PAIN

Pain & injury are they the same?

Injury & pain would you associate with damage?

Pain in athletes is common, but not always associated with injury (tissue damage) (Caneiro et al. 2020)

❌”Damage” occurs when load exceeds the tissue tolerance of the muscle, ligament or bone.

The word “damage” would employ the structure is of no use or function. Wording should be considered, maybe tissue sensitivity i.e. at this moment in time your muscle/tendon/ligaments/nerves is sensitive to the work load

Not all pain = structural changes

🔍Many imaging findings in people that have no pain have structural changes ie. disc bulges, degeneration & labral tears.

Pain may be ⬆️⬆️⬆️ by other factors sleep quality, stress levels, pain beliefs, avoidance beliefs, pain emotions & understanding of imaging.

Pain does not always equal tissue injury or “damage”

Activity/exercise and pain!!!

✅Exercise everyday is important, but think about the intensity, change up the muscle’s you are exercising, vary the speed and times⏱

✅If you get pain don’t worry, mild pain during activity is ok once it starts to settle after 24hours⏱

This traffic light system adapted from @running.physio is excellent way of monitoring your pain during exercise.

🔴Pushing it that bit too much
🟠Acceptable (pain not to be ⬆️ after activity)
🟢You are very comfortable