Featured Article

Time To Think With Dr. Bacon - Exercising with Pain

Exercising with Pain & The Rehabilitation Process

A few of the most frequently asked questions in my office are: "Should I exercise when I have pain?", "Should I reduce or increase my exercises when i have pain?", "is it better if I work through the pain?", and "Am I causing further damage to my body if it hurts when I do the exercises?"

If you have pain, you should follow the following format when exercising:

The warm-up exercises (wobble exercises) are meant to do just that. They bring nourishment and blood to the tissues and loosen them up. These should always be done, even if some pain is experienced. When you have pain during these exercises, simply slow down and only move to the point where you touch the pain.

With more strenuous exercises (i.e. fulcrums, thoracic roll, etc.), if you experience unrelenting pain when performing any exercise for 1 or 2 repetitions, stop. Your body is telling you that it is too early to begin exercising. At this point, it is probably best to just continue with the basic warm-up exercises on the wobble seat.

If the pain is tolerable for the first few repetitions of the exercise, but continues to increase in severity as you perform more reps, again, it is too early to begin the exercises.

If performing the exercises is uncomfortable or painful at the onset, but as you continue to do more repetitions the pain does not increase and possibly decreases, it is appropriate to continue.

If you clearly have more pain 1 to 1 1/2 hours after performing the exercises, it is probably too early to do the exercises with significant exertion.

If the exercises are moderately painful, but 1 to 1 1/2 hours later you feel somewhat or significantly better, it is appropriate to continue to "push" or "nudge" the exercises, as they are the most critical part of soft tissue rehabilitation.

Passive ranges of motion - in my office this includes the wobble seat exercises and cervical traction - are ALWAYS advised. Doing these exercises to the point of pain, but not pushing through it is always recommended. We also recommend that the light warm up exercises be done very frequently. These exercises flush the soft tissues, bringing in healthy fluids and blood and carrying away waste products from damaged tissues. They also carry anti-inflammatory and pain relieving chemicals produced by your body to the injured area.

Rehabilitation of the soft tissue is essential, because it breaks down adhesions, as well as increases and elongates the tough ligaments back to their original shape and form. It also continues to be extremely beneficial in realigning the fibers microscopically, to create the natural "weave", which truly restores ideal integrity and function of the soft tissues that have been injured. This causes true healing to take place. The "healing" that usually takes place in most injuries is actually the formation of scar tissue, which is not anything like the original tissue. It never regains the elasticity and strength of the original tissue. It is NOT functional tissue.

It is well documented that mild injuries will take at least 2-4 months of musclo-ligamentus rehabilitative exercise protocols, as well as re-establishment of near normal joint alignment and motion in order for true healing to be achieved. In moderate injuries, it will take at least 6-12 months, and in severe injuries, 12-36 months, depending on the severity and complexity of the injuries sustained. If there are previous areas of instability in your spine (and it seems we ALL have some degree of this), these will significantly interfere with the appropriate reorganization and rehabilitation of the most recent injured area.

Unfortunately, most people who do not have injuries do not reorganize effectively and almost always end up with scar tissue and degenerative arthritic changes later in life that remarkably limit their ability to function. Then a very comprehensive, lengthy, and costly rehabilitation program need to be implemented, and will only be partially effective because of the adhesions, scar tissue and degenerative changes that have taken place at the site of the injury.

Rehabilitation of soft tissues is probably the most critical component in re-organizing any injured area. The soft tissues affect the structural integrity of the human frame. They are probably the least understood and least well-addressed parts of the human body's health and well-being. That is why we are so emphatic about the importance of musculoligamentus rehab exercise in association with the treatment process. The literature clearly states that altered posture is associated with all chronic disease processes. Our clinical experience shows that virtually all chronic diseases are improved by correcting posture.

Yours in Health,