In this post we discuss why understanding force can help resolve chronic pain and injury.
In the previous post we explored how getting stronger can help reduce pain. And specifically why resistance training is such a powerful tool to help you achieve this.
Here we discuss the details that will improve your chances of success.
The role of force in pain and injury
Force is ultimately the cause of every injury. Either too much introduced too quickly, or not enough over time to adequately condition the tissues.
Force is therefore a potential threat, but can also be used to reduce that threat if applied in the right way.
A bit like a vaccine, that introduces a small amount of a pathogen to stimulate a more effective immune system response if required.
Here’s the issue though, force is invisible.
Contrary to what you might think, it’s not entirely represented by the number on a weight stack, or the colour of the resistance band you’re using.
Whilst they are part of the equation, they’re not the whole picture.
Just as important is the distance that weight is from the joint it’s challenging and the speed at which it’s moving.
Change either of those two factors, and you can substantially increase or decrease the amount of force you’re asking your body to tolerate.
Strength profiles v resistance profiles
To complicate the matter further, the ability of your muscles to produce force changes within a given range of motion. This is called their strength profile.
Typically this represents a bell shaped curve, with your muscles being weaker when they are either fully lengthened or shortened.
What might be manageable in the mid range position of the repetition, may become a problem at either end, particularly as you fatigue.
Ideally exercises should be constructed with this in mind. The resistance profile of the exercise changing to match where you are stronger and weaker within each repetition.
Why force matters
If our aim is to vaccinate the body against a perceived threat, we’d better get the dose right. Too much force and we risk creating the situation we are trying to avoid.
Whilst these errors might be tolerated by the average 22 year old sports enthusiast, they might not be so well received by a 55 year old with back and shoulder pain.
This is why it’s critical to understand the forces we’re placing on our bodies and our ability to tolerate them in different positions. This may explain why, in certain circumstances, they cause pain.
Reduce the threat to reduce pain
One last wrinkle is the perception of a particular movement as a threat.
Every painful or injurious event we experience is encoded as part of an evolutionary process. Incredibly your nervous system retains a memory of movements and positions that have previously caused harm.
My mind goes to a client who suffered a traumatic event at her local A & E department. Whilst bent over at the waist and unable to straighten her spine due to a painful spasm, the attending doctor decided to forcibly straighten her without warning or permission. She duly passed out from the pain.
Unsurprisingly she was extremely reluctant to either flex or extend her spine when we started working together. It took over a year of building trust and conditioning those tissues in other ways before we attempted either of those movements.
You can therefore still make progress without going near sensitive areas. The body is an integrated system, building strength anywhere can have beneficial effects everywhere.
Top 5 tips to reduce pain when resistance training with chronic injuries
Here then are the five most important things you can do to reduce the risk of experiencing pain when using resistance training to recover from chronic injury.
1. Ensure the resistance is placed as close to the joint it’s challenging as possible.
2. Select a weight you can move slowly and with control.
3. Where possible ensure the resistance profile of the exercise matches the strength profile of the muscles you’re challenging.
4. Don’t let a resistance take you into a position you can’t go by yourself.
5. Stay away from sensitive areas at the beginning.