“Pain is an unreliable measure of progress.”
Yet, the goal of so many folks I speak with and work with is to “get out of pain.” So reducing pain is absolutely important.
But pain itself is very complicated, and doesn’t necessarily indicate damage, loss of progress, poor decisions.
Let’s take an extreme example: when I was 19 I subluxed my shoulder diving for a frisbee, could barely move my arm, and had constant pain.
When I saw the doctor, he gave me a cortisone shot and within an HOUR I had zero pain and zero restriction.
Did I make amazing healing or strength progress? Absolutely not.
And so, it was pretty dumb of me to play ultimate that evening, but I was young and (more) reckless.
How about a different example: Last year, I had some bad achilles pain. It hurt when I’d run, hurt afterwards for a bit, then was painful & stiff in the mornings. Very frustrating!
Having learned (a little), for weeks & months, I did my isometrics and ankle CARs, and reduced the volume of high impact running. I got stronger: I could create more tension, for longer, and lift more weight without issue.
As I gradually returned to playing more, the first couple games my achilles felt just as bad: pain with warming up, some pain afterward.
But I knew I was stronger, that I’d made progress on my mobility and tendon health. I’d been proving it day in and day out.
Understanding this—instead of getting demoralized and giving up—I kept with the process. I thought “if I keep going harder with my training and keep the same amount of pain, that’s progress.”
Gradually, the pain during and after playing shrunk until I had no issues. But it took time, patience, and trust.
🔑 So here’s the big key: allow pain to offer input, but not run the show.
Remember that even with no changes in health/strength/resilience, pain can fluctuate significantly day-to-day.
To be less reactive, think big picture. Zoom out to the weekly or monthly view:
Am I able to do more? How do I know?
Is my overall pain/discomfort similar or less while I’m doing more?
These questions/thoughts are much more helpful than:
“Do I have pain at all? Then I'm back to square one!"
“Why isn’t my pain gone completely? I can't make progress.”
I know first-hand how frustrating (and sometimes debilitating) pain can be. And reducing pain is a great goal.
But sometimes, if we use pain as our only measure...we STOP doing things that are helping us, or we START doing things that are hurting us.
In my experience, both personally and professionally, pain intensity & frequency goes down when we work consistently over time to improve strength, joint, & tendon resilience.
Not immediately, and not forever, but it does get significantly better. I hope this brings you some extra hope :)
- Brian
PS - if you're an Ultimate Frisbee athlete who wants to feel & perform better, check out my Ultimate Mobility Membership
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