There will always be a
large percent of people coming to you for help who have some sort of chronic
pain. Let’s face it, no one wants chronic pain and many people coming to seek
help from a trainer talk about their pain like it’s a bad tattoo. “Oh well, I
have it and now it’s there forever”.
Some people go through
terrible injuries and have pain that last for a lifetime. Other people have
nagging aches and pains that they couldn’t tell you where or when it started.
In the case of the
injuries, sometimes we are unable to correct that pain, but I am looking to
discuss more of the other side of the story to the people who didn’t go through
an injury or event to cause their pain.
The thing that many people are unaware of is
that their pain can be fixed. The problem is that when you tell someone this
who has been dealing with it for 5, 10, 15+ years they don’t believe a word you
are saying.
There is a lot of
convincing involved in making they have confidence that you will be able to
help them with this pain. This will give them drive, excitement, and motivation
in attempts to tackle their pain.
In many cases as their
pain diminishes other parts of their life begin to change as well. For most
people I start seeing better eating habits, higher energy, and more
productivity throughout the day.
WHY DO YOU HAVE PAIN
Pain can stem from many
different sources and it’s never easy to pin point just one suspect. Looking at
someone takes more of a trial and error role.
If someone is
complaining of low back pain (very common) then this is where I would start:
- Any injuries
I should know about (you have to ask this no matter what) - Is it across
the area or pin pointed to one area? - How long
have you had this? - Are you
sedentary or active (work can tell us this) - When do you
feel it the most? (Look at patterns) - What are you
doing now to correct it?
This is what I would
start asking someone when they first tell me about their pain. If you are
diagnosing yourself then ask yourself these questions!
- If the area
is pin pointed then we can look at one side in more depth than the other.
- Depending on
the duration of the pain we can expect longer times to take longer to fix. This
is due to the recruitment patterns the person has been reverting to over the
course of that time.
- Sedentary
individuals in the case of pain, I tell them to move more. I need to know this
because if they move often now then I wouldn’t have them move even more on top
of that.
- We also need
to know when they feel it the mostà
when I am sitting at work, when I am driving, when I wake up. These three
examples show a pattern of pain when they are stationary. If they said they
feel the pain the most when they stand for long periods, walking up stairs, or
after doing the dishes then this pattern shows pain when standing for long
periods of time and from movement.
- Knowing if
they are doing anything to correct it will show us if what they are doing to
correct it is even working or show us that we need to start very slow in the
plan to fix this.
HOW DO YOU FIX THE PAIN
The steps you take to
fix the pain must mitigate the old recruitment patterns you are reverting back
to that cause the pain.
This means that it is
not just about doing a stretch every couple days that relieves the pain for a
minute or two.
You have to take time,
effort, and consistency in this process if you want it to work.
Let’s use the example
above about low back pain, now where do we begin?
There is no general way
to know what causes the pain, I can’t have someone answer those questions and
say “YES I am 100% sure it is stemming from your hips which are immobile and
causing tension through your low back!”
Like I said it is trial
and error. Start from the bottom and work your way up.
FEET
ANKLES
KNEES
HIPS
LUMBAR SPINE
THORACIC SPINE
CERVICAL SPINE
SHOULDERS
ELBOWS
NECK
These are all the major
areas problems can arise. I have had people’s shoulder pain stem from their
ankles, but I have also seen the same pain stem from their neck. It is always
different so take it slow and make sure improvements are happening.
Look at the joints and
find the ones that aren’t working the way they should, fix them, and help the
person achieve their damn goals.
Make sure that whoever is attempting to fix this pain is making it their full time job. They have to be doing their stretches and mobility drills throughout the day, multiple times a day. We have to make these new patterns their DEFAULT patterns.
They have to feel
comfortable in this new way of movement so it will last a lifetime.
In the future I may list
out some good mobility exercises for certain areas, which will go along well
with this post.
JNHealthandFitness@aol.com
