Don’t Just Treat The Pain…Treat The Underlying Cause Too!

[Guest Prosoft Admin]

If you have had an injury before
or you know anyone who has...
YOU NEED TO READ THIS!

I’ve had a bunch of patients that I had almost the same conversation with - about coming back from an injury. I thought it would be GREAT to share with you some REALLY VALUABLE information about how your body works - especially when it comes to injuries."Injury"...that word just sounds terrible doesn't it? Almost makes you cringe to think about being injured but the more you understand how these nasty buggers develop and how to safely return from them you'llINCREASE YOUR ODDS FOR SUCCESS in not having the injury bug come back and bite you again!If you are like most people I know and have seen in all my years as a PT, it's completely normal to think that once your pain is gone or at least considerably reduced that your body is doing well and is ready to resume whatever activities you may have been enjoying prior to getting injured. BUT WAIT...

 

This is where a REALLY COMMON MISTAKE gets made...a mistake that has been the source of tons of extra and un-needed visits to the doctor and ultimately to Physical Therapy. We see people every week who come in just because of the misunderstanding that
I AM ABOUT TO SHARE WITH YOU!That same thought I mentioned earlier - you know…the idea that “Once my pain is gone I’m good to go right? My body MUST be healed now and I can go back to all of the fun things I was able to do before I got hurt right? Well this might be true for say a sudden minor trauma, for example - a bruise due to bumping your leg on the corner of a table. That type of “Injury” was pretty much based on some outside force messing with your body at one instant. It’s usually unexpected, relatively minor and you know right at that moment that you have been hurt. Oftentimes it’ll clear up over a few days and you may get back into your activities slowly, or as we often say “as tolerated.”

 

BUT THAT HAPPENS FOR AT LEAST
TWO VERY SPECIFIC REASONS…

NUMBER ONE…
The injury had nothing to do with prior breakdown or inadequacies in your body.

 

NUMBER TWO…
The injury was MINOR, meaning the “Damage Done” was minimal and there wasn’t much time for big problems to settle in (like significant tightness or weakness).

 

BUT HERE IS ONE BIG KEY TO UNDERSTANDING YOUR RECOVERY FROM INJURIES…

When you have had an injury develop over time and it has lasted for weeks, months or for some of you even years…those injuries often cause
restrictions in mobility or limitations in your strength, coordination or balance.
With those “Injuries” you have got a much different recovery on hand than the minor acute injury like bumping into a table as mentioned above.

 

TAKE A LOOK AT THE IMAGES BELOW TO GET A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF HOW YOUR BODY WORKS IN THE AREA OF INJURIES…

 

 

 

JUST BECAUSE THE PAIN IS GONE
DOES NOT MEAN
YOUR BODY IS HEALED AND READY TO GOTHE PROCESS OFTEN STARTED LONG BEFORE THE PAIN STARTED…

That may be a surprise to some of you but when you think of the decreases you have in:

Mobility
Strength
Endurance
Coordination
Balance

Once enough time or stress occurs DUE TO the lack of functions listed above

 

THEN…

Some body part may get ANGRY...start NAGGING at you
and eventually it might even start to SCREAM AT YOU!

Ask yourself this:

HAS ENOUGH TIME AND WORK HAPPENED SINCE I STOPPED HAVING PAIN THAT MY…

 

STRENGTH, MOBILITY, LANDING ABILITY, TWISTING CAPACITY etc.

COULD BE ALL BETTER NOW AND I AM ABLE TO DO THAT AGAIN WITHOUT GETTING HURT?

Please don’t misunderstand the lack of pain as your body being fully recovered and ready to take on the same stresses that had caused your pain to begin with.It takes

 

specific testing to put your body â€œthrough its paces” to verify that it can handle certain stresses…That’s where

Peak Performance PT comes into the picture.
One way to make sure that your body is ready to begin the return to your hobbies, sports or work activities is to literally TEST YOUR PHYSICAL ABILITY.You would be amazed at how many times I see a patient who had an old injury on say their

 

“left ankle”, maybe they sprained it 5 years ago, who say yeah it’s all better now, no pain at all…

 

BUT…

 

after an increase in activity they realized that their right knee, hip, shoulder or lower back started to hurt. They will assume that there is a new injury when in reality those painful areas have been doing the extra work for that left ankle all along!They thought the

 

“left ankle” was â€œall better” since there was no pain…

 

HOWEVER…

there was no pain because the other areas had been compensating for the lack of strength and range of motion in that â€œleft ankle” just enough to keep the pain at bay in turn creating more work and stress on the rest of the body.Very often we find that when we treat and strengthen that

 

“left ankle” chances are good that the pain in the right knee, hip, shoulder or lower back
will subside as well.So many patients have benefited from realizing

 

THIS TRUTH that I thought I should share this information with you and your friends. We’re here to help you be successful and function with PEAK PERFORMANCE in all that you want to do.Call us if you think we might be able to assist you in figuring out if your injury is

 

fully recovered and safe to resume your activities without
digging an even bigger hole for yourself!

God Bless,Mike Napierala, PT, SCS, CSCS