Understand one of the most powerful tools for lower back pain: Directional Preference

It’s the idea that certain movements or positions can reduce your symptoms—sometimes even eliminate them—if you find the right one.

Key points from this video:
– Everyone’s directional preference looks different (back pain vs. radiating pain down the leg, etc.)
– We use a movement audit (a motion that consistently aggravates your pain) to test progress
– Centralization (pain moving closer to the spine) = good sign
– Peripheralization (pain spreading further away) = red flag
– Intensity matters less than distribution—less leg pain but more back pain can still mean progress

This is part 1: understanding the framework.
In part 2, we’ll walk through the exact movements to test.