For many of, experiencing pain (and putting up with it!) has been part of our 'lock-down' experience. Whether that's putting up with sore muscles after our training sessions because we can't access our usual sports massage clinic, or tolerating a dodgy toothache due to dental surgery closures. And for some of us, chronic pain has been a feature of our lives for much longer (1). A lot pain management techniques revolve around...
This is not a blog post. It's a letter to you. This is going to be a bit different to my usual content. Normally I might choose an injury or pain-related topic or theme. However, at this moment in time it is impossible not to address the circumstances we are all enduring as a global… Continue reading COVID-19 – Why it’s okay to not be okay
One of the most common issues I treat in the clinic is persistent pain. Many of my clients arrive at the clinic after years of suffering. This is often a residual pain that started as a result of a traumatic injury... a muscle strain, or a broken bone. However, years after the injury has healed there is no reduction in pain - despite all the injured tissues healing and normal activities are resumed.
We all experience pain in our training. For some of us it is what keeps us returning to the gym. For others it keeps us away. But how much pain is good for us? And how can we tell when the pain is an indicator to take a step back?
Let's set the scene... You've been struggling with shoulder issues for years... you can bearly remember when it started to bother you. Initially, it was just a niggle - maybe the odd twinge here and there, or a dull ache. It didn't used to get in the way of your favourite activities. But over the months or years since it first started it's slowly come to become such a nuisance that you started to avoid certain activities. In fact, at some points it's even stopped you from doing simple day to day tasks, like household chores or completing tasks at work.
