Beyond the Stack of Bricks: How I Unlocked the True Anatomy of My Back and Healed a Decade of Chronic Pain

I’m a physical therapist with 15 years of clinical experience, and for a solid decade, I was my own worst patient.

It’s a special kind of professional hell to be able to recite every muscle, ligament, and nerve pathway of the lumbar spine—from the mighty erector spinae to the delicate dorsal rami ¹—yet be utterly incapable of solving the gnawing, persistent pain radiating from my own lower back.

I was a cartographer who was lost in his own map.

This wasn’t just a physical struggle; it was an identity crisis.

My days were spent confidently guiding patients toward recovery, while my nights were spent wrestling with my own body, cycling through the same frustrating loop so many of you know intimately: temporary relief followed by a demoralizing recurrence.³

The pain became a constant, unwelcome companion, whispering anxieties that eroded my confidence and tinged my life with a low-grade depression.⁴

I felt trapped in a body that had betrayed me, a feeling echoed in the stories of countless individuals who feel their lives shrink, day by day, around their pain.⁶

I did everything the textbooks—my textbooks—said to do.

I rested.

I iced.

I took anti-inflammatory drugs.

I dutifully performed the “gold standard” exercises.

Yet, nothing provided lasting change.

This journey of failure, however, led me to a profound realization: the problem wasn’t my back.

The problem was the very framework we use to understand it.

The solution, I would discover, wasn’t hidden in a medical journal, but in the most unlikely of places: the world of architectural design.

And it would change everything.

Part 1: The Anatomy of Failure – Why We’ve Been Looking at the Back All Wrong

To understand why so many of us remain stuck in a cycle of chronic back pain, we first have to dismantle the foundational myth that governs nearly all conventional treatment: the “Spine as a Skyscraper” model.

The “Spine as a Skyscraper” Myth

Think about how your back is usually described.

You have a stack of 24 bones called vertebrae, one piled on top of the other like a tower of blocks.⁸

Between these blocks are soft, gel-like discs that act as cushions.⁸

Ligaments are the mortar holding the blocks together, and muscles are the pulleys and cables that attach to this structure to create movement.⁹

It’s an intuitive, mechanical model.

This “skyscraper” view leads directly to a “find it and fix it” approach to pain.

If a scan shows a bulging disc (a “slipped cushion”) or a misaligned vertebra (a “crooked block”), the treatment targets that specific, localized fault.¹¹

Pain is seen as a direct result of a structural failure in one of the building’s components.

This is the essence of the biomedical model, which conceives of disease as a measurable alteration of biological parts.¹³

My Failure Story: How “Strengthening My Core” Wrecked My Back

Armed with this skyscraper model, I embarked on a mission to fix my own back.

The prevailing wisdom was clear: my “core” was weak, and I needed to build a stronger, more stable foundation.

So, I did what countless physical therapists and trainers recommend.

I dedicated myself to a regimen of planks, crunches, and other stabilization exercises designed to create a rigid, muscular “girdle” around my midsection.¹⁴

The result? My pain got worse.

Much worse.

I was creating rigidity, not resilience.

By bracing my abdominal muscles in isolation, I was turning my dynamic, adaptable torso into a stiff, unyielding cylinder.

This prevented my spine from moving naturally and absorbing shock.

Instead of distributing forces throughout my body, the increased compression was channeled directly into the vertebral joints and discs I was trying to protect.

The very solution prescribed by the conventional model was exacerbating the problem.

The pursuit of “core stability” had led me to “core rigidity,” and I learned the hard way that they are polar opposites.

A healthy spine needs to be fluid and responsive, not locked down like a fortress.

The Limits of a Blueprint: When the Map Doesn’t Match the Territory

My personal failure reflects a much larger problem.

The biomedical “skyscraper” model is excellent for managing acute crises—a fractured vertebra from a car accident, for instance.

But it is woefully unequipped to address chronic, systemic dysfunction.

This is why an estimated 97% of back pain is classified as “non-specific,” meaning no clear structural cause can be identified despite extensive testing.¹⁶

It’s why there’s such a poor correlation between what an MRI shows and how much pain a person actually feels.¹³

Many people walk around with herniated discs and feel nothing, while others with “perfect” scans are debilitated by pain.

This discrepancy is a major source of the frustration, anxiety, and hopelessness that plague chronic pain sufferers.³

When doctors can’t find a “broken part” to fix, patients are often left feeling like their pain is imaginary or that they are somehow failing at recovery.

This emotional and psychological burden—the fear, the depression, the loss of identity—is not a personal failing.

It is a predictable, systemic outcome of applying an inadequate map to a complex and dynamic territory.⁵

Part 2: The Epiphany – Discovering the Body’s Tensegrity Architecture

My breakthrough came not in a clinic or a lecture hall, but late one night, scrolling through articles on architectural theory.

I stumbled upon a concept called Tensegrity, a term coined by the visionary architect Buckminster Fuller, combining “tensional integrity”.²⁰

I looked at a picture of a tensegrity sculpture.

It wasn’t built like a brick wall, with parts stacked compressively on top of each other.

Instead, it was made of isolated, floating sticks (compression struts) suspended in a continuous web of wires (tensional elements).

The sticks didn’t touch.

The entire structure held its shape and integrity because of the balanced tension running through the web of wires.

If you pushed on one part of it, the entire structure would yield and distribute the force instantly and globally.

It was strong, yet resilient and adaptable.²⁰

In that moment, everything clicked.

It was a genuine “aha” moment that sent a shiver down my spine—the first good feeling I’d had there in years.

The body is not a skyscraper.

The body is a biological tensegrity structure.

This realization shattered the old model.

Our 206 bones are the floating compression “struts.” Our myofascial network—the seamless, body-wide web of muscles, tendons, ligaments, and the all-encompassing connective tissue called fascia—is the continuous tensional “web”.²⁰

This changes the entire equation.

The skeleton doesn’t hold up the body; the balanced tension of the soft tissues holds up the skeleton.

As biomechanics expert Thomas Myers, founder of the “Anatomy Trains” concept, explains, if you take the soft tissues away, the skeleton is just an unstable pile of bones on the floor.²⁰

Myers’ Anatomy Trains map provides a brilliant, practical way to visualize these continuous lines of fascial pull that run through the body, connecting the bottom of your foot to the arch of your eyebrow in a single, uninterrupted plane.²²

My pain wasn’t a local failure in a single “brick.” It was a sign of an imbalance in the entire tensional network.

Part 3: A New Anatomy for a Resilient You – The Three Pillars of a Tensegrity Spine

Viewing the body through this new lens of tensegrity doesn’t just offer a cool analogy; it fundamentally changes our understanding of anatomy and function.

It gives us a new, more accurate map to navigate our own healing.

Pillar I: Bones as “Spacers,” Not Stacks

In the tensegrity model, the 33 vertebrae of the spine are not primarily load-bearing blocks.⁹

Their most crucial role is to act as floating

spacers that create and maintain space within the tensional network of the myofascia.

The health and alignment of your vertebrae and the gel-like discs between them ⁸ are a

result of the balance in the surrounding soft tissues, not the cause of it.

This reframes common diagnoses completely.

A herniated or bulging disc ¹¹ is no longer seen as a simple “cushion failure.” It is a symptom of a systemic tensional imbalance that is creating excessive, localized compression, squeezing the disc out of its proper space.

The solution isn’t just to address the disc, but to restore balance to the entire tensional web that is creating the compression in the first place.

Pillar II: The Myofascial Web as the “Living Matrix”

This is the heart of the new paradigm.

Muscles, ligaments, and fascia are not separate parts bolted onto a skeleton.

They form a single, uninterrupted, intelligent web of tissue that envelops and connects every part of your body.²

Consider the “Superficial Back Line” from Myers’ Anatomy Trains.

This is a continuous plane of fascia and muscle that runs from the bottom of your feet, up the back of your legs (calves and hamstrings), along the powerful erector spinae muscles of your back, over the top of your scalp, and anchors at your brow ridge.²¹

In a tensegrity system, strain is distributed globally.

This means the site of your pain is very often not the source of your problem.

A restriction in one part of the web—say, from tight plantar fascia in your feet due to years of unsupportive shoes—can transmit tension all the way up that Superficial Back Line.

This chronic, low-grade pull can manifest as pain and tightness in your lower back, even though the “injury” is technically in your foot.

This explains why so many cases of back pain are “non-specific” and why treatments that focus only on the sore spot (like massaging only the lower back) so often fail to provide lasting relief.

You’re trying to fix a snag in a sweater by only poking at the snag, without tracing the thread back to the source of the pull.

Pillar III: The Nervous System as the “Communication Network”

The final pillar integrates the nervous system.

Nerves don’t exist in a vacuum; they are intricately woven through this living matrix of fascia.¹

The spinal cord runs through the vertebral canal, and 31 pairs of nerve roots branch out through spaces between the vertebrae, carrying messages between your brain and your body.⁸

When the fascial web is tight, restricted, or inflamed, it can physically compress, pinch, or irritate these nerves, creating pain signals like sciatica, where pain radiates down the leg.¹⁰

But the connection is deeper than that.

This model connects the physical structure to the biopsychosocial experience of pain.²⁴

A balanced, mobile, and resilient tensegrity structure sends constant signals of safety and ease to the brain.

An imbalanced, rigid, and restricted structure sends signals of threat and danger.

Over time, the brain can become sensitized to these threat signals, creating a vicious cycle where the expectation of pain actually makes the pain worse, fueling the anxiety and fear that keep the system locked in a protective, painful state.¹⁹

Part 4: The Tensegrity Toolkit – A Practical Guide to Lasting Relief

Understanding this new model is the first step.

The second is putting it into practice.

The fundamental shift is this: stop isolating muscles and start integrating movement. We are not building a machine; we are re-tuning a responsive, living system.

The New “Core” Workout: Re-Tuning Your Tensional Web

The goal of exercise is no longer to brace and harden but to restore fluidity, balance, and communication throughout the myofascial Web. The following table contrasts the old way of thinking with the new, Tensegrity-based approach.

It’s not just about doing different exercises; it’s about performing them with a completely different intention.

Exercise	Conventional Goal (The “Skyscraper” Model)	Tensegrity Goal (The “Living Matrix” Model)
Cat-Cow 15	“Stretch the back muscles.”	“Gently mobilize the entire fascial web along the Superficial Back and Front Lines, hydrating the discs and improving spinal fluidity.”
Bird-Dog 14	“Strengthen glutes and core stabilizers.”	“Challenge and restore balanced tension along the diagonal Spiral and Functional Lines, teaching the body to be stable through coordinated, integrated movement.”
Mindful Bridge 14	“Strengthen glutes and hamstrings.”	“Sequentially articulate the spine one vertebra at a time, hydrating discs, engaging the deep core (Deep Front Line), and re-patterning the connection between the pelvis and ribcage.”
Diaphragmatic Breathing 28	“Relaxation.”	“Regulate intra-abdominal pressure, gently massaging the psoas and other deep core structures, and calming the nervous system to reduce the ‘threat’ signal being sent to the brain.”

Beyond the Mat: Creating a Tensegrity-Friendly Lifestyle

Lasting relief requires supporting this new paradigm in your daily life.

• Anti-Inflammatory Nutrition: Your diet directly affects the health of your fascial web. Processed foods, refined sugars, and trans fats promote systemic inflammation, which can make fascia “sticky,” restricted, and more sensitive to pain. Conversely, a diet rich in whole foods, vegetables, fruits, and omega-3 fatty acids can reduce inflammation and support tissue health.²⁸
• Mindfulness and Pacing: Chronic pain is physically and emotionally straining.³ Mindfulness practices like meditation and tai chi can help break the pain-anxiety-tension cycle by teaching you to observe sensations without reacting with fear.³ Learning to pace your activities—taking breaks before pain starts—prevents you from overloading the system and causing a flare-up.
• Movement Variety: The fascial web thrives on varied movement and despises static postures. Prolonged sitting is one of the worst things for your back’s tensegrity system. Get up frequently, stretch, walk, and introduce small, gentle, and varied movements throughout your day to keep the entire web hydrated, responsive, and healthy.

Conclusion: You Are Not a Machine, You Are a Masterpiece

My journey through a decade of pain forced me to unlearn much of what I thought I knew as a physical therapist.

It led me from the flawed, fragile “stack of bricks” model to the elegant, resilient, and interconnected reality of the body as a Tensegrity structure.

By embracing this new understanding, I was finally able to achieve lasting relief—not by fighting my body, but by listening to it and working with its true architectural genius.

If you are struggling with chronic back pain, know this: you are not broken.

Your pain is not a life sentence.

It is a signal from a complex, intelligent system that is out of balance.

By letting go of the outdated mechanical model and learning to see your body as the dynamic, living masterpiece of tensional integrity that it is, you can move from being a victim of your pain to becoming the architect of your own well-being.

You hold the blueprint for your own healing.

Works cited

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