Greg Roskopf speaking recently about the influence of pain on obesity and how the exercise industry largely compounds the problem.
“When people have pain, it can limit their ability to exercise. If clients are not able to exercise, they cannot reach their fitness goals.
Pain itself is also one of the signals of an inflammatory response triggered by tissue damage. The primary goal of an inflammatory response is to protect and repair damaged tissue. If the inflammatory response does not get resolved and the tissues cannot repair themselves, the result is chronic inflammation. With chronic inflammation comes chronic pain.
When the body is in a state of chronic inflammation, there are many chemical changes that occur within the body that do not allow our clients to reach their fitness goals; one example is the inability to lose weight.”
“It is important to understand that intense exercise can actually contribute to obesity rather than eliminate it. If exercise is too stressful, it will compound the inflammatory response.
Therefore, you may have to step backward before you go forward relative to exercise prescription. That may mean unloading weight during exercise to prevent it from being too stressful. Clients must have the strength to handle their own body weight before they add external resistance.
If they are not strong enough to control their body weight, the muscles are placed in a constant state of overload and cannot heal. This compounds the inflammatory response, which in turn may contribute to obesity and insulin resistance.”
If you are in chronic pain and unable to exercise, contact us to find out how we can help.