How to get pain relief while social distancing
Photo by Fabian Møller on Unsplash
Stress exacerbates your pain.
When anxiety runs high it can often contribute to increasing nagging pain or tension. When we’re furiously working away at a computer to meet a deadline, our shoulders may start to creep up toward our ears and roll in toward our chest, creating tension throughout our shoulders, upper back and neck. Prolonged elevated levels of stress hormones such as cortisol can contribute to chronic inflammation, in turn aggravating pain. In the unique situation we’re finding ourselves in currently, our access to our usual methods of self-care or pain management, such as regular visits to your friendly neighborhood massage therapist, are likely disrupted.
Here are some ways to manage your nagging pain and areas of tightness while practicing social distancing.
Rolling/Self massage
Foam rolling and other forms of self massage can be a great alternative when you can’t get on the massage table. It's another way for us to calm overactive muscles, by calming the nervous system. Our goal anytime we’re massaging/rolling an area of the body should be to find a spot that needs attention, relax, sink onto your tool (relax that body part onto the tool to maintain even pressure), and breathe.
Relax, sink, breathe. It should not hurt.
Massage or self massage does not need to be painful to be effective. Intense? Yes, sometimes. Uncomfortable? Yes, sometimes. But never jaw-clenching, muscle-tensing, breath-holding, painful.
As with massage and working out, the most benefit will be experienced with consistency. It's important to send the message over and over again to our bodies:
Relax, sink, breathe.
Breathing
Breathing is an incredibly powerful tool for bringing calm, focus, and energy to our minds. It can be a great tool for diminishing anxiety and stress, which in turn can lead to diminishing excess tension and pain.
Sara demonstrates a Static Back position at the Spears Strong lab.
Find yourself a comfortable position where you can relax completely, with your chest and shoulders open and relaxed. We’re fans of the Static Back, laying on your back on the floor with your legs resting on the couch, an ottoman, a coffee table, etc, with knees bent at 90 degrees.
Take 5 or more minutes at least once each day to relax with some music you enjoy, and focus on nothing but breathing through your nose, as deeply as you can. Maintaining focus on your breath will keep you in the moment. We all have so many thoughts swirling through our minds at any given time. Although it can feel difficult to maintain focus on just one thing, doing so actually gives our brains an opportunity to rest. When we rest, we recover energy and we remain resilient.
Mindset
The way we label our feelings matters. The story we tell ourselves around what we feel will determine what we believe about our experience. If we immediately label all pain/tension/discomfort that we experience as bad, we are more likely to believe that something is wrong with us and we need to be fixed. When really, feelings of pain are sometimes just a call for attention.
Especially with nagging pain, one of the best things we can do is to notice it, and then notice the feelings we’re having about it. Are you immediately trying to label it and figure out why you hurt? Are you thinking “well, that’s my “bad knee” so of course it hurts”? Notice the label you immediately reach for and the story you’re telling yourself about that, and then consider a new story. “I’ve been on my feet all day, so my hips and legs are probably tired and my knee is telling me that. What can I do that would feel good for my body right now?”
“... feelings of pain are sometimes just a call for attention. Be curious about what might feel good in that moment, and try it. This might be a great time to breathe, roll, or move your body.
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Research is showing that pain catastrophizing, describing pain in more exaggerated terms or ruminating on thoughts of the pain, can add to how intensely the pain is experienced. While we would never suggest ignoring pain or nagging tension, turning to it with curiosity instead of fear or frustration will help us minimize the chances of catastrophizing and intensifying our experience of it.
Be curious about what your body might be telling you. Be curious about what might feel good in that moment, and try it. This might be a great time to breathe, roll, or move your body.
Movement
Movement is the best way to mitigate feelings of tension and most pain. Feelings of tension or feelings of pain are not necessarily an indicator of reduced range of motion or even of injury, but rather an indicator that tension balance is off. In order to maintain an upright posture, a certain amount of tension needs to be held on all sides of each of our primary structural joints (feet, ankles, knees, hips, spine, shoulders). If that balance is off because the muscles on one side of the joint are overstimulated and producing more than their fair share of force (while at rest), then we might experience feelings of tension somewhere around that joint.
For example, if I spend 3 hours every day reading news articles on my phone, the muscles responsible for holding my arm in front of my face are going to be overstimulated relative to the muscles responsible for pulling my arm behind me, so my arm’s resting position will start to shift forward. This is more of a nervous system issue than a muscular issue. Which means the movement we apply to address imbalance should be aiming to affect the nervous system more than the muscles themselves. Light to moderate movement is what we need here, that explores the full range of motion available to us at each joint.
“Our goal shouldn’t be to break down muscles or leave ourselves feeling particularly worn out. The mental stress we’re all experiencing right now is plenty of wear. ”
Our goal shouldn’t be to break down muscles or leave ourselves feeling particularly worn out. The mental stress we’re all experiencing right now is plenty of wear. We don’t need to add to that with physical wear. Instead, do things that will leave you feeling good, balanced and relaxed. While that description might make you think of “stretching”, stretching usually just targets the areas where we feel tension.
But only addressing the areas where we feel tension won’t necessarily address the imbalance in tension levels around the joints.
Spears Strongers who do our individual programs, like the Training Process or Life & Fitness Coordination, have low intensity, specific 5-20 minute postural and daily focused routines that are aimed at reducing pain or tension in their leg, hip back, shoulder, neck, etc… They also have Go-To Movements they can do throughout the day to ease their tension and feel better.
Stay tuned to our social media and emails as we’ll be having some more WhyamIdoingthisSpearsStrong challenges coming out soon, to include some structured Go-To movements you can do on your own!
Movement, rolling and self massage, breathing and grounding ourselves mentally are all part of training programs at Spears Strong. Being physically healthy is not just about being able to do a tough workout. It’s about being able to weather tough days, both mentally and physically. It’s about feeling confident in our ability to move well, feel good and stay calm and focused, even when the world around us is in chaos.