Moving With Chronic Pain or Injury

We've all been there… a few months after a bad sports injury and your doctor or physical therapist (PT) has given you the green light to pick up your sport again. Excited but cautious, you take your first swing, jog your first lap, or get back onto your bike to discover one of a few things:

• You're surprisingly out of shape.
• What once came gracefully and effortlessly is now arduous.
• Your motion is guarded.

These are all natural responses of the body when getting back into sport post-injury. After all, you have been "out of the game" for some time. Every athlete knows that it takes a while to build back strength, flexibility, and full range of motion. It takes slightly longer to get back to that blissful feeling of free movement while practicing your favorite sport.

But sometimes post-injury habits stick around. Sometimes, you find that the muscles around your injury site will simply not relax. You're guarded. Or that you just can't get back into your natural stride. You're compensating. Or that your range of motion is not the same as it used to be. You're stiff.

What we all recognize as the body's natural instinct to protect itself can go on too long and be counteractive to your athletic health. This post-injury guarding and compensation (which is actually determined by the mind) prevents you from moving freely. It keeps you from being your strongest and most agile. And it's not always healthy.

It's important to know the difference between healthy guarding and compensation - which is your body's way of telling you your injury is not fully healed or ready for sport - verses unhealthy guarding and compensation - a pattern of movement that can develop during recovery and stick around long after it's needed.

Here's a basic breakdown of what's happening to your muscles after an injury:

1. Muscles can contract involuntarily after an injury.
2. These contracted muscles are overtired, which creates soreness.
3. This soreness causes pain, which makes us contract nearby muscles in the body.
4. The pain then spreads to those areas.

You can see how the above process can lead to a cycle of pain. Of course, our bodies naturally use this cycle to tell us that something is wrong: We are injured! Stop using us! You need to rest and recover! But when this process goes on after recovery it can be counter-productive and detrimental to your body.

If you have been injured and are noticing the above problems during your progression back to sport it's important to share your observations with your PT or doctor. They will be in the best position to determine whether you're jumping back into sport too quickly or whether your injury needs more attention. They may also observe that your guarding behavior has become an unnecessary pattern and may work with you to regain your body's more natural movement.

One of the best ways to help your body find its full range of motion and natural, unrestricted movement is through massage. Sometimes, all it takes is gentle guidance to let your muscles know that they are safe to relax.

Being careful to work at a safe distance and pressure from the injury site, I will use the most appropriate sports massage approach to help the muscles let go, decompress, and open up passage ways to the injured site for healing to continue.

The injuries that often create guarded and restrictive movement include sprains, strains and stress injuries. I also work with clients who are recovering from surgeries, such as knee replacements, back operations or arthroscopic hip surgery. I make sure that the client has received the clear from his doctor to begin massage therapy, which when applied at the appropriate time can be integral to the client's full recovery.

Often the body needs guidance from someone else to slowly learn to "let go" of post-injury habits. Massage therapy can be one of the best places to start.

Don't forget that "The issues are in the tissues."

Yours in Good Health,
Eugene Wood
Licensed Massage Therapist
NYC-Massage.com