One of the things I’ve noticed from talking to people who come to The Form Practice is how often pain makes people nervous about exercise.
It’s completely understandable. If your knee hurts when you walk, your back hurts when you bend or your shoulder hurts when you lift your arm, the obvious reaction is to think: I’d better stop doing that.
But is stopping exercise actually the right thing to do?
I thought this would be a useful subject for our first new blog article because it’s relevant to so many of the people we see at the practice – whether they’re coming for osteopathy or sports therapy, doing Pilates with us, or simply trying to get back to an activity they enjoy.
Does pain mean you’re causing damage?
Not necessarily.
Pain is obviously your body’s way of telling you that something isn’t right, and it shouldn’t simply be ignored. But pain and physical damage aren’t always directly related.
This is particularly important with longer-term joint problems such as osteoarthritis.
I think many of us grew up with the idea that an arthritic joint was simply “worn out” and that using it too much would wear it out even further. That can understandably make people reluctant to exercise.
But the advice today is quite different. Appropriate exercise is actually an important part of maintaining strength, movement and function when you have osteoarthritis.
Why is keeping moving so important?
Something I’ve learnt from our practitioners is that a painful joint shouldn’t really be considered in isolation.
The muscles around it provide strength, stability and control. If pain makes you stop being active, those muscles can gradually become weaker.
You can then end up in a bit of a vicious circle:
It hurts → you move less → you lose some strength → movement becomes harder → so you move even less.
Regular, appropriate activity can help maintain your strength, mobility, balance and general fitness.
There’s also the confidence aspect. Once you’ve hurt yourself, it’s surprisingly easy to become apprehensive about movements that previously you wouldn’t have thought twice about.
But what if exercise hurts?
This is where I think the message needs to be sensible.
We’re certainly not suggesting that everybody should simply push through pain.
Some discomfort when starting a new exercise or returning to activity doesn’t necessarily mean you’re causing damage. Your body may simply need time to adapt.
But severe pain, significant swelling or symptoms that are becoming progressively worse are different and shouldn’t just be ignored.
The challenge is finding the right level of activity for you, rather than following a generic rule about what you should or shouldn’t be doing.
What exercise should you do?
The good news is that there isn’t one magical exercise that everybody needs to do.
Depending on the problem, it might be walking, swimming, cycling, strength work, mobility exercises or Pilates.
And sometimes the objective is simply to get you back to whatever you enjoyed doing before the pain started – whether that’s gardening, golf, tennis, running or walking the dog.
I’ve also come to appreciate how important strength is, particularly as we get older. Keeping the muscles around our joints strong can make an enormous difference to how well we continue to move.
And there’s probably little point designing the theoretically perfect exercise programme if you hate doing it. Finding something you actually enjoy enough to continue is surely part of the answer.
What about a new injury?
A new injury is slightly different.
If you’ve just sprained an ankle or pulled a muscle, temporarily reducing whatever aggravates it may obviously make sense.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean doing nothing.
As an injury settles, gradually restoring comfortable movement and rebuilding strength can be an important part of recovery.
If you’re not sure what’s appropriate, that’s where having somebody assess the problem can be helpful.
When should you get joint pain checked?
Persistent pain isn’t something we should automatically put down to getting older.
There are lots of possible causes of joint and muscle pain, and knowing what you’re dealing with makes it much easier to decide what to do about it.
I’d consider getting some advice if pain is stopping you doing your normal activities, keeps returning, is getting worse, or simply isn’t improving.
And there are occasions when medical assessment is important. A joint that suddenly becomes extremely painful, hot or very swollen – particularly if you’re feeling unwell – needs prompt medical attention.
The approach we take at The Form Practice
One of the reasons I’ve developed The Form Practice to offer several different therapies is that I don’t believe there’s one answer for everybody.
Someone with knee pain may need something completely different from somebody recovering from a sports injury or struggling with a long-standing back problem.
We now have osteopathy, sports therapy, Pilates and massage, alongside technologies such as K-Laser and INDIBA, all here at the practice in Hardwick.
That allows us to think about what might actually be useful for the individual rather than trying to fit everybody into the same treatment.
And ultimately, I think the objective should be bigger than simply making something hurt less for a few hours.
It’s about getting people moving confidently again and back to doing the things they enjoy.
If pain is stopping you exercising or doing something you love, you’re very welcome to get in touch with us at The Form Practice and we can help you work out the appropriate next step.