The 3 Keys to Easing Pain While We Wait For "Normal"
Join us Thursday, May 21st @ 6:30 PM for our “Fix Your Own Neck Pain at Home” Virtual Workshop
Things will return to normal. Right? I mean at least a new normal.
I’m not sure when, how, and where, but I do believe that you will have the opportunity to return to a normal life (if you haven’t already).
But, maybe in the meantime it’s been ROUGH! Body wise, brain wise, kid wise, work wise, exercise wise, mental health wise, nutrition wise, hydration wise (besides wine and whiskey), and beyond, I think you’ve already been forgiven regardless.
But being forgiven doesn’t mean automatic healing or feeling physically and mentally like your best self.
It’s been different. My glass is 7/8ths full and it refills every day and I even found myself staring off into space on a random Wednesday saying, “What will we be doing in 3 months?”
I hope it’s a parade for the Milwaukee Bucks championship but unfortunately, I think that’s wishful thinking.
And beyond that, I’m hurting a little more. Neck, low back, maybe achilles.
I’m sleeping in the kids room, I’m doing different workouts, I’m sometimes sleeping 9 hours, sometimes 3 hours.
So, without further blabbering…here are the top 3 keys to easing your pain (and mine) while we wait for “normal” to come back.
You need to be mobile where you’re designed to be mobile.
Mobility means that you can move your joints through a range of motion actively, with control, and without needing to rely on external or passive structures such as a bench, wall, weight, etc.
If you don’t have mobility, you don’t have much. Mobility is different than flexibility. Mobility again points to your body working as a system or team…joints, muscles, stabilizers, movers, all working together to help you get into the position you want.
I would argue that many people will be lacking mobility of key areas coming out of this time because they’re sitting more, sleeping less, stressing their body differently, and generally are more worried about if the CARES Act applies to them or not.
So where were we designed to be mobile?
Well, it’s easy to think about ball and socket joints and then last points of connections.
Yes, shoulders and hips, and then the neck and the ankles.
The good news is there are simple exercises you can perform at each spot to optimize or at least stay ahead of any stiffness…these exercises are posted below.
Shoulder Mobility
Hip Mobility
Neck Mobility
Ankle Mobility
2. Being able to resist and transfer energy that is placed on your body…
What happens to our body in our life? Well, the most obvious answer is that we have stresses placed on our body and we either handle them well or we dont (and this results in either us stopping the activity or potential pain).
Now the easiest way of looking at this is “strength.” But it’s strength and then being able to use the strength to transfer energy through the body to complete the task at hand.
Think about spreading mulch…think about splitting and stacking wood…think about the golf swing…think about lifting your kids and throwing them up in the air. All require strength at key areas, in key movements, but also putting it all together in one big movement.
The following exercises are some of our favorite exercises to help accomplish this…
Anti-Rotation Press Outs
Anti Extension Exercises
Single Leg Stability While Using Upper Body Pull
3. Sleeping
The last step (but not all inclusive) for the sake of this article revolves around something simple but not easy. It is sleep.
Sleep is so incredibly important for recovery, for appropriate balance of hormones, for reduction in inflammatory biochemicals, and for an appropriate reset of our Nervous System. The last step especially becomes important in making sure that we don’t get increasing levels or “perceptions of pain” because our alarm system (nervous system) is triggering more often or more loudly than it should be.
What do I mean by that?
Well, if you get enough bad nights of sleep in a row, essentially what can happen is your body can take on the same physiological stresses (whether it be sitting, working out, running, job related, etc) but those stresses will now be perceived as negative or threatening to your nervous system because of that lack of “reset” from sleeping. The nervous system is now on high alert and likely to pick up on triggers more readily that will give you the “perception of pain.”
This is not to say that it is all in your head, but more in your nervous system.
Simple tips for sleep:
Sleep schedule…do your darndest to get to sleep at the same time every night. Even consider a sleeptime routine (reading hard copy, 10 mins meditation, breathing, sleep, or something similar)
Keep Room as dark as possible…room darkening shades are a good first step
Keep Room as Cool as possible…studies show that low 60’s in temperature significantly helps body temperature, resting heart rate, and heart rate variability
Keep your bedroom for sleep and sex only…too many of us turn our bedroom into a playground for kids, a work station, a family room, a dining room, and a laundry room. Keep it to the basics so that your brain associates your room and your bed with the two things that will help trigger your reset button (the parasympathetic nervous system)
And those are the 3 keys to easing pain while we wait for normal. This list is not all encompassing by any means, but simply some key examples of things we can do now to improve our situation. If you are struggling with any pain because of our “safer at home” situation, especially neck pain, feel free to help yourself by joining us on our “How To Fix Your Neck Pain From Home” Virtual Workshop on Thursday, May 21st, at 6:30. Reading this after that date? Hop on the same link and you can catch the replay of this webinar anytime.