopped hurting, her relationship with movement changed.
“It just became fun, and it just became enjoyable.”
Now she takes extra walks because they feel energizing rather than debilitating.
SHE FEELS STRONGER THAN SHE THOUGHT SHE COULD
Carrie once assumed she simply wasn’t athletic. Maybe she just wasn’t “in shape.” Maybe long hikes and physical adventures belonged to other people. But that belief changed when her body started working differently.
“I realized that I can do way harder things than I thought I could do.”
At 46, she says:
“I’m in better shape than I was when I was 26.”
HER POSTURE AND ALIGNMENT VISIBLY CHANGED
Carrie’s Before photo showed a significant shoulder drop and a body positioned well forward. She had never realized how much that position was loading her low back.
Looking at it now feels almost foreign.
“I just feel like the Before is someone who was trapped in a body that just didn’t know how to do anything better.”
Her After photo feels very different.
“It’s like someone who is free.”
HER BODY SHAPE CHANGED TOO
The Reshape Method® is not a weight-loss program, but Carrie’s Before-and-After photos also showed a noticeable change in body size and shape.
She changed her diet during this period. And once walking no longer hurt, she was able to move more freely and consistently.
For Carrie, feeling physically better also helped shift the mindset that had made healthier choices harder when pain was dominating her day.
SHE STOPPED BEING AFRAID OF WHAT HER BODY MIGHT DO
Perhaps the biggest change was not a particular muscle or measurement – it was freedom from constantly anticipating the next flare-up.
Carrie no longer approaches activities thinking:
Will this put my back out? Will I be able to recover afterward? Should I just avoid it?
Instead, she is asking a very different question: What else can I try?
THE PROBLEM WASN’T THAT SHE NEEDED TO TRY HARDER
Carrie had repeatedly been told to strengthen her core. So she tried. The problem was that her body could not access the muscles she was attempting to train efficiently. What looked like a core exercise could still become another low-back exercise.
The missing piece was not simply knowing which exercise to do. It was understanding how Carrie’s body was actually performing it.
Through the Reshape Method®, Carrie learned where she was loading movement into her back and how to get the intended muscles involved instead.
Over time, that stopped requiring so much conscious thought. Her body began doing it automatically.
THE CHANGE HAD TO GO BEYOND THE MAT
Carrie had already worked with skilled practitioners. But an appointment could only address a small piece of her week. The bigger question was what happened during all the hours in between.
How was she standing, walking, bending, lifting, emptying the dishwasher, getting laundry out of the dryer? Those everyday movements had been repeatedly reinforcing the same pattern.
Once they began changing too, the results became part of her actual life – not something that only existed during a treatment or workout.
“Little by little, I could see how my body responded once my brain knew what muscles to use.”
PERSONAL COACHING HELPED HER FIND WHAT SHE COULDN’T SEE
Carrie knew immediately that the Reshape Method® felt different from another generic workout program. During her private sessions, I could see small movement compensations over Zoom that she simply could not feel herself.
Sometimes she was performing something that looked very much like the exercise. But the wrong muscles were still doing the work.
Once we adjusted it, she could immediately feel the difference.
“Oh yeah, that’s totally different.”
The group coaching added another layer. Watching other women get coached often helped Carrie spot patterns in herself that she had not even thought to ask about.
ONE YEAR LATER, THE RESULT IS FREEDOM
This is what makes Carrie’s story especially meaningful. We are not looking at what happened during one unusually good week. We are looking at what her life looked like a year later.
Carrie travelled, hiked, pushed herself physically, and her back did not take over the experience.
At one point during their Colorado trip, Carrie's husband turned to her and said that if I had been there, he would have given me a huge hug and kiss – because they knew that trip would never have happened a year earlier.
Carrie puts the change even more simply:
“I feel like I can do anything. I feel like there’s nothing holding me back.”
That is what redefining midlife can look like. Not merely managing an ache a little better, but getting your life back from it.
COULD ALIGNMENT BE YOUR MISSING PIECE?
Carrie had already tried many of the typical things people try for persistent back pain.
The breakthrough came when she stopped focusing only on the painful area and began changing how her whole body was aligning and moving.
Reshape Alignment | Resolve Aches | Redefine Midlife
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