Healing Chronic Pain Through Movement

This is part 2 of our blog series on injuries and pain.

Chronic or persistent pain is common phenomenon and can have a significant impact on our lives. According to the 2007/2008 Canadian Community Health Survey, about 1 in 10 Canadians aged 12 to 44 – an estimated 1.5 million people – reported living with chronic pain. The prevalence of chronic pain increases as we age and tends to be higher in lower income and Aboriginal communities.

What is chronic pain?

Chronic pain is pain that persists past normal healing times for an injury, usually lasting for more than 3-6 months. Those suffering from chronic pain may find it impacts their life, their family, their ability to participate in certain activities or complete work. It may result in increased healthcare costs, time off work or school, need for additional support with normal or everyday tasks, as well as increased risk of eating problems, depression or anxiety, trouble sleeping or eating, and feelings of fatigue.

And the worst part is, chronic pain can make us feel like our body is our enemy. That movement is our enemy because either that is how the pain started, or because it feels like it makes the pain worse.

The longer that we experience this kind of pain, we can increasingly feel disconnected from our bodies and fearful of both exercise and movement in general. We can begin to avoid certain movements, activities, positions or behaviours that we fear may aggravate the pain or cause new injuries.

And, for many years, most physicians and health care practitioners advised chronic pain sufferers treatment plans that emphasized rest and inactivity.

However, new research is emerging with a clear message and the recommended treatment is changing. Exercise and consistent movement have positive benefits, helping to reduce the severity of pain, improve and gain back physical function, as well as both physical and mental health benefits – meaning a better quality of life and an increase in confidence.

But the first step on your journey of healing is to understand your body’s relationship with pain, both on a physical and emotional level, and creating a plan that works for YOU to begin moving again.

This blog is part two of our series on injuries and healing pain in our bodies. Click here to read part one about dealing with acute injuries.

Today, we will be sharing our tips on how to move when you live with chronic pain, as well as how to re-build your confidence in and connection with your body.

Keep reading to find out out tips to help you get moving again!

Chronic pain is not just about our body.

The first step towards healing is understanding how pain and the experience of pain manifests in many other ways in our life. Besides the physical pain itself, it can limit our activities and cause us to avoid or miss out on activities/relationships that help us feel fulfilled in our life.

Our brains create a neuro-association between the movement that initially caused the pain and the negative sensations/experiences that followed. In the name of self-preservation and protecting us against future pain, our brains learn to avoid that kind of movement and create fear as a survival mechanism. The more serious the trauma or injury and the longer that we experience pain, the stronger the neuro-association becomes.

This can all happen unconsciously and we might not even be fully aware of how strong or deep our fears and neuro-associations have become!

As Anthony Carey, an international biomechanics and corrective exercise expert, explains pain can happen in the body like an echo. When someone has lived with chronic pain for a long time, our brain will continue to send out pain neurotransmitters even in the absence of painful stimuli. In other words, we can continue to experience real physical pain even when our bodies are not injured and there is nothing actually causing the pain. Seriously – our brains are POWERFUL things!

So what does this mean?

For years, when someone is experiencing pain the main question has been “What is wrong with the body?”. We search for answers from a biological or mechanical perspective. How to heal the body, fix whatever it is that “broke”, and avoid or correct the initial movement that caused the injury. We attend physio, take the right meds, work with a trainer to build or re-train muscles – this is EXTREMELY common.

While all of that can be extremely important and beneficial, it is only one piece of the puzzle.

One of the biggest hurdles to healing our bodies and learning to live with or overcome chronic pain is understanding that a lot of the work that needs to be done is mental. We need to work on healing how we see pain, how we see our bodies and our mindset around movement.

This mindset work is often not included in treatment plans or mentioned by health care or fitness practitioners, but can make a HUGE difference in your journey of healing. In fact, at Loyobo FIT – we believe that it is a total game changer and can give you the key to helping you feel like YOU again!

So let’s talk about how we can start to tackle it, how we can build our own awareness, and activities that we can do to flex that mindset muscle.

Identify your pain script

As we mentioned, a lot of our relationship to pain can happen at a deep, unconscious level – so we have to start by bringing some awareness to the thoughts we have and the stories that we tell about ourselves.

We recommend setting yourself up in a safe space, with a journal to reflect on some of the questions below. We recommend only focusing on 1-2 questions in a single sitting, to give yourself lots of time to reflect and process your answers.

What role does pain have in your life? How does it impact your sense of identity?
What would your life look like if you were no longer in pain? Paint a mental picture, then sit back and look at it. How does it make you feel? What thoughts come to mind?
How do you feel about your body? Your ability to heal? Your own physical, mental and emotional strength and capability?
What is the relationship between your body and movement? Is your body capable of moving? Is it capable of moving without pain?
What fears do you have around pain and your body? What are you afraid of and what do you do to avoid those fears being realized? How has this changed the way you live your life and show up in your body?

After writing your answers, come back and reflect on them after a period away. What patterns do you see? Try to highlight any words that you see constantly repeated or ones that really stand out to you.

This is your pain script. This will help you understand what your current mindset is towards your body, how it experiences pain and what your fears are around movement or your own capacity to heal. Once we are aware of our script, then we can begin the work on writing a new one!

Language matters

The words we use and our choice of language impacts our perception of reality. If you are constantly saying to yourself “I am a person in pain. I cannot live the life that I want because I am in pain.”, then that will be reflected in your day to day reality.

This is called Confirmation Bias, which is “the tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with one’s existing beliefs”.

So, now it is time to WRITE A NEW STORY so that we can begin to change our reality.

Think about how you would feel if you were no longer experiencing pain and write your thoughts as if they were already happening. Would your body feel stronger? Would you have more energy? More freedom?

If yes, you could write something like “My body is strong, full of energy, and gives me the ability to live a life full of options and opportunities!” You can use this new story as a tool for both visualization and daily affirmations.

We also want to be mindful of the language we use on a daily basis. Share your pain script with some of your closest friends and family, or even your health care practitioner or fitness trainer. Let them know what you are working towards and ask them to help bring your awareness to how you speak or describe your pain or your body.

Reframe negative or limiting beliefs to ones that reflect hope or that have a focus on healing and the strength of your body.

“No, I can’t do that. I am always in pain.” can become “My body is getting stronger every day. I will do what I can and listen to what my body tells me. My body is capable of and wants to heal.”

If you find that you are struggling, make sure to reach out to a coach! It can sometimes be hard to do this kind of work alone and it can be very beneficial to have some guidance and support.

This is what our Mindset Monday calls are all about! These group coaching calls is where we do our mindset work in our community and is an amazing benefit when you join Loyobo FIT.

Create a new vision & action plan for movement

Pain can create real physical limitations and may prevent us from doing the type of movement we did before the injury happened or that we might have originally envisioned ourselves doing.

This definitely can be frustrating and we may experience a sense of longing for what we used to be able to do.

BUT – this can also present an opportunity for us to try out and explore new things! It may look different than you expected, but that may not be a bad thing!

Consult with your health practitioner or a fitness trainer to find out what types of movement you CAN do. Want to speak with a member of our team? Book a free one-on-one session here!

We often recommend starting with our Foundational Pilates, LoYoga and Mind/Body Classes. Why? Because these classes really focus on helping you turn inward to listen to your body. To help you reconnect and learn how to properly engage muscles, while gently building strength. They are a great way to build confidence and re-introduce movement.

They also help you to identify Good vs. Bad Pain. Bad pain is the type that aggravates or worsens your pre-existing injury or condition. Good pain is movement that may feel uncomfortable or be slightly unpleasant, but is helping us to get stronger and will result in living more pain-free as we learn to breathe through it.

A skilled instructor can help you learn the difference and will encourage you to recognize and honour your limits. We want to find the balance between embracing challenge and allowing ourselves to be uncomfortable, while also backing away from those movements or exercises that don’t feel good for our body.

This might mean spending some time with your journal to come up with a new definition of what “successful movement” looks like or what your goals are surrounding exercise. Letting go of the mentality that exercise is only “worthwhile” if you are sweaty and pushing your limits. There are so many other benefits to movement! Take some time to think about your why and what other reasons your body will LOVE and benefit from moving.

Often we have fears around getting started or trying new types of movement, so make sure to check out the video we did around building your confidence & facing those fears!

Rediscover your sense of play

Focus on those types of movement you enjoy and having FUN in your body again. Try to re-ignite your friendship with your body, which is often diminished when we are focused on our pain.

What types of movement bring you a sense of play? What types of movement help you to smile and laugh? What makes you feel strong?

Create a plan to incorporate those movements into your routine a few times a week – even if it is something as simple as taking 5 minutes to dance it out to a few of you favourite songs.

Be patient & cultivate kindness

This journey is a marathon – not a sprint. It takes time to re-build your confidence and heal after experiencing an injury or chronic pain. Show yourself kindness and be patient as you embrace this type of work.

It won’t be easy – but that doesn’t mean it can’t be enjoyable and extremely worthwhile. We have a guiding rule here at Loyobo FIT – we embrace challenge because it gives us the opportunity to learn about ourselves (and our bodies) and also to grow/improve. Failure or needing to try something multiple times is NOT a bad thing!

Celebrate your victories and the wins in your journey -no matter how small. Be kind to yourself!

Ask for help

This is the most important one. ASK FOR HELP!

You do not have to do this alone. Your Loyobo community and our team of trainers is here to support you every step of the way. Reach out to book a one-on-one session with our team and we can help you start to build an action plan, as well as some strategies that will set you up for success.

Our mission at Loyobo FIT is to help people find joy in movement, LOVE their body, and use fitness to build their confidence.

We provide our members support based on the four pillars (Movement, Mindset, Nourishment & Community) we believe are key to feeling confident in your own skin and living your best life.

We want to give you all the knowledge and skills we’ve learnt over the years so that you can challenge current patterns that are not serving you and focus on making healthy lifestyle changes.

And remember – movement is medicine. We just need to believe in ourselves and our body’s ability to heal.

It may not look like your ideal situation or how it normally looks, but with an open mind and a playful attitude – amazing things can happen! Your body is capable of so many things and it just might surprise you, if you let it!