Welcome! We have five sections in the The Stoic Manual to help you live a distinguished life. The ‘Science-based Tools’ enhances your physical and psychological health, energy, vitality, stress resilience, focus, and motivation. The ‘Wealth Playbook’ will help you build wealth and enjoy the financial freedom and power it affords. While the ‘Lead to Win’ & the ‘Le Monde Élégant’ refine your social skills, relationships skills & leadership skills- by Dr. Antonius Veritas.
P.S: Most of you loved the previous entries on How To Deal With Toxic People, How to Prevent & Overcome Burnout, and How to Process & Overcome Grief.
“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control." — Epictetus (The same applies to our health)
The pain announced itself in theatre, ironically midway through a long spinal case. I was strapped into a heavy lead jacket for radiation protection, standing rigid under the lights, hands fixed on the work before me. Hours passed, and the weight on my back grew unbearable. What should have been a fun surgery became a private hell. I obviously endured it and the patient’s outcome was good, but by the time I peeled off the jacket, my back felt like it was breaking.
Even walking out of theatre felt like crossing a battlefield wounded. I leaned on doorframes between rounds, tried to stretch in hospital corridors without drawing attention, but nothing eased it for long. At home, the misery followed me. Walking, lifting groceries, sitting to write- it all became an unpleasant negotiation.
I realized then, how much back pain was limiting. It dictates how long you can work, how well you can rest, whether you’ll enjoy life, and even how you carry yourself in front of others. And I knew I had to find a way out of that trap. Not quick fixes or painkillers, but something that explained what my back needed, why the pain behaved the way it did, and how to retrain my body to prevent this from happening again.
The solution I found was rooted in first principles- anatomy, tried and tested by many experts and peers, and it was surprisingly simple. It included movements that eased nerve irritation, routines that restored strength and mobility, and daily habits that make the spine resilient. Those lessons are what follow.
If back pain has ever cornered you the way it did me, then what comes next may open the way out. I hope it frees you from the pain and restores your vigor the way it did mine.
Read on.
I. Introduction
Back pain is one of those conditions that…
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