Los Altos, CA
Pain Myth #1: Rest Will Fix Your Problem
This is the first installment of the 5-Part series “Myths You Were Told About Your Pain”
Pain Myth #2: “Just Stretch It”
Pain Myth #3: “A Cortisone Injection is the Answer To Your Problem”
Pain Myth #4: “It’s Because of Your Age”
Pain Myth #5: “You Need To Get an MRI”
Just about everyone has complained of pain at some point and been given the advice “just rest until it feels better.”
And this piece of advice drives me crazy as it is absolute nonsense.
What that person is really saying is they don’t really know how to help you and tell you to just lay low and rest.
Sound familiar to anyone!?
If rest helped, then nobody would be in pain for more than a week or two right!?
There have even been scientific studies done on back pain that found that not only is bed rest ineffective, it actually delays recovery and can lead to worse outcomes.
And in actuality, resting or not doing anything will likely make your problem even worse (or at least harder to recover from). Taking away all activities generally does more harm than good and can cause a downward spiral of pain and decreased activity that feed into each other.
Athletic injuries tend to be complex injuries that rarely get better by just resting. And even if your pain goes away, there is a good chance your body has developed some type of compensation to get out of pain. Unfortunately, this compensation tends to put other areas of your body at an increased risk of getting injured.
Surely with all the medical professionals and treatment options available, there has to be something better to do…and there is!
My advice…get help from a medical professional who understands both pain/injury and fitness to see what you can do to ease your pain and stay active even while healing from an injury. What do you have to lose!?
If your pain need is urgent, Get a Free Phone Consultation.
FREE GUIDE: “9 Quick & Easy Tips To Relieve Back Pain.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kim Gladfelter, MPT, OCS, FAAOMPT
Women's Health Physical Therapy Specialist at PhysioFit Physical Therapy & Wellness
Kim Gladfelter is a physical therapist, Pilates instructor, educator, author, and co-founder of PhysioFit Physical Therapy & Wellness. She is known as a keen, well-rounded expert of healing through movement and women’s health specialist in the Silicon Valley area.
Kim has helped men and women of all ages to stay active and feel their best. She also writes about managing pain in her health columns, blogs and the local Los Altos Town Crier newspaper as well as reaches out to the local community, support groups, schools, libraries, and sports centers to advise and educate on body awareness and therapeutic exercise.