The BIGGEST Mistake People Make When Treating Pain

There's 1 mistake that I see being repeated over and over again, and it's keeping many people stuck in pain.

If you're struggling with a pain or injury that won't go away fully, read on.....

There's 3x main types of injury:

1. Traumatic = A specific injury arising from a single incident eg. stepping off the pavement and spraining your ankle / you fall whilst skiing, damaging your knee ACL / dropping a heavy object on your foot and breaking a metatarsal bone
2. Non-specific = Pain that doesn't have a definite cause eg. back ache, stiff shoulder, wear & tear, osteoarthritis. This type of injury tends to slow you down, but you can keep going, maybe taking painkillers or anti-inflammatories.
3. Persistent / Recurring = A chronic injury that keeps flaring despite having treatment eg. plantar fasciitis / tennis elbow / disc herniation / sciatic pain / frozen shoulder.

When you feel pain that doesn't improve, your first action is probably to seek a diagnosis from a doctor or physiotherapist. Then you'll embark on treatment to fix the site of the pain, and ease your symptoms.

And this is where it frequently goes wrong! You'll likely get some improvement, but there's still pain, or the injury continues to flare up, until you're told you just have to live with it.

The mistake is focusing on just treating the injured body part. For injury types 2 and 3, the root driver or trigger of the problem is frequently NOT where you feel the pain. 

Two very common types of non-specific and persistent ./ recurring pain that are don't respond well or quickly to mainstream treatment methods are:

• Back pain
• Shoulder pain

For a lot of people, the symptoms continue for many years, and they become resigned to living with and in pain. They're often written off by health professionals, and told to take painkillers.

The reason why back and shoulder pain often doesn't go away completely, even with treatment, is that they're often just symptoms of a change happening somewhere else in the body.

This change might be an imbalance, muscles behaving differently from how they were designed, or two or more body systems moving out of sync with each other.

Let's explore the back and shoulder in more depth, and what to do to get to the root driver behind the pain....

1) Low Back Pain / Disc Herniations

Lower back pain can come from the:

• muscles - painful spasms that leave you floored, literally!
• nerve - sciatic nerve pain is probably the most common
• vertebral disc - the jelly-like material within the disc protrudes and presses on the nerves around the spine

The usual treatments offered are physiotherapy, osteopath, chiropractor, massage, steroid or epidural injection and surgery on the spine or damaged discs.

But low back pain often becomes chronic, despite the above treatments. Repeat disc herniations are not uncommon, and you may end up thinking that you have a weak back.

So what else can you do to resolve pain?

Here are the movement explorations I'd initially ask someone with persistent low back pain or recurring disc herniations to try:

• Feet - are they level and balanced on the ground?
• Pelvis - is the pelvis centred, balanced and in equilibrium on the hip joints, with equal muscle tone at the back and front of the body?
• Ribs - do the ribs rotate freely, with full control of the waist muscles (obliques)?
• Hips and Ribs - can you rotate the hips in 1 direction and counter-rotate the ribs in the opposite direction WITHOUT turning or twisting the pelvis?

The feet are the foundations of the body. The pelvis' role is to act as the master controller of load management and movement in the body.

If these 2 structures aren't well organised, it's very hard to arrange and use the rest of the body efficiently and effectively. You'll be more likely to overload certain areas of the body, and unbalance the muscles, leading to increased tension and stiffness.

The ability to feely rotate the hips and ribs is crucial to keeping the pelvis and lower spine stable, without the need to habitually brace the trunk muscles. If the hips and ribs lose their mobility, you'll most likely compensate by twisting the pelvis, sacroiliac (SI) joint and lumbar vertebrae.

The most common sites of disc herniations occur at the level of L4/L5 (lumbar vertebrae 4 & 5), and L5/S1 (lumbar vertebrae 5 & sacral vertebrae 1), around where the pelvis attaches onto the spine at the sacroiliac joint.

The SI joint and lumbar vertebrae are not designed for twisting. If made to twist, the intervertebral discs become unevenly compressed. Over time, of if subjected to a large enough force, they'll eventually bulge (extrusion), burst open (herniation), or even fully rupture (sequestration).

If you're not exploring how your feet, pelvis, hips and ribs function, you're failing to address the actual root causes and the pain will keep coming back.

2) Shoulder pain

Common diagnoses of shoulder joint pain include rotator cuff muscle strain, capsulitis, bursitis, impingement and "frozen shoulder".

The usual treatments offered are similar to the ones for back pain.

Did you know that the average time it takes for shoulder pain to resolve is 3.5 years. For some people, the pain doesn't ever really go away. This is frequently when the term "frozen shoulder" gets trotted out, and you're told you "just have to live with it".

Again, similar to lower back pain, pain from the shoulder joint is often symptomatic of changes happening elsewhere.

So, how can you locate these changes that are behind your painful symptoms?

Here are the movement explorations I'd initially ask someone with shoulder joint to try:

• Feet - are they level and balanced on the ground?
• Pelvis - is the pelvis centred, balanced and in equilibrium on the hip joints, with equal muscle tone at the back and front of the body?
• Shoulder blades - can you feel the movement of the shoulder blades on the back of the rib cage? Are the shoulder blades and ribs synchronised?
• Shoulder blades and Ribs - do the shoulder blades and ribs respond appropriately and in time with the position of the arm as it moves overhead?

The arm (humerus) is designed to move in the centre of the shoulder socket via the coordinated movement of the shoulder blades and ribs in time with the arm.

If these 3x structures become unsynchronised (dyskinesis) the rotator cuff muscles become unbalanced and strained. The humerus rubs against the inside edge of the shoulder socket, leading to pain whenever you try to move the arm.

The muscles around the shoulder and ribs tense and brace to limit the movement in an effort to reduce pain. This is often By solely one of the elements involved in a shoulder freezing.

By solely focusing on trying to fix the shoulder joint, you may miss what's happening with the ribs, shoulder blades, and how they communicate with the arm. 

The arm continues to rub against the inside of the socket, eventually eroding the joint lining (labrum), and wearing away the protective cartilage of the humerus. 

This appears as osteoarthritis on an MRI scan. You'll be told that wear and tear is "just part of ageing", take painkillers and crack on. 

Hopefully, these 2 examples illustrate why / how some injuries become chronic, or keep flaring over and over.

Takeaways

• The root driver behind the injury may not be where you're feeling the pain
• Focusing on treating just the site of the injury rarely addresses the root drivers, so movement continues to trigger pain
• Explore the other structures connected with the area that's painful - are they behaving differently to how they were designed?
• Remember to pay attention to how your feet engage with the ground, and if your pelvis is truly centred and balanced on your hip joints.

NEXT STEPS

** 4x SPACES LEFT FOR SESSION 2 ON SUNDAY 21ST JULY **

The Befriend Your Body Method for Pain Management & Relaxation

A small group, tranquil mindful movement class for pain management and relaxation, with a deeply soothing sound bath meditation.

During the class, you'll learn how to use small movements to successfully release muscle tension and reduce pain. You'll also have the chance to practice some of the explorations I've discussed in this blog post.

Then immerse yourself in the calming sounds and healing vibrations of the crystal singing bowls, ocean drum and rain stick. You'll leave feeling fully rested, deeply relaxed and rejuvenated. 

This class is for you whether you're looking for a natural way to manage pain with a mindful movement practice, or simply to quietly rest in a peaceful sanctuary.

Click HERE for all the details, including how to book. Numbers are limited to a small group to nurture a friendly, inclusive and supportive community for all members.

Other ways you can find help with managing pain or an injury are:

• Book into a Stretch or Pilates class with me - these are a good introduction to the movement explorations of The Befriend Your Body (BYB) Method  for pain management.
• Get your copy of my free E-guide "How to Get Relief From Back Pain and Muscle Tension in just 10 mins a Day". This introduces the 3x universal stress responses that can keep you stuck in pain, and explains the 4x pillars of The BYB Method. There's also 2x 10 mins video tutorials showing you how to release muscle tension from the front and back of your body in the comfort of your without expensive equipment. Download HERE
• Subscribe HERE to receive "The Movement Chronicle", a weekly e-newsletter delivering mobility and pain reduction tips directly into your inbox every Monday morning,

You can connect with me through any of these channels:

• Email at norma@unicornhealthandfitness.com
• Follow me on Facebook and DM me on Messenger https://www.facebook.com/norma.pearsonfitness
• WhatsApp message to 07801 867361.