For some unknown reason, more and more people are becoming accepting of their pain! If we can justify our pain with a reason then it seems to be okay! For example ‘I get achey shoulders because it’s where I hold my stress’ or ‘my shoulder is a bit sore but I think it’s old age’ or another common one is ‘my knee gets achey but it’s just my arthritis’. The rule of thumb seems to be, if I can justify it, or I know the cause, then i accept it an deal with it.
This is not acceptable. This is not okay.
Now I’m hoping I have made that clear! Pain is not okay, we don’t have to live with it, we don’t have to accept it. People automatically think that pain must come with age but I cannot stress enough how wrong this is. I always thought the saying was about becoming old and grey, not old and in pain?
We quite often discuss people’s expectations when they come to Physio and it’s not uncommon to hear ‘I don’t know if you can help me, I think it’s just age’. As soon as I hear this my first response is ‘challenge accepted’! More often than not, aches and pains can be attributed to simple issues such as joint stiffness, muscle tightness or a strength imbalance. That isn’t an exhausted list but rather the most common. These three issues are something that the Physio can help AND something that we can teach you to self manage and to prevent any further pain or irritation. Is that not the ultimate empowerment? To be able to recognize pain in the body and then to be able to use the skills taught to you to help reduce or abolish the pain so you can enjoy your day?
Without going into specific injuries, research generally supports a combination of hands on therapy and exercise. Exercise is very quickly becoming the ‘drug of choice’ for many health and musculoskeletal issues that tend to arise. But what I would say is before you have a crack at exercise (especially if you are someone with aches, pains and/or niggles), why not pop into the clinic and allow us an opportunity to assess you and maybe we can surprise you? Maybe we can significantly reduce that pain you put down to age or the arthritic ache that’s been driving you mad? And if you’re on the other side of the fence and think ‘I’d love to exercise but I can’t because of the pain in my leg/hip/back etc’ again, let us assess you and we can find the right style of exercise for you!
I must also say that there are people with specifically diagnosed issues that do suffer from pain on a daily basis. As physio’s we do recognise that as much as we want to help you to be pain free and back to your pre-injury state, some people do have issues that cannot be completely resolved. What I say to you is that maybe we can help in reducing your pain or employ some self-management skills (that isn’t medication based) in order to perhaps alleviate your discomfort.
But if you take one thing from this blog, please don’t give up on your body and accept the pain you’re in. Come and see us and let us help you to get the pain under control!!!
Ciara Conway
Physiotherapist
