Described below is a very common scenario I've seen in my business: "I have pain"
"Where?"
"Somewhere in my shoulder"
"When did you start feeling this pain?"
"I'm not sure"
"Is the pain dull or sharp?"
".....both?"
"When do you feel this pain?"
"Sort of always...sometimes never..but usually"
OK, admittedly, that was (sort of) an exaggeration. BUT you get my point.
Body awareness is something we do a terrible job of teaching our clients, kids, pets...etc.. Yet we still expect to heal and be healed.
Repeat after me: "We cannot solve a problem until we first establish what the problem is."
The more specific you can be with respect to your body awareness, the faster you're going to hop on the healing train. The more vague you are, the more perpetually frustrated you're going to get (not to mention your doctors, trainers, massage therapists, cats, the list goes on) playing a never-ending game of "oops, I hurt myself again and I don't know why."
Not sure how to apply this knowledge? Here are five questions you should be asking yourself about your pain:
1) Where is the pain located?
You should be able to describe the location and point to it. If your pain is regional, try to establish where you think the pain originates (or at least hurts the most).
2) How would you describe the pain?
Use words like "dull," "aching," "sharp," "shooting," "stabbing."
3) Is the pain chronic or acute?
In other words - did the pain appear suddenly, or has it been around for a while?
4) Is the pain present at all times, or only when I do certain things?
Describe this in detail. Sometimes the pain is completely gone some of the time, and sharp when we do certain things. Sometimes it's a dull ache by default, but gets worse after long bouts of sitting, etc etc.. This takes us to our next question.
5) What do I KNOW aggravates this pain? What makes it better?
This one might take a little bit of experimenting. Does your shoulder hurt? Do a few small movements with your shoulder and see what hurts and what doesn't. The next time you're in pain, reflect on what you're doing. The next time you have no pain, try to determine why that might be.
Questions? DM us at @pain_free_fitness!