The Switch
The three things most people with chronic back pain have never been told.
A short, free guide from Riaz Fredericks. Not the whole system โ just enough to feel the difference today.
Before we start
You already know what this costs you.
The morning you lay there a few extra minutes because the first movement of the day is the hardest one.
The thing you stopped doing because the payback wasn't worth it. The moment you said to someone: my back is just bad. It's been like this for years. And heard yourself say it like it was the weather.
The resignation underneath the pain is what I want to talk about.
I was a professional athlete. Twenty years of rugby across four continents while managing a herniated disc until it fully ruptured and surgery was unavoidable. My surgeon said it was the worst case he had ever treated. He couldn't believe I'd been able to walk. I made a promise on that table. I spent the recovery figuring out what had actually gone wrong and why everything I'd tried for twenty years had only ever managed it.
This guide gives you the three things that change everything. Not the whole system. That is what the full guide is for. Just enough to feel the difference today.
The back pain industry was built on outdated thinking and is too profitable to change. It treats the spine as a structural problem while avoiding the root cause: the fascial system, the deep core, and the muscle systems vital for optimal human function. You have not been failing because of your effort. You just haven't been given the right information.
"Your body is not broken. It is waiting for the right conditions to heal." โ Riaz Fredericks
Start here. Today.
Before any exercise, any protocol, any program โ your fascial system needs to rehydrate.
Fascia wraps every muscle, bone, organ, and nerve in your body. Under chronic stress, prolonged sitting, and years of compensation, it becomes dehydrated and restricted. For most people this is not a side effect of their pain. It is a primary driver of it, even when scans show nothing structural.
A soft ball. Sustained, gentle pressure. Sixty to ninety seconds on a restricted zone. That is enough to initiate what I call the sponge effect: metabolic waste out, fresh fluid in. The tissue rehydrates. The restriction releases. The nervous system begins to settle.
Start with a mini basketball. Any sports store. Today.
Three positions ยท 60โ90 seconds each
Face down
Ball just left or right of the navel. Psoas release. Breathe. Let the tissue melt. Don't press through.
Seated or side-lying
Under the deep glute. Same breath. Same patience.
Standing
Roll one foot at a time on the ball. Slow weight transfer. The fascial line runs all the way up.
One rule
Stay below a 7/10 on the discomfort scale. The tissue opens when it feels safe โ not when it is forced.
Thing Two
Flip the switch.
The body rolling gives you immediate relief. This is what makes it last.
The real core is not your abs. It is a cylinder: diaphragm on top, pelvic floor at the base, transverse abdominis wrapping the sides. When you breathe correctly and engage the brace consciously, this entire system activates. No crunches. No planks. No gym.
Every time you engage the brace โ at your desk, lifting a bag, standing up from a chair โ you are sending the TVA a message it has not received in years: you are needed here. Come back online. This is how the power station returns. Not in a single session. In ten thousand small moments between sessions.
Learn the brace now. Right now.
Three positions ยท 60โ90 seconds each
Zip up
From the pelvic floor. Imagine drawing up slowly from the base.
Wrap the waist
Like a gentle corset. Firm enough to feel. Soft enough to breathe.
Hold lightly
That is your core. That is the switch.
The breath: 4-count inhale through the nose, belly and ribs expanding. 6โ8 count exhale through pursed lips, longer out than in. The brace engages naturally on the exhale.
This is not a morning practice. It is an all-day pursuit. In bed. Walking. Sitting. Standing. Every ordinary moment is a rep โ until the switch stays on by itself.
Where to practise right now
- โข Before you stand up from this chair, brace first. Zip up, wrap, then rise.
- โข Walking to the next room, brace engaged. Every step is a message.
- โข Tonight in bed, ten slow breath cycles. Brace on every exhale. Release on every inhale.
The plan was wrong.
Every treatment you've tried was built on the same model โ the spine as a structural problem.
Physio, chiro, injections, surgery, rest. A disc, a nerve, a joint. Fix the structure, manage the pain.
That model is not wrong. It is incomplete.
What the plan missed
WHAT IT MISSES
The fascia
The continuous connective tissue web that wraps every muscle, bone, and nerve โ and the single governing force the entire fascial system depends on: the transverse abdominis. The TVA.
WHAT HAPPENS
The TVA goes dormant
Slowly. Through years of prolonged sitting, the fascial system loses its anchor. The spine loses its internal support. Everything compensates. The scans look unremarkable. The treatments help briefly. And nobody explains why.
THE PRIMARY GOAL
The primary goal of the E.S.C.A.P.E. System is the reawakening of the TVA โ the dormant power station at the centre of your stability.
Not pain relief, not flexibility, not strength. Those follow. First, bring the power station back online.
Watch an infant move. The TVA fires automatically with every breath, before they can sit, stand, or take a step. We arrive knowing this. We lose it over years of sitting, as the body receives the same quiet message: the chair holds the position. You are not needed here.
The TVA didn't break. It stood down. And the goal โ the whole goal โ is to bring it back.
Think of it as a tent. The pegs hold the whole structure in shape, not the poles. The TVA is the pegs. Without them, the tent loses tension. Under pressure, it fails. Restore the pegs and the tent returns to what it was designed to be.
What comes next
That was only three things.
I'll bet you've never heard your back explained like that. And that was only three things. There's a whole system behind them, and you've barely touched the edge.
So don't wait to begin. Start tonight. The brace you just learned is the practice. Ten slow breaths in bed, the brace on every exhale. Again before you stand tomorrow. Ten minutes a day from here, and it is already yours.
The rest is close. In the coming weeks we open the Escape System โ the full method in one place: the complete Bula Ball Method Starter Guide, the booklets that go deeper on every principle, and the video series that puts every move into your own body, with follow-up from me as you work it. You are already on the founders' list, which means you are first through the door, and at the founders' price, the day it opens.
"You are not broken. You are not too far gone. You just haven't had the right plan. Now you do." โ Riaz Fredericks
See what's coming
Drop your email and I'll send The Switch straight to your inbox โ and put you on the founders' list.
