Why pain is a somewhat unreliable signal.
How we perceive ageing and physical decline, and why that keeps us stuck.
What to do to slow physical decline and dysfunction as we age.
“I have a really high pain threshold.”
“I used to be in a lot of pain but I think I’ve kind of gotten used to it so it doesn’t bother me as much.”
“I have pain sometimes but I just take an anti-inflammatory and wait a few days or weeks and it usually fixes itself”.
These statements are helpful to understand this person’s mentality around pain but are not all that relevant to their condition. Being in pain doesn’t necessarily mean you are falling apart or doing everything wrong. Also, not being in pain doesn’t mean you are functioning optimally or not at risk of injury. Your level of pain is highly subjective and dependant on many factors. We probably shouldn’t be making decisions based on pain alone. Taking a more proactive and holistic approach is where we should place our bets.
Commonly, we go through cycles of the same injury or similar painful experience. Maybe it’s every month, maybe it’s every year, maybe it’s whenever we start exercising, or maybe we are constantly struggling to manage it on and off. Myriad factors influence this but physically this is likely because most of us are inconsistent with our training and our approach to training is often very general rather than specific to our needs.
Navigating the delicate balance of health becomes a precarious endeavor when we fail to consistently invest effort in maintaining our physical well-being. It is becoming evident that the potential consequences of overlooking established routines encompassing exercise, mobility, flexibility, strength, and cardiovascular fitness are quite severe.
This oversight is exacerbated by the absence of clear signals indicating a state of deterioration. The lack of explicit warnings renders the gradual decline in these capacities almost imperceptible. The true extent of this decline only surfaces when we attempt activities demanding these capacities, bringing to light the unintended consequences of neglecting our health regimen.
While conventional wisdom often regards pain as the most pertinent signal, this discourse aims to shed light on its unreliability as a steadfast marker of health. It is imperative to recognize that the absence of overt discomfort does not necessarily translate to an optimal state of health.
Pain, though often unwelcome, is an intricate messenger that alerts us to potential harm or injury. Yet, understanding the nuances of pain perception reveals that it’s NOT a steadfast indicator of tissue health. Our bodies harbor a mechanism known as sensory adaptation, a natural process that renders our sensory receptors less responsive to constant stimuli over time.
Take a moment to think about sensory adaptation in your daily life. If you’ve ever entered a room with a strong odor, you likely noticed the scent initially, but as time passed, your sense of smell adapted, and the odor became less noticeable. This adaptation isn’t limited to smell; it happens with touch, sight, taste, and hearing.
In the context of pain, sensory adaptation explains why the intensity of pain may diminish over time. When we experience a painful stimulus, our specialized nerve endings, known as nociceptors, send signals to the brain, initially creating a heightened perception of pain. However, with continued exposure to the same stimulus, our bodies adapt.
This adaptation involves physiological processes like the release of endorphins, our natural painkillers, which bind to opioid receptors in the brain, diminishing the transmission of pain signals and fostering a sense of well-being. In addition, we may physically alter our movement patterns slightly (and maybe negatively) to control for the tissue that is being irritated.
If we don’t have full motion in our shoulder and we over-stress it reaching overhead to get something off the shelf, moving forward we still need to use that shoulder so we may arch more at the back to reach overhead without really noticing. This helps in the short term but less movement in that shoulder doesn’t mean it will spontaneously recover its full movement, in fact, the opposite is true. We will further lose that range as we demand less and less of that shoulder.
*Side note: Beyond the cellular level, psychological factors also play a pivotal role in pain perception. Distraction, positive thinking, and emotional context can significantly modulate the sensation of discomfort. *Another side note: is that this is not the case in chronic pain.
While pain desensitization can be beneficial, it emphasizes the importance of a holistic approach to pain management. Listening to your body when it speaks to you and seeking professional guidance when needed ensures you navigate the complex landscape of pain with resilience and well-being.
Whether we are in pain or not, it would serve us all well to build physical fitness and tissue health into a habit. Just as with our diet, certain nutrients are needed in minimal amounts in order to be healthy, certain amounts of endurance, strength, and mobility are essential to expect to live and age gracefully. So, listen to pain but don’t use it as a sole marker for whether you are “doing well”.
Rather than seeking to avoid pain… Seek to become a better, more balanced, mover. Seek to improve your conditioning. Seek to improve your strength. You may just escape the repeated pain cycle.
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