In episode 5.18 of the TV show “House, M.D.” (fantastic show, by the way), they show a patient who presents with vertigo. They fix it within moments by applying the so called Epley maneuver. This trope is every patient’s dream: just do this one weird trick and you’re cured!

I still cannot believe that not only did I experience something similar, but the most shocking part of it was that it was Claude, the LLM by Anthropic, who told me about it, despite having seen a specialist.

It began a few years ago with pain in the tailbone. I went to see a physiatrist who promptly suspected I had a disc prolapse and ordered an MRI which confirmed the diagnosis. He prescribed physical therapy for lumbago with a focus on hip mobility and “fango” (hot mud). The physical therapist seemed young and inexperienced. He never wanted to see the radiological findings. So he showed me some stretching exercises for hip mobility, which I’ve been doing regularly.

But the pain never went away. It wasn’t very high on the pain scale, and it would vary, but it was always there. It only moved from the tailbone to the lower back. The physiatrist told me even in our first appointment that a prolapsed disc just happens eventually to most people, and I’d just have to learn to live with it. He said he also suffers from a prolapsed disc and accepted that he can’t do some movements anymore and has pain killers ready. He was around 20 years older than me.

Rather than seeking yet another opinion, I decided to try something different. I gave Claude the radiological findings. Initially, I just wanted to understand it better, but then I asked it about my therapy. Claude said I should find a new physical therapist and try dead bugs, bird dogs and Pallof presses on top of the stretching exercises. I tried the first two at home immediately, but didn’t notice anything in particular. The next time I went to the gym, I did three sets of Pallof presses.

Here, the effect was immediate. On the same day, just a few hours later, my back pain went away. And it stayed that way.

I’ve been living with mostly minor back pain for years, and it took five minutes of the right exercise to make it go away!

I asked Claude how that is possible, and while it noted that it could be a coincidence or a placebo effect, it’s also plausible that a single session can provide relief. We all know LLMs make stuff up, so I reserve judgment about the explanation, but it said that my body tried to protect the area around the prolapsed disc by activating bigger muscles for stabilization. The bigger muscles need more energy and eventually feel strained, while also making the area stiffer. So the pain would stay. A vicious cycle. By forcing my body to activate the smaller, deeper muscles during the Pallof press, it re-learned to use these more efficient muscles, taking load off the bigger ones.

Five minutes of the right exercise, prescribed by a language model, after years of enduring pain. Make of that what you will. All I know for sure is that the Pallof press is now my new favorite exercise.