Many people are in constant pain daily, or almost daily, and they can’t figure out why that is the case. When asked, they don’t remember any specific trauma they experienced so it is a mystery to them why they always are always hurting.
The following are some of the most common reasons people are in chronic pain. The good thing is that they are all easily preventable. The bad news is….you guessed it…they are all easily preventable!
- Too much stress: if you don’t believe stress causes pain as well as a whole host of “bad” things to happen to one’s body then read Dr. Robert Sapolsky’s book, “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers”. That will open your eyes to the profound and far reaching effects of stress.
- Too Much Sitting: this creates a phenomenon called creep whereby soft tissues, fascia and muscles tend to assume the positions they are constantly subjected to so some tissues become permanently lengthened while others become permanently shortened. This does not bode well for your posture, back health or movement ability.
- HRD: stands for Hip Rotation Deficit and is the inability of your hips to properly rotate either internally or externally or both – if you’re really lucky! The muscles attached to the pelvis control it’s position and function and if they aren’t at optimal length then there is no way your lumbo-pelvic complex can function well. This means back pain, poor movement patterns, and decreased function.
- Poorly Designed Workout programs: these are programs that are all machine based, little functional movement involved and /or an imbalance in training load between opposing sides of the body. The tendency here is too much emphasis on the “ muscles for show” (mirror muscles -you know, the one's you can only see in the mirror!) and not enough on the” muscles for go”. You know who I’m talking about guys! 😉
- Not Enough Stretching: many people, especially men, hate to stretch. But most people truly need more of it especially in light of the issues outlined above like HRD and too much sitting. 10 minutes a day can do wonders for how well you feel and move, believe me.
- Poor recovery and regeneration: Mark Verstegan of Athletes Performance is perhaps the first coach to stress the importance of regeneration and recovery and has a component of his protocols geared towards recovery. Recovery is when the body rebuilds itself from the stress of the hard training you’ve done. Without adequate recovery, you will not reap the benefits of your hard training. The 3 most important facets of recovery are sleep, nutrition and recovery as well as relaxation and stretching.
In a subsequent article we will give you some practical tips in reducing or eliminating some of these issues. They all have easy, practical solutions.
Train hard and train smart!
Bruce Kelly MS CSCS is a personal trainer, strength coach and the owner of Fitness Together in Media Pa.
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