Cody West, PT

03/30/2026

You did everything you were told. So why does your back still hurt?

The appointments. The exercises. The imaging. Multiple providers. You weren't lazy about it.

And it came back anyway.

Here's what most back pain treatment gets wrong: it's built around *where* you hurt. Find the structure, name the diagnosis, treat the tissue.

What it almost never asks is *how* your pain behaves.

When does it flare? When is it quiet? Does stress spike it even when you haven't done anything physical? Does it follow your sleep, your workweek, certain situations?

That's your nervous system showing you its pattern. The actual conditions driving your pain. And without that map, treatment is essentially guesswork.

That's not a failure of effort. It's a failure of targeting.

**Know Your Pattern . Know Your Treatment.**

If you've been through the standard checklist and still feel stuck, I offer a free case review — a different kind of conversation focused on what's actually driving *your* pain, not just where it lives.

Link 👇
https://codywestpt.com/case-review/

03/30/2026

A 28 year old mom and banker had back pain for two years. She did yoga. She did pilates. She found core videos on YouTube and did those too.
Things would get better. Then a hard week at work would hit, or the kids stopped sleeping, and it would come back worse than before.
Sound familiar?
The problem wasn't her effort. It was that nobody ever mapped her pain pattern.
Her pattern was telling a very specific story that core exercises were never going to solve.
I wrote about why. 👇

She Did Everything She Was Told. Her Back Pain Came Back Anyway.

03/27/2026

If strengthening your core didn’t fix your back pain… you're not alone.

Many people I see have already tried:
• Planks
• Bridges
• Bird dogs
• Abdominal bracing

Sometimes consistently for months.

And yet the pain doesn’t meaningfully change.

Core strengthening isn’t wrong. It’s just often incomplete solution.

Back pain is rarely just a strength problem.
It’s often about:
• Load tolerance
• Movement patterns
• Irritation and sensitivity
• Nervous system responses
• Matching exercises to your specific pain pattern

When those pieces are missed, stronger abs don’t necessarily mean less pain.

Read about it here👇

Core exercises didn’t fix your back pain? Learn how core strength is not a cure all for back pain. Learn why sometimes core exercises can make it worse and what consider instead when recovery stalls.

01/27/2026

Still have back pain after weeks or months of physical therapy, chiropractic visits, exercises, imaging, rest — and still find that the pain lingers or keeps returning?

That doesn’t necessarily mean something was done wrong. Often it means the full picture hasn’t been clearly understood yet.

Patterns matter. History matters. What aggravates and settles symptoms matters.

Not every case fits neatly into a standard protocol.

If you’ve been wanting a more careful look at your situation and clearer next steps, you can request a personal case review by clicking the link below. 👇

Here you will fill out a questionnaire about your current back pain situation that I personally review.

Afterward, I will send a short video explainer of my opinions and recommendations. No obligations. Click below for the link 👇

https://codywestpt.com/case-review/

01/08/2026

The Traffic Light Guide To Back Pain after an injury

"No pain, no gain" is terrible advice for back pain. 🚫

But so is "avoid all pain forever."

The truth? You need to know the difference between:

Pain that's part of recovery (safe)
Pain that's making things worse (dangerous)

Most people can't tell the difference. So they either:

Push through pain that's causing damage

Baby their back so much they never build confidence

Enter: The Traffic Light System 🚦
🟢 Green = Go → Discomfort that disappears with each movement
🟡 Yellow = Caution → Noticeable pain, stays the same, not worsen with each movement
🔴 Red = Stop → Sharp pain that keeps getting worse
This simple framework takes the guesswork out of recovery.
Swipe to see the full guide → then save it for when you need it.
Your back isn't fragile. But it IS giving you feedback. Learn to listen.

01/08/2026

The Parable of the Elephant and Your Back Pain 🐘

You've probably heard different advice for your back pain:
🧘‍♀️ "Do yoga and stretch"
💪 "Strengthen your core"
🏃‍♂️ "Fix your posture and alignment"

So... which one is right?

Here's the thing: They're all touching different parts of the same elephant.
Each approach sees ONE piece of the puzzle. But your back pain? It's the whole elephant.

That's why cookie-cutter solutions often fail. Your pain isn't one-dimensional — so why should your treatment be?

At WellSpine, we look at the WHOLE picture:

Tissue health AND nervous system factors, Movement patterns AND pain beliefs, Physical capacity AND psychological safety

Because when you only see part of the elephant, you miss the full story.
Want someone who sees the whole elephant? That's what we do. 🧡

01/08/2026

"You need to strengthen your core."

If you've had back pain, you've heard this a thousand times.
So you plank. You do bird dogs. Dead bugs. Pallof presses. You work your core religiously.

But here's the question no one asks:
When is it enough?
Is there a finish line? A test you pass? A moment where your core is officially "strong enough"?

Or are we chasing something that was never really the problem?
Here's the truth most people don't want to hear: If you can perform normal daily activities without your spine collapsing, your core is doing its job.

The real issue? We've been taught to fear our backs will give out. To believe we're fragile. That one wrong move will "throw out" our back.

So we do more core work. Not because we need it, but because we're afraid.

Maybe the question isn't "How do I make my core stronger?"
The real question should be "Is your core strong enough - for what you do at home? At work? Sports?"

Something to think about.
💭 What's your take?

01/08/2026

You get an MRI. It shows a disc protrusion.

Does that mean the disc is causing your pain?
A) Yes - the MRI proves it
B) No - it's more complicated than that

Comment your answer below! 👇

Then swipe to see what multiple research studies have found about the relationship between MRI findings and actual pain...
Hint: The answer challenges everything most people believe about back pain and imaging.

01/08/2026

Can exercise actually reduce a disc herniation?
Research says YES — but not just any exercise.

Studies show that repeated end-range extension movements can help reduce herniation size AND decrease sciatic symptoms.

Here's what matters:
→ Direction matters more than you think
→ If you feel BETTER sitting/flexed forward, extension exercises may be your answer
→ If you feel BETTER standing upright, you might need the opposite

This isn't about "fixing your posture" — it's about understanding YOUR specific pain pattern and using the right directional movements to reduce mechanical stress on the disc.

Swipe through to see the science
Questions? Drop them below

01/08/2026

You've probably tried treatment that went like this:
Most pain care providers focused on 1 or 2 things to treat, most likely the tissues and joints with a sprinkle of exercises.

Here's why that approach doesn't work: Your pain doesn't exist in neat little buckets > joints, tissues, movement, or nerves

Your tissues ARE sensitive (mechanical load matters). Your nervous system IS amplified (stress/sleep/fear matter). Your movement patterns DO contribute (biomechanics matter). Your beliefs DO influence your pain (neuroscience matters).
All of these are true. Simultaneously.

YOUR pain is more complex than any single explanation.

Our approach:
We call it the "matrix of possibilities"—maintaining multiple valid theories without collapsing into reductionism. We look at tissue state AND nervous system sensitivity AND movement patterns AND stress/beliefs/context. Then we help you recognize which factors matter most for YOUR specific pattern.