Thursday, May 26, 2011

Pain Is A Disease

A while back, I wrote about how causes and symptoms can sometimes be a dichotomy with limited usefulness. If you've ever had an injury, you may have had nagging pains that should have gone away with time and physical healing. "I should be better now!" you think to yourself as you descend into the hole of pain again and again. Sometimes, you find your groove again, and sometimes you just hang your belt on the j-hooks in disgust. It can be frustrating.



About three weeks ago, I found myself in a pain-rut without a discernible injury that I was not able to squat around. My lower back would scream on the first rep of every set and be absolutely quiet on successive reps. Normally, I'd be happy that I could work through it, but those first reps were torture and when you are after volume, who wants that? Certainly not me. My solution, my "occupational therapy" so to speak, came in the form of single kettlebell squats and barbell box squats - neither triggered pain and after a few weeks, my lower back is now feeling solid again.

3 comments:

Mark Reifkind said...

as Pavel says, " a change is as good as a rest. Way to figure it out.

Anonymous said...

Boris, I have gone into full back spasm from simply crouching down. I believe tha low back can become hypertonic, and then overreact to a simple, unexpected lengthening. But the video was brilliant. It may have less to do with the muscle, and everything to do with the brain, and CNS.

Boris said...

Thank you Mark!

Anonymous,
Yes - exactly.

You can condition a pain reaction very, very quickly. Sometimes, just a couple reps is all it takes. "Working through it" will just grease the pain groove all the more. Recovery from injury is as much a psychological process as a physical rehabilitation fo sho.