When does a body problem rear its head?
There are many examples of circumstances where the explanation for pain falls short of our understanding. I have many patients tell me, “I have no idea how this happened.” Pain arises without a fancy story of a fall while saving a baby from a burning building. If you are like my mom, you can extrapolate a story to make it sound grandiose and impressive, making a mountain out of a molehill is one of her specialties.
In my world, it is when a patient has pain! Pain is an unpleasant experience that often keeps patients from doing something they find meaningful. Where do you turn when pain arises? What does it mean? What do I need to do about your pain, if anything?
Let me fill you in on a little secret that will likely save you exposure to our healthcare system. Once you have a problem with a body region and your pain goes away, you will likely deal with that problem again! I would even go as far as to say, the absence of pain is not a sign that there are no problems. There is research to show that in acute injuries like an ankle sprain, we see changes in muscle firing up into the hip. If you have ever been in a walking boot or used crutches for any length of time you know that by limping you eventually overwork another area of your body and it gets grumpy too!
Compensations and alterations in how the body moves are, in my opinion, amazing. The body can hide these “impairments” from your awareness laying dormant until one day, BOOM you have pain.
Knowing that the body is a kinetic chain helps me find other impairments around your area of pain that are likely contributing to your pain. Does the hip have importance in back pain? Yes, it does! There is a medical diagnosis called hip/spine syndrome. If the hip is not mobile the lower back has to do more work, that is why you can have back pain, but if you don’t treat the stiffness in the hip, the back pain will come back. This is just one example of many.
The greatest value I give my patients is empowerment. I can get most folks a severe reduction in their pain fairly quickly, but developing a maintenance routine to keep the pain away is what takes time and is often overlooked. Having an arsenal of stretches, strengthening movements, new habits of better sleep, improved hydration, and even better mental acuity are all things that allow me to help my patients with transformations, not just pain relief. As a PT, we have so much more to offer.
I am one of the only residency-trained orthopedic specialist PTs in the state of Arkansas and I am right in your backyard. If you’d like to ask me about your specific needs, I offer a $49 discovery visit. This would give us the perfect opportunity to get your questions answered and find out if what I do can help you reach your goals. I guarantee you will be glad you did!
To schedule, call my office at 501-529-2010.
Be well,
Dr. B