By in Joints & Muscles, Mindfulness, Psychotherapy, Sports Injury, Sports Physiotherapy, Yoga & Pilates

Repetitive Injury: Rest it or Move it?

Do I leave it alone so it doesn’t get aggravated or do I keep exercising it to keep it active and strong?

This is the question many are faced with when dealing with chronic and or repetitive strain injuries and pain, such a sports injury. Usually, the advice these days with non-acute injuries is to get the affected area moving again as soon as possible. The reason for this is that movement itself can have a healing effect on an injury. When we move a joint we improve circulation in the area, which means we promote healing and regeneration of the tissue. Muscles and fascia will get moved around, which keeps them lubricated, functional and releases tension that builds when soft tissue tries to protect something that is injured. Keeping it moving also ensures that the function of the joint and surrounding soft tissue remains, unlike when we have to wear a cast for example, due to a broken leg. After the cast comes off, muscles have shrunk and need to regain their functionality and strength back before they feel normal and capable again.

While the advice is fairly clearly “Keep moving it.”, it is not always easy to follow that advice without encounting more problems, especially if we are not dealing with a fresh injury, but a repetitive, chronic issue that keeps flaring up when ever we are active in a certain way.  

Pain from Trial and Error

One issue is that it is important to figure out what amount of movement and activity is helpful. Regardless of what kind of soft tissue injury we are recovering from, if we have an injury and are past the acute stage it is indeed best to start introducing movement as soon as possible. But it is important to introduce movement to the area slowly and carefully. Sometimes pain returns or flares up again, because we have overdone it. This can be discouraging, however it is important to remember that returning to movement is the right thing to do, and that pain simply  can come with a bit of trial and error experiences at the start. Any small flare up is simply information for us, about what we currently can tolerate and that we have to start a bit smaller. Working with an experienced movement professional on this can be very helpful, although every person and every injury is different and it is part of the process to try out what is okay and what is not. The more aware and careful we are the more we can minimise the risks.

Trauma Pain

Sometimes at the beginning of reintroducing movement to a healing area, pain can flare up even with very small activities. This can be scary and frustrating. It is important to find ways to keep calm about this. Pain is a funny thing and not always is pain a sign of re-injury. Especially if there was an element of trauma, stress or shock involved in the event that caused the injury, as for example a car accident, operation or complications at childbirth, pain can flair up simply as a response to the focus and mobilisation of the injured area. Although we do not want to encourage huge flare ups of pain of course, it is important to gently re-engage with the injured area and gradually release the trauma from the body, some flair up of symptoms may be part of that. Having a body focused trauma specialist by your side for this would be very advisable because having to deal with trauma pain on your own can be scary and make things worse if not done carefully. It is important to do this movement work very slowly and in controlled, measurable amounts.

Wear and Tear Pain

The advice to keep moving becomes most difficult to follow, when we are not dealing with a one-off injury, but with pain and injury that comes from wear and tear. It is repetitive movement of the area that is causing the issue in the first place, so by keeping it moving or even moving it more, we are adding to the problem. Stopping moving it though also is not a solution. While the pain may subside somewhat it often is not realistic to simply give up on a body part for the rest of our life. We need our body to function in order to continue day to day activities. And if we love our sports and being physically active it would be very upsetting to have to simply give up.

Wear and Tear injuries happen because of our body having resorted to an imbalanced movement pattern where one area takes all the strain while others get off easy. So every time we move through that area we cause more wear and tear. What is needed is not just movement to help the body regenerate, we need to gradually teach the body to change its movement pattern so the forces the body is exposed to when active become more balanced.

This is where an experienced movement expert is needed to identify what the faulty movement pattern is and how to change it to one that is more balanced and more efficient. The process can take some time , work and practice, as it is about feeling subtle changes in the body, taking control of them, making small adjustments and practising them in order to create a new movement pattern that becomes a new healthier habit. This is an investment in your irreplaceable body, so that you can continue pain free and active. It may be a lot of work, but it does not require surgery or medication.

When we are dealing with pain and injury, especially of the recurring kind movement is still the way to recovery. It may however be necessary to use a mindful approach and experiment with what is the right amount and right kind of movement for you and your particular injury or pain. If you would like some help and guidance with how to reintroduce movement to help your body heal and move on from injury and pain, contact Kristin on 01702 714968.

Kristin Loeer
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