“Pain is a normal part of getting older.” “It is normal for my back to hurt when I wake up.” “This is as good as I can feel, I need to learn to live with it.”

Listen to your friends and relatives; you will hear comments like this all the time. We have become so used to pain as part of our lives that it can be difficult to imagine what it would feel like not to hurt. We do not have to accept pain as an every day part of our lives and include pain in our self-image. It not “normal” to hurt.

Pain has purpose. It is created by pressure on a nerve or nerves that sends signals through the nervous system to the brain. Those signals tell us where there is a problem in the body. Some work to save our lives in emergencies like touching a hot stove, or something cutting into our skin, or in a medical emergency that will need a doctors care.

Other signals are less drastic. Pain can come from common activities that put pressure on nerves, cause muscle spasms or soreness, and slow down our normal movements. A few common examples:

• Spending hours sitting hunched over a computer.
• Sitting sideways on the sofa watching football.
• Weeding out the garden to get it ready for fall.
• Travel in a car or plane, stuck in the same position in a small space.
• Doing more or new exercises, running, skiing, dancing at a new level.

What can you do about common pain? First breath deeply and do some gentle movements. Try to soften the muscle spasms without force. Never force your body into a stretch or position. Respect your self enough to trust that feeling of “too much”. At the same time you need to challenge yourself a little to make changes. This is where Physical Therapy or our Wellness Program can help.

Physical Therapists know muscles, connective tissue/fascia, bones, nerves and how they all move together. We are also trained in normal physiology and are able to know when to refer you to a doctor for more advanced testing if you are having a medical problem.

Physical Therapists can be help with overuse patterns and strains from daily living. We are trained to help reduce muscle pain, assist in muscle relaxation training for breathing and restoring balance throughout the body.

We are able to assess where you are having problems moving, what alignment may be off or what motions are not as smooth as they need to be. We can help to identify the movement patterns which are creating or continuing your pain, and can design a program that will work to correct those patterns.

What if you did not need to live with pain? Come see us at Healing In Motion to see if you can move towards a more fluid and functional lifestyle.