Move to Live Your Resource to Moving Well and Living Life
K NO W PAIN K NO W GAIN
Having been a Physical Therapist for roughly 10 years now, there are certain questions that pop up on a regular basis:
“When is it right to use heat vs. ice?”
“Is it ok to use a hand-held car buffer on my thigh muscle?” (ok, that one’s not common, but has been asked)
“No pain, no gain….right?”
Whether we’re talking about a course of physical therapy, working out at the gym, or going for a walk with your friends, how do you know which type of pain/ discomfort is ok to push through and which you should be more concerned with? Pain is simply your body communicating with you, if you listen to it and follow these simple rules you’ll be ahead of the game.
Rule #1: Avoid sharp pain
Rule #2: Pain/Discomfort during activity should remain less than or equal to 3/10 in intensity Rule# 3: Pain/Discomfort should subside after each repetition (i.e. strength training exercises)
Rule #4: Soreness after workouts/activity should not last longer than 24-48 hours
In this edition of Move to Live we’re focusing on low back pain and sciatica.The rules we’ve outlined apply but there is a hugely important concept to understand specific to nerve pain running down your leg. That concept is Centralization. Sciatic nerve irritation originates at your spine in your lower back and the more the nerve is irritated the further down your leg you can feel the symptoms (pain, burning, numbness/tingling). If you can get the symptoms to move up your leg and centralize towards your lower back that has been proven over and over to be the #1 predictor that you’ll improve. Symptoms move further down your leg, no good; symptoms moving up the leg, now you’re heading in the right direction. Just because the gas light comes on in your car, doesn’t mean you need to head straight to the mechanic or go get a new car. You should just swing by the gas station and fill up your tank. Pain is just your body trying to communicate with you and send you a signal. Listen to the signal, if it breaks one of our rules, change what you’re doing. If you have any questions on what specific actionable steps you can take give me a call or shoot me an email! Have a great month! Joe
www.choiceptny.com
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