Blog

So you just woke up and your neck was hurting for some reason. You go to see your favorite therapist or doctor for some relief. You are in pain and not happy about it. Your practitioner treats you and advises you to move your neck around every so often even if it hurts.

Wait a second… did he just say I should do range of motion exercises when he knows that it triggers my pain?

Well, yes. Yes, I did. Let’s pretend you burned the tip of your finger one day while cooking. That finger became very red, swollen and painful over the next hour. Now every time you move your finger or touch anything with it, you feel that same burning pain. This is often no different than most sprains or strains. Because every time you feel that burning pain, you are not actually burning that finger again, the nerves in that area are just more sensitive.

Let’s describe what pain is. Pain is considered a warning system in your body. It is essential for us to experience life. This alarm system warns us when we do something our body does not like such as burning our finger. We need this system at the time of the injury to take our hand off the stove so it clearly has some use and we should listen to it sometimes. So when you remove your hand from the stove, that alarm system should gradually go down. You will still feel your finger for a while as you get more desensitized to it and as you naturally heal. So long-story-short: are you making your injury worse every time you feel that same pain? Probably not.

Any new pain can be intimidating at first. Our role as your therapist is to provide you with the necessary education, treatment, and empowerment to help you get back to your normal activities. If you have a new injury, consult with your practitioner for the right advice, coping strategies and reassurance.

A resource I found very helpful for anyone in pain and for every therapist can be found here. 

Iyad Salloum, MPT, IMS