Improving function through movement and exercise has profound beneficial ‘flow-on’ effects, including reduced overall disability, less depression, improved physical conditioning and increased subjective quality of life. But what if it hurts too much when you move or try to exercise? Severe pain clearly gets in the way - we may stop moving (‘underdo’), move differently, or move too much (‘overdo’) because we hurt so much. Our beliefs about pain can have a very big impact too, while the beliefs of your healthcare professional can also negatively and positively impact your recovery. A constant bombardment of "you need to exercise" messages, without clear instruction and guidance on how to do so, can often serve to put pain patients off exercise completely; especially if when they have tried to exercise it has resulted in a huge flare-up. Helpful advice from your health professional team would be to start moving very gently - resting, pacing and exercising/stretching in a sensibly paced way - with clear instruction and guidance; but being ready to change and add regular daily movement, exercise and/or stretching to your routine can be extremely hard when you are in severe pain. It seems entirely counter-intuitive to find comfort through movement. However, muscle-loss - due to not moving enough - only adds to your pain. Fear of pain or ‘fear-avoidance’ means that you may stop moving because you feel pain when you move and you interpret this pain as doing more damage. If you recognise this, talk to your doctor and ask for some help. In some pain conditions (e.g. low back pain and CRPS), persistent pain can be associated with disruption or distortion of our ‘virtual body maps’. Body and mind re-integration (or mind/body ‘re-training’) using neuroplasticity appears to be very important to helping treat pain in such cases. For more on Neuroplasticity, visit: theprincessinthetower.org/Neuroplasticity.html It is important that you approach any exercise with pacing and goal setting, so you can plan a safe and effective approach to movement. Remember: it takes courage to start exercising and/or doing physiotherapy, it takes effort and commitment. Be kind and gentle to yourself along the way and choose a daily, ‘good for your health’ exercise that you like, even if it is one simple yoga pose or Tai Chi pattern, this will have a beneficial effect and you can build up from that.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 12:37:54 +0000
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