This Is The Worst Thing You Can Do When You're In Pain

I was petting our 15-year-old Border Collie, Star, early on a Sunday morning when the spasm hit. She had just waggled herself up to me to say good morning. It hit me brutally hard, dropping me to my knees. Having experienced this all too many times in the past, I knew instantly what was happening—back spasm. 

How and why it happened at that moment is still a mystery to me. But, for now, let’s blame Star. It’s got to be her fault, right? Just kidding. 

Clearly, I triggered some little instability in my spine that set my Quadratus Lumborum into a rictus of intense spasm. The why and how of that unfortunate episode will be the subject of another essay that I’ll post in a week or so. 

For now, I’d rather focus on what I did, and didn’t do, in reaction to the pain. 

In this life, we are going to have pain. It’s inevitable. 

What's the worst thing you can do when in pain? 

It's to stop training, stop moving. 

Sure, that seems counterintuitive. When something hurts, we worry about making it worse. We imagine the worst. We ask, why me? Why now? How did this happen? We need to take it easy for a few days or weeks, stop training,and  be careful. 

Sound familiar? Well, that’s often the worst thing you can do. 

Sure, during the acute phase after a recent injury, when the pain is debilitating and all-consuming, we definitely need to rest that injured body part and allow the healing and recovery process to begin. That’s just common sense. 

But, as soon as we are capable of tolerating it, we should begin moving again. Modestly and carefully at first, for sure. We can always train the uninjured limbs or our core. 

Which is exactly what I did during those days after that Star-induced back spasm. Even at its worst, I did something. Several times a day, I would grit my teeth through a “gentle" core stability circuit that is palliative for back pain. I walked as much as I could. There were times that I was so contorted that I looked like this greater-than symbol “>”. But, I shuffled for a few minutes on the treadmill as best I could. I found that the more I moved, the better I felt and the more the spasm would abate. 

Things got better. After about a week or so, the pain and contortion weren’t so bad. It’s been about a month, and I feel solid. I pulled heavy deadlifts just this morning and felt stable and strong. 

I’m encouraged. But I also know this isn’t the last time that my back will hurt. Pain is part of life. Of the 365 days in a year, I would guesstimate that some part of me hurts 360 of them. Even on the worst of days, I try to do something, however modest. I just move. 

There’s always something we can do. We’ve got two of each: ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, and wrists. That’s 12 total major joints, not including the spine. If one of them is sore, does that mean that the other 11 are out of commission? What about our core? 

We’ve got loads of members who exemplify this determination to keep moving. They are inspiring! 

One determined young lady stumped around in a boot for weeks after foot surgery, doing core, upper-body, and working her non-surgical leg. We’ve got men and women with tweaky-creaky shoulders who modify all their workouts to do as much as they can, while protecting their injured shoulders. Another young lady with impressive scoliosis of the spine grits her way through every workout, doing her best. Some days she feels better than others. 

They never surrender.

So, even though I was contorted into a “>” and walking sideways like a crab, I knew I needed to just move, to do something.

That was the best thing I could’ve done. 

How about you? What pain are you dealing with? Back pain? Arthritic knees? Hips? Sciatica? Fasciitis? Well, whatever troubles you, please know that we understand. We’re here to help. 

Because our main constituency is people in midlife or older, I estimate that 101% of our members and clients have experienced a past injury or a chronic pain condition. That’s become our specialty… how to safely and effectively coach people to achieve truly functional fitness despite pain and limitations.