Do you move with pain and fear?

 When you are dealing with chronic musculoskeletal pain, sometimes just basic movements are painful.  Picking up your kids, putting your socks on, walking, and sometimes you can’t even do all of the things you would like to because of this pain.  It’s hard and it takes its toll mentally and physically.  

  I see chronic pain as pain that has lasted for more than 10 weeks.  And with a specific injury, say a broken bone, that pain still should go away.  But with something a little different, like whiplash or injury from an accident, that pain still should go away too, but it can become a balance between a mental and physical shift. 

  As I have talked about before, your body is incredible at making patterns to make your life more “easy” or “efficient”.  And though this allows your brian to not think about every muscle required to breathe, it can also cause a challenge in re-wiring and breaking those patterns.  It is a lot of these muscle movement patterns that unfortunately can perpetuate pain and keep you doing the thing that is causing you pain in the first place.  Or it stops you from moving in new ways that will help alleviate the pain.  When these habitual patterns form to say put on your socks, or pick up your kids, your body isn’t always using its strongest natural muscle groups, it will often gravitate towards using the muscle groups you are most commonly using on a regular basis.  And this is okay except that those muscle groups might not be the actual best choice.  Keep repeating those less ideal motions and you are set up for dysfunction.  But it takes a lot of conscious reparation and awareness to move out of these patterns and invite new movement into your daily activities.  It can certainly be done though, and it is not always as complex as you might think.  

  This is why mobility and functional range of motion is so important to what I do and how I practice and teach.  The body is incredibly intelligent, and though a creature of habit, those habits can be changed and re-patterned fairly easily- you just have to bring in awareness and connection.  Sometimes you don’t even know how you’re moving, and if it is in your benefit or not.  And this is why seeing a movement specialist becomes so beneficial.  You were likely not taught “how” to move well, or “why” your body wants to move one way vs another.  But once you can learn, it opens your brain and body up to connect in a space that allows you to move with more ease.  It might take a little more brain power at the beginning, but over time that new habit forms and function takes over. 

 Every time I see a practitioner or do a new movement practice, I learn something about myself and my body.  

  When chatting to clients about this, they often note their fears with getting into new ranges, or unknown movements.  Because of course when you are used to having pain and discomfort anything new seems scary or like it could invoke more pain and discomfort,  Very valid feelings. Which is why I remind and encourage my patients that we are experimenting, and staying out of “painful” ranges during these movements.  But I also encourage them to not build it up in their head, pain is developed by your brain and when you go into something thinking it will be painful, it of course is likely to be more painful.  So approaching a new movement with an open mind or even the idea that it could be more helpful is going to get you off in the right direction.  

  There is also often this idea that all movement should cause no pain.  And this is not entirely true.  If you are dealing with chronic pain, the area that is in pain is more “sensitized” or attune to what is happening.  And you need to start connecting to that and understanding that just because an area has pain, doesn’t mean that something “bad” is happening.  Some people will describe this as good pain vs bad pain, but often once there has been an injury and chronic pain has settled in, the ability to see that difference lessens.  I also remind people that you are not meant to live “pain free” entirely.  Just like how you are not meant to only experience joy and happiness, you will also experience sadness, grief, loss, nervousness, and any other emotion that might be labeled as “negative” or less ideal.  You are still meant to experience some pain and discomfort, especially when learning or doing something different or new, and this doesn’t always mean it's bad.  So you need to develop this relationship of knowledge and connection to establish really what is happening for that region of pain, and become familiar with how to rationalize to yourself what is going on, why it might hurt, and the reason you are changing and growing.  Easier said than done, it takes a lot of awareness, connection, and effort, but is part of the piece of the puzzle. 

  Lastly, this flows into how you might not ever live completely pain free.  Sometimes my patients, and myself, need to adjust the expectation around living with no pain.  Is it possible? I like to think so, but this doesn’t mean that there won’t be flare-ups, or times of stress that cause discomfort.  You have to know that pain and discomfort will show up from time to time, and often when you don’t expect it, but you will also have the tools and knowledge to calm that flare up.  Just because that pain re-appears, doesn’t mean it’s back for good, or that something new and worse is happening.  It is more likely that you are stressed or run down and that sensitized area for pain feedback is going to be one of the first triggers.  

  So to combat pain you have to tackle it from a mental and physical aspect.  This is why I not only teach movement, but also breathwork and mindfulness techniques.  It all goes together to move beyond chronic pain and discomfort.  It is also important to remember that you are not alone, and you don’t have to go it alone.  Always reach out to myself or a trusted practitioner or even friend if you need some support.