A simple but effective approach to pain management

If you can alter the intensity of your pain with movement, do that, repeatedly.

Typically movement is the best treatment after an injury, just the other day I strained a muscle in my neck when treating a patient. After finishing the visit, I immediately started moving in all directions to figure out what made it worse and what made it better. Once I had determined this, I continued to move in the direction that felt good, then I slowly re-introduced the pain-provoking movement. A common mistake is to feel the onset of pain and immediately stop all movement in fear of any further damage one might create.

Well, here is your answer, if it doesn’t hurt to move in one direction, you are likely not damaging anything, in fact, if it feels good or doesn’t cause you pain you should use that direction to regain the movement that does cause you pain.

In my case I couldn’t turn my head right or lean my head backward without pain, so I started with repeatedly turning left. After 20 or so repetitions of turning left, I tried turning right slowly, understanding there would be discomfort but consciously assessing if the intensity was less than before, it was. Rinse and repeat. By evening I was able to turn my head almost 90% of the full range of motion to the right, it wasn’t fast or normal but I didn’t feel like I needed to go to the chiropractor the next day.

Simplicity is sometimes the easiest way to treat pain, it’s effective and makes sense.

Would a chiropractic adjustment have helped me? Probably.

Would electric stimulation have helped me? Probably.

Would cupping have helped me? Probably.

Would scraping have helped me? Probably.

However, I knew exercise and movement would be most effective in treating this pain so that’s what I used. This is why I always give patients exercises to practice at home. I can give you all of these other treatments but I am giving you exercise because I know this is what will help you most!

If you have any questions, feel free to call the office at 317-512-1744, or schedule an appointment below. Thanks for reading.