Start Your Own Business or Grow an Existing One

Hundreds of step-by-step video tutorials and tools show you how to find profitable markets, get product ideas, source the best products to sell, build profitable websites easily, and drive qualified traffic. Plus, discover how to outsource it all.

Everything you need to start or grow your own highly profitable web business — regardless of size or model.

  • 1,000s of ready-to-sell products
  • Ideal for any skill level or business
  • Learn anywhere, anytime, 24/7
  • Use it risk-free for a full 30 days

Want More? Click Here For Details »


Written by Michel Fortin
Comments

Pain in The Butt Forces Free Interview

Pain in The Butt Forces Free Interview

davidjenyns Pain in The Butt Forces Free InterviewI’m in Austin, Texas this week to attend a wed­ding — con­grat­u­la­tions to Heather and Bran­don! — and a week­long, pri­vate sem­i­nar with my mas­ter­mind group. But while I’m here, I’ve got some good news and some bad news…

The bad news — for me, not you — is that, a week before leav­ing, I suf­fered a sacroil­iac joint injury. It was likely caused by my bad pos­ture related to my exist­ing her­ni­ated discs, which as a result is caus­ing ago­niz­ing sci­at­ica.

For the first three days, I was com­pletely immo­bile. It took me an hour just to get out of bed! Any slight move­ment would cre­ate shoot­ing pains in my lower back, par­tic­u­larly in my but­tocks, and would go down my leg with aches and a “pins and nee­dles” feeling.

It’s excru­ci­at­ing. In fact, I almost backed out of the Austin trip. But being able to regain some mobil­ity, I took a chance at the last minute. Luck­ily, the air­line pro­vided me with a wheel­chair. Cur­rently, I’m walk­ing with two canes and a back brace.

Now, the good news…

As a result, I haven’t posted any­thing new in a while. But I do have a treat…

Just before my injury, I had the plea­sure of being inter­viewed by SEO expert David Jenyns. David wanted to add it as a bonus to his prod­uct, “The SEO Method.”

I just got an email from David who said he decided to make the inter­view avail­able for free because it was so good. That means you can go and down­load the MP3 right now, and lis­ten to the entire, one-​​hour, unabridged record­ing. No optins or strings attached!

Until I get back to the office and back on my feet (lit­er­ally), with David’s gra­cious per­mis­sion I’m post­ing the link here for you. Go down­load the free inter­view here. Enjoy!

UPDATE: Sacroil­iac joint dys­func­tion is hard to diag­nose. It was a guess based on all my symp­toms. Proper diag­no­sis requires sev­eral tests, includ­ing flu­o­ro­scopic x-​​ray guided injec­tions, which I was booked to have upon my return to Canada.

Oth­er­wise, if it isn’t, the sci­at­ica may be caused by — and it’s the most com­mon cause of sci­at­ica — a pinched nerve and ongo­ing nerve com­pres­sion caused by her­ni­ated discs.

Well, after attend­ing the wed­ding last week­end, I was I utter agony.

Even my wife told me I looked “olive green.” So I decided to see a doc­tor near my hotel. He did a bunch of tests and finally con­firmed — it’s not sacroil­iac joint inflam­ma­tion but sci­at­ica caused by both her­ni­ated discs and degen­er­a­tive disc disease.

About the Author

Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, author, speaker, and consultant. Visit his blog and signup free to get blog updates by email, along with response-boosting tips, tested conversion strategies, the latest news, free advice, additional resources, and a lot more! Go now to http://www.michelfortin.com. While you're at it, follow him on Twitter.

Like this blog post? Buy me a coffee or send me a tip!

Last 5 Posts By Michel Fortin

Other Related Posts


Share
Category: News
Tags: cane, David Jenyns, download, expert, free, interview, marketing, mastermind, mp3, pain, sciatica, seminar, seo
This post was written on Monday, September 14th, 2009. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
One-Hour Salesletter Secrets!

One-Hour Salesletter Secrets!

New! Programmer and uber-geek Robert Plank discovers the secrets to writing stunning sales copy in just a few hours or even less! If you hate writing copy and want to save money paying a high-priced copywriter, this is for you. Click for more »

«
»
  • Take care of that back, maestro :-)
  • darrinclement
    Thanks Michel. And I certainly wish you a speedy recovery. Keeping your spirits up when you body is "down" is tough. Of course, I know you to be tough-minded so stay positive and heal fast!
  • Glad to have you back, Michael. Your insights are always worth reading.
  • Michel,

    Sorry to hear about your 'pain.' I totally relate. The pain is very disfunctioning.

    Hope you're better soon.
  • Michael, I just listened to the interview. It's an incredible interview chock full of great information. Thanks!
  • MikeHumphreys
    Hi Michel,

    Sorry to hear that you're in so much pain. I do need to correct one fact that you shared in your blog post/article. Prior to becoming a professional copywriter, I spent over 15 years working in the physical therapy and massage therapy fields and have professional licensures in each one. I treated countless cases of sciatica and had better than 75% success rate, many times from just a few treatments.

    The number one source of sciatica is NOT a herniated disc.

    The number one cause is being too tight in the muscles in your lower back, buttocks, hips, and quads which either entraps or compressess the sciatic nerve... or part of it.

    In fact, much of sciatic pain is caused when a muscle in the buttocks called the piriformis entraps the sciatic nerve that runs directly under it. You can find your own piriformis simply by putting your hand in the back pocket of your pants. That's why it's really really bad for guys to keep their wallet in their back pocket and sit on it. If you do, it just puts constant pressure on the piriformis and sciatic nerve.

    A herniated disc does not cause pain until it is either bulging or prolapsed... then it is directly putting pressure on the nerve root in that part of the back. That's why thousands and thousand of people can go about their lives pain-free with a herniated disc because it's not inpinging on any other structures (yet).

    So how do you deal with the overly tight muscles? Stretching, ice, and even heat can deliver varying amounts of relief. But what I found worked best for my patients was using manual stretching and medical massage techniques from either St. John's Neuromuscular Therapy or Erik Dalton's MyoSkeletal Alignment Technique (I had training in all of the above).

    Michel, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

    Hope this long post helps point some of your readers suffering from low back pain get some effective treatment as well.

    Take care,

    Mike Humphreys
  • I appreciate the reply.

    To be clear, the most common form of sciatica *with my specific symptoms *is
    a herniated disc. Which is what I really meant. The doctor I saw (a
    chiropractor who's also a PT), did several tests (stork tests, bend tests,
    pressure tests, etc), and found that the cause was nerve compression
    radiating from my back -- not my buttocks.

    I've been doing McKenzie stretching exercises for a while now. And my
    herniated discs have been a problem for, oh, 20 years now.
  • davidbirley
    Hi Michel... have you ever used or considered using mild inversion (say 30-40degrees) using something like a "teeter hangup" inversion table?

    I find often (with your specific symptoms) it can be a useful adjunct to manual treatment and preventative exercise...

    Regards, Dr. Dave D.O.
  • This is precisely what the doctor in Austin suggested, along with
    decompression. I found a chiro in Ottawa with a DRX9000 and I will be
    doing inversion, too.
  • By the way, Mike, I've been tasking Baclofen, a muscle relaxant, for a while now -- and recently, Arthrotec -- to prevent muscle spasms when flareups occur (over the last 20 years now, which is a near-weekly occurence).

    Sciatica is pretty recent, but my herniated discs, degenerative disc disease, PARS defect, and others have been around for years, and worsening in the last 2-3 years.

    That said, due to the Baclofen, tightening muscles is not a problem, and was considered as part of the diagnosis I recently had. The doctor also did tests for the Piriformis Syndrome.

    Just FYI. Again, thanks for replying!
  • MikeHumphreys
    Hey Michel,

    Thanks for the clarification. Yes, with the DDD, PARS defect there is a limit to how much any one method is going to be effective in getting you pain-free. It may be more of a "get the pain to a managable state" situation. McKenzie's are quite popular for treating disc herniations. I'm familiar with both of the meds you mentioned as well.

    I would suggest asking your chiropractor to check the tightness of your hip flexors, particularly the Psoas muscle group. They have been clincally proven to put additional stress on the low back (specifically the L3-L5 region) when they are overtight. Tight hip flexors are very common with people who spend lots of time sitting down... of course, copywriters and marketers never do that, right? <grin>

    Anyways, I'm going to sign off. My intent has never been to take over your article or blog for that matter. Michel, I hope you feel better soon.

    Take care,

    Mike
  • remarkablogger
    Michel, my thoughts are with you and I do hope you get better. Members of my family have had sciatica and I know exactly how debilitating it can be.
  • Thanks for the post and interview, I wrote about this in my SEO blog at the following link:
    http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com/...
  • lorrainegrula
    Hi Michael.
    Sorry to hear about your pain. I can relate, I have the same basic issue in my neck. Leaves me a tad crippled at times. This aging thing sucks, don't you think? Glad you can see a doctor in Canada. Here is America, no insurance will cover me because of my neck. Maybe I should get rich on the internet and move to Canada. I personally find a heating pad to be the best thing, next to message or physical therapy. I have to watch my posture too. Sitting here hunched over my computer is not the best!
    Take care of yourself sir.
  • Dude, Michel, you went further than I would have...I would have went straight home :(

    Keep yourself healthy man. I wish you and Sylvie the best.

    Joseph Ratliff
  • annevagar
    Hi Michael,

    For your problems with intense pain I'd like you to look into EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) Apparently lots of folk gain freedom from pain and illness by this tapping method. For myself, I was amazed to be freed from frequently recurring abcesses and pain caused by decay on the roots of two teeth. I needed root canal surgery pretty urgently but since I travel a lot between UK and US, i was never in one place long enough for dental treatment!
    Since trying EFT last February I've experienced no more pain. This is very minor compared with the improvements others have for a whole variety of health problems.

    I have no connection with Gary Craig, the founder of EFT, except for receiving his newsletters. Please look into EFT Michael. I don't like to think of anyone experiencing chronic severe pain and this could help you.

    Incidentally, I love the title on your new post.! I wrote Baby Colic.- A Pain in the Butt? Wasn't sure if that title would please Ezine Articles, but they did publish it.

    Regards,
  • Hey Michel,

    So sorry to hear about the back issues. I imagine playing traps is on hold for awhile, so this might keep those endorphins flowing:
    http://www.musiciansbuy.com/drums_percussion_el...

    Take care,
    Howard
  • Ew. Pain in the butt indeed. Sorry to hear it. I wonder if yoga would help. I've heard amazing stories.

    Lynn
  • Eldo Barkhuizen
    Hi Michel

    Sorry to hear about your serious back problem.

    May you be back on your feet and pain-free again soon.

    Very best wishes

    Eldo Barkhuizen

    PS Many thanks for the link to your SEO interview
  • Name
    Hoping that a successful diagnosis wasn't the result of having a doctor in the US take a look at you as opposed to one in Canada. If so, would there be any argument to not having a government run health care plan based on your experience?

    I'm not a fan of the government proposed plans for health care in the US, so I hope your situation isn't another example of what it is like to have government run health care.
  • I was wondering why I saw no new posts by you added to my blog feed from your blog.
    I won't add any suggestions for pain relief.Other comments and your doctors suffice.And I do know some of what you feel,daily.
    So in light of all you are going through your link to an SEO pdf of such great value is doubly appreciated
  • Michel, I understand your pain. I too have herniated discs and often get pinched nerves. Have your tried a chiropractor? I see mine monthly and he works wonders.

    Kathy
  • Thank you so much for the interview and I do hope you find some relief soon!! Hopefully the inversion will help - it sounds promising!
  • lindsaymacvean
    ouch that sounds painful. Have you tried yoga?
blog comments powered by Disqus
Copywriting Crash Course

The Copywriting Crash Course

New! How to use the secret behind the single most successful piece of copy in the history of the world to write ads that make you wealthy. Click for more »