What (Not) To Do With Pain or Injury

Whether you've had musculoskeletal pain in the past or are currently dealing with pain or injury, understand this one crucial piece: pain is part of life. And with that pain comes the opportunity to grow and become stronger if you address your pain the right way. *Cough cough* ie NOT becoming reliant on quick fixes or others to improve your body/pain for you.

Anyway... in 2017, I (Cameron) dealt with a year of back pain and sciatica from an L5-S1 disc herniation, alongside neck, mid-back, and shoulder pain. Pain got so severe to the point where it seemed like my life was over, as it caused physical and mental anguish and halted me from playing sports, being active, and enjoying time with family and friends.

Chiropractors and Doctors told me to stop lifting, and that pain was just a part of my future. Essentially I was told there was nothing I could do about it, and my best chance was to continue to pay for medical services.

I didn't want to give into those limitations, knowing I was capable of so much more... so I found another way.

And this way happened to be Andrew Dettelbach's pain program in 2017.

Today, I believe that my pain and injury was the best thing to ever happen to me, as they forced me on a path to rebuild my foundation. Within three months of working with Andrew, I was out of pain completely.

Today (5 years later) I am stronger and more in-tune with my body than ever, and I want YOU to feel the same.

Here is what we recommend you do and not do when it comes to pain.

WHAT NOT TO DO:

1. DO NOT waste unnecessary time and money on endless passive treatments

The biggest mistake we see with people who experience pain is this false expectation: someone else will solve your pain for you. If you've been in pain for months or years and are still experiencing pain, there is likely something else going on under the surface that even the best tools, Doctors, Chiros, massage therapists, etc., will not be able to solve alone. 

99% of the time, overcoming pain and injury takes personal responsibility and lifestyle changes. Do not expect to make long-lasting and permanent changes to your body if you are not ACTIVELY working on improving your movement, strength, mobility, nutrition, recovery, and mindset. Do not expect someone else or something else to fix you alone; you MUST actively work to improve your body every single day.

Below you can see the difference between passive and active modalities. Spend the majority of your emphasis, time, and effort working on the base of the iceberg. 

2. DO NOT Avoid Movement Forever

Many people cope with pain or injury by avoiding any exercise, movement, or activity that causes them distress or physical discomfort. While this is a short-term tactic, complete avoidance is a recipe for disaster in the long run.

Why is this a bad idea? Because if you avoid specific movements altogether, you train your body and mind to think that those movements are harmful or unsafe. Avoidance leads to physical atrophy, further imbalances, weakness, and fear over movements. Sometimes, people feel pain while doing certain exercises not because there is actual "physical damage" but rather the mind has created a learned-pain response out of chronic fear/avoidance.

If the goal is to get back to being active and doing what you love, you want to build physical strength and mental confidence- and avoidance and fear will NOT get you there.

"There are no bad movements - just the ones you are unprepared for."

3. DO NOT Push through and ignore your pain completely

Okay, we've established we don't want to avoid moving completely. So do we completely ignore the physical pain and push through it? Do we do the whole "mind over matter" thing and keep moving, lifting, or playing sports the same way, despite the pain it causes us?

I don't think this is the answer either. We deal with thousands of clients who ignore their pain for weeks, months, or years out of ego, confusion, fear, or pure procrastination. Ultimately, however, the day comes when they say these words upon enrolling: "I haven't been listening to my body" or "I've been ignoring my pain for too long." 

So what is the balance? Pain is a complicated phenomenon, and often it is a combination of physical work and mental, emotional, and environmental.

While we don't want to obsess and freak out over our pain, we want to be attentive to our pain. We want to listen to our pain as an opportunity to build more physical/mental strength and resilience in our bodies. 

*A serious exception: if you have a loss of sensation, control of limbs, bowels, bladder, or sexual function, we recommend you see a doc immediately as surgery might be warranted*  

WHAT TO DO:

While there are countless avenues to tackle pain, a standard method is through "graded exposure" or "progressive overload." Short and sweet, you want to teach your mind and body that they can tolerate movement and do so safely. How? By progressively building physical/mental strength and confidence in small increments.We can do this in several ways:

1. Work in a zero or low pain range when possible

A bit of discomfort is typically okay when working through injury (around a 2-3 on the pain scale). However, if it hurts after or during, back off a bit; we are not winning any medals here.

"What if I am in pain no matter what I do?"

This is certainly a valid question, as many of our members come in with total body pain, and the reality is that every/most movement causes some level of discomfort. In this case, we teach them how to push ever so slightly and intelligently into their pain. Some of our members with chronic pain take months to eliminate pain, which is okay!

2. Reduce load and/or volume temporarily and then build-up

Sometimes your pain is purely a load and volume issue. You may be overworking yourself and not allowing for adequate recovery. Reducing the load or volume can help the body heal for the time being.

Suppose the pain lasts longer than a few months. In that case, however, it is likely not just a load/volume/overtraining issue. You could need to work on your biomechanics/form, overall body strength, or other factors.

3. Alter or swap exercises

We established that we don't want to avoid movements altogether. You might benefit by picking a different exercise for the time being that targets the same muscle group or movement pattern but loads the body in a way that doesn't hurt.

Do not get in the trap of constantly altering your exercises because something continues to hurt. If you are constantly subbing out exercises for months because specific ones hurt, you might be covering up a lingering issue. Is your ego getting in the way? It might be time to rebuild your foundation.

4. Alter or reduce your range of motion temporarily and build it back up

Again, we do not want to avoid complete ranges of motion forever. The saying "if you don't use it, you lose it" applies here. Reducing ROM is meant to be a temporary substitution so that you can work over weeks or months (if needed) to regain your range of motion.

STILL, HAVING PAIN? WHAT ELSE SHOULD YOU DO?

1. Work on your total body biomechanics & body awareness

I could have easily put this as the first step above. But most people don't want to do the hard things - and working on your technique, form, and biomechanics takes WORK. 

At Whealth, movement quality and mechanics are the first things we teach in our programs. How you move and orient your body in space will dictate your load on individual muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints. Improving your biomechanics improves total bodily coordination and strength, allowing individual body parts to disperse load more efficiently. You may have no idea that you are creating more serious compensations and imbalances if you are not moving efficiently.

We are very intentional with teaching our members how to move efficiently in all ranges of motion with the entire body.

2. Follow a comprehensive rehabilitation program like Limitless

The same five exercises you found on Instagram or were given by your PT aren't working. It is time to rebuild or strengthen your foundation, which will take several months of consistent work. If you have followed the same (lifting, mobility, rehab, etc.) routine for months or years and are not making the progress you'd like, it might be time for a change. Stop trying to piecemeal your rehab journey yourself and find a professional or group you trust.

 If you do what you've always done, you will get what you've always gotten.

3. Take a holistic approach to recovery

Your nutrition, recovery, sleep, stress management, relationships, work, etc. all play a factor and role in how your body perceives pain. Improving these aspects of your life is highly beneficial in overcoming pain or injury! This is why we cover many of these aspects in Limitless.

4. Find a group, program, or community that supports your journey and keeps you accountable

Over time, chronic physical pain can turn into mental and emotional pain (and vice versa). Many of our members join our programs because they have struggled or managed their pain for too long and want their confidence back. Find a group that supports you in your journey and keeps you accountable for making 1% improvements each day.

It is never too late to regain confidence in your body and overcome your pain. Yes, it takes work. Yes, it may take weeks or months to feel amazing in your body truly. But if you commit to improving and learning about your body, you will get there.

Currently, we have over 1200+ members in our programs, many of which have already overcome their pain and injury. Are you next? Click here to check out Limitless - the program to overcome your pain.

Until next time,

Cam at Whealth