explain
pain
section
6
page
116
M
ovement is essential for the health of all body systems
and processes. It is the principal body function that is
affected, altered and sometimes controlled by pain.
The body tissues, especially themuscles, joints, skin and
nerves, love activity. Movement will always be of benefit for
tissues. Muscles can bemade stronger right throughout the
life span and all the tissues can be kept happily sliding via
movement. Many therapists know the term ‘motion is
lotion’. There aremany health professionals skilled in
movement rehabilitation and fitness of tissues.
But if you are inpain for a long time, youmight know youneed
tomove, you reallywant tomove, but you are ‘trapped’ bypain.
Youhave to be clever here – smart activities are required.
If you can understand your pain, and you know that it will
not damage your tissues, you canmove. Here are the basic
principles that you can use as a guide.
167
1.
Decide what you
want
to domore of. If you feel you
would like to domore of everything, to pick just onemay
seem silly. However, start by picking an activity that you
particularly want to domore of, for example reading,
walking, ironing, working, not wearing a neck collar,
playing with the children, sitting, sleeping, driving etc.
You could also consider what you
need
to domore of.
2. Find your baseline.
A baseline is that amount of the
activity that you can do and
know
that the painwon’t
flare-up. A flare-up is that increase in pain, often
sudden, that leaves you debilitated for hours, sometimes
days, feeling really desperate and doing desperate things.
For some people a flare-up could occur the next day or
even later. Good biological reasons exist for this pain
delay but that’s a whole new book. Try running
conversations like this through yourmind (we have
supplied some typical example answers):
How long can I walk before I flare-up?
I can walk for 30 minutes but I pay for it the next day.
Can I walk for 20 minutes without flaring up?
No, I will still pay for it.
Can I walk for 10 minutes without flaring up?
Probably not - definitely not up hills.
5 minutes on a flat surface?
Probably.
3 minutes on a flat surface?
Definitely.
So, forwalking, your baselinewould be threeminutes on
a flat surface. You can go through this process for every
activity, or combination of activities. Remember, going out
to a party or function is an activity also. So are talking to
yourmum and going to a parent-teacher night etc.
Tool 2: Pacing and graded exposure
Patience and persistence required
