When we are in pain, big or small, our first and natural reaction is protection. Imagine the last time your stomach hurt. You probably curled yourself over and held your abdomen. Finding this position probably didn’t change your condition, but it sure did feel like what you were supposed to do.
Our brain’s automatic response to pain or fear isn’t necessarily rooted in logic. It is usually a life preserving response. It’s similar to “being frozen with fear.” Being completely still because you are in pain is about as useful as being completely still because you’re afraid. It’s a natural response, but not all that useful.
So what does this have anything to do with the back/hip/shoulder pain you’ve had for the last 3 months? The problem is, that natural response of protection is actually preventing you from getting better. After the initial injury, and after ruling out any serious damage, like a broken bone, the protective reaction is no longer a winning strategy. In fact it quickly becomes a losing strategy. However, because it is no longer about life and death, our brain doesn’t have an automatic, reflexive response for “it’s going to be fine, you’ve got to move”. So, because pain is still present, we continue holding onto this protective pattern. Below is a list of reasons this pattern becomes problematic.
Protective pattern problem
-decreased blood flow needed for proper healing factors
-decreased synovial fluid for smooth joint motion
-stiffness in tendons, and ligaments from lack of movement
-inappropriate overly active “guarded” muscles leading to muscle discomfort (trigger points)
-muscle weakness due to lack of quality movement
So the question is, what can we do to override our natural instinct to protect the painful area? The answer IS NOT to suffer through grinning and bearing the pain!!!
The best thing is to gently move in the pain free range. Small pain free movements lead to big pain free movements. If you “tweaked” your back, try to sidebend, twist, flex and extend using small pain free movements often. Also, if able take short frequent casual walks. You will find as you continue, the muscles will stop guarding, the stiffness will lessen, and your movement will slowly come back.
