Traditional Healthcare Leads to Chronic Pain
4 min read
What is not understood by most: movement avoidance is rarely the solution as we are anti-fragile beings! Misguided rest often leads to immobility which further perpetuates chronic pain. With 70% of older individuals endorsing chronic pain at multiple sites, it is vital that you remain proactive in the management of chronic pain onset. Don’t let a healthcare system that drives fear and movement avoidance cloud your judgment.
Why this is important?
Many of our patients who have dealt with chronic pain suffer from pain that was made worse as a result of them overprotecting the area of concern. This made for a longer period of time in which the activities they loved were compromised before finally working with us.
The snowball effect of chronic pain sucks. Don’t let traditional healthcare turn that snowball into an avalanche.
Common misconception you’ve been told:
Confusing rest and inactivity: do not confuse taking a step back from training with sitting on the couch “resting”. The worst thing you can do for most injuries is doing absolutely nothing. Oftentimes, individuals are prescribed “rest” when in reality, this will most likely lead to complications elsewhere. Instead, learn to temporarily dial back your training to a more tolerable level rather than complete removal of training.
Avoiding certain movements: whether it's the movement that injured you in the first place or movements that are said to make your condition worse, movement avoidance is an unacceptable solution. Limiting yourself from executing movements you once did throughout the day will further perpetuate your limitations and surely lead to both chronic pain and complications elsewhere in the body. The reintroduction of painful movements is often a nuanced process that a professional can help with.
It is part of the aging process: human bodies have a tremendous ability to heal, why should you fall victim to thinking your body is any different? We are not fragile beings. Moderate aches and pains inevitably arise given a lifetime of stress, however, there is no need for these aches and pains to then persist to the point of preventing you from getting on with your hobbies. Your body is not nearly as fragile as our healthcare system makes you think.
It is so easy for chronic pain and misguided treatments to turn into a vicious cycle.
What you should actually be doing
When a body part becomes injured, a popular conscious and even unconscious protective mechanism that is relied upon is immobility. Whether it is driven by pain or by fear, individuals too often adopt a level of inactivity, or protection of the injured site, that is actually detrimental. Limiting motion perpetuates pre-existing limitations that often prolongs pain and subjects the rest of your body to subsequent injury as stressors simply get redirected. For this reason, it is imperative that you maintain movement. If you are interested in hearing about how we can bridge the gap between where you currently are and where you are trying to go, schedule a free discovery call.
References
Schwan, J., Sclafani, J., & Tawfik, V. L. (2019). Chronic Pain Management in the Elderly. Anesthesiology clinics, 37(3), 547–560. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anclin.2019.04.012
https://capitalareapt.com/chronic-pain-cycle-physical-therapy/
https://syphonfitness.com/news/chronic-pain/
https://rebalancetoronto.com/chronic-pain-treatment/
