Pain query

Topher

My regular physio practitioner has left the area and I signed up with a new fella. Had the first appointment over the telephone. He said something that I find odd. He asked why I can't and don't do certain everyday bodily movements that we all would normally do ,twisting, bending, even Jogging - I explained "Because it's extremely painful" his response was "And?" Basically "so what?" My question to you guys is has any medical/physiological expert ever told you that you should still walk/jog/swim even if it's extremely painful? Seems counterintuitive to me.

Mary_Scope

Hi @Topher

That does sound a little strange, I understand where you are coming from.

When I was first diagnosed with my disability, I was told to push through the pain when doing recommended certain high impact exercises by one professional. When I saw another doctor and told him this, he was shocked at what the other doctor had said and said I should be doing low impact activities only. So I feel like the attitudes can vary!!

I always think we know our bodies and our limits the best and if something is causing us a lot of pain, then we should listen to ourselves and find alternatives. Is there any alternatives exercise you could do that doesn’t cause you as much pain?

Topher

I am a former athlete and he seems to think there's nothing stopping me from taking up running again. But all my training taught me that if it hurts too much , you stop. It's confusing.

gemslover

don't do anything that hhurts you. i did. and it got me back to square one or even minus square one. if i push through the pain it gets so much worse. as an ex Personal trainer. we advise not to do any exercise if it hurts

chiarieds

Hi @Topher - as a long retired physio & someone that has a disability, I think the physio's comments were not very well worded. I have always said that you should try & exercise starting very gently & building up very gradually. It certainly is counterintuitive to push through pain as this can increase the pain cycle. I have hypermobile joints & was told by a physio that I should try & extend my joints even further, which I refused to do (& didn't go back!)

Walking & swimming if possible are both very beneficial as these are activities where you use all of your limbs with reciprocal bilateral movement, but I think you will be aware of all this as you were an athlete.

When you're struggling with pain, sometimes just gentle stretches can help, but I'm also a big advocate of learning to breathe properly using diaphragmatic breathing as this has been found to reduce both stress & pain: https://www.cheshire-epaige.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Diaphragmatic-breathing-techniques.pdf

I have also studied chronic pain for some time as a sufferer now myself so you might find something in the following helpful:

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/102784/resources-and-tips-for-those-living-with-chronic-pain