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One of the most important aspects of training, in my opinion, is learning about pain. This can be something that is very scary for people when they first start on their health and fitness journey because their body is starting to feel different than it has felt before. If you can understand the purpose of pain and why you are feeling it you can learn what your body is trying to tell you and make much more progress in the long run.
So what is pain, exactly? Most of the time pain is just our bodies way of trying to get our attention. Our body is very smart and it is always sending us signals. Pain is the first signal that our body sends us that something is not quite right. If you wake up in the morning and your elbow hurts then your body is trying to get your attention. Maybe you overdid it a little bit the day before. Maybe you are overcompensating in some way. Maybe you have an imbalance somewhere. If we can learn to read the signs our body is giving us then we can keep something major from happening. If we ignore this pain then it will continually get worse over time until a major injury does occur.
If we can get in tune with our body and pick up the early signs of pain then we can start to make adjustments. If our elbow is hurting us, for example, then the first thing we should ask is why. What did we do the day before? What muscle might have been overworked? Typically, in this example, I see people overusing their tricep due to a lack of grip strength. Their grip was not able to keep up with the amount of work done causing the body to compensate in order to accomplish the work. The lower tricep came in to help out the grip, causing it to get tight and generate an inflammatory response at the end range (elbow). Thus the pain.
This general problem solving thought process can be applied to most pain. Start by thinking what was done before the pain. What movements where you doing? What muscles were you using? You can do a quick run down and feel around with your fingers to find a muscle that might be over worked and under recovered. By doing soft tissue work over a few days (3-5 times a day for 5 minutes or so) you can generally loosen the muscle and the inflammation will go away. Over the years I have dealt with countless pain issues simply by going through this process for myself. Generally, once I feel pain I go through this trouble shooting process, do the soft tissue work (which is very painful at first) and it is gone in a few days.
Another question that comes up with pain is whether you should keep training. I always believe that you should work around pain. By continuing to move your body you will be promoting blood flow, which will help your body to recover faster. I strongly believe that you should keep your routine going and just modify it until the pain is gone. Keep your habit of going to the gym. You have worked too hard to develop it to give it up because of pain. Keep showing up when you normally do and keep doing your workouts. Find something that you can do without pain while also doing the work to get out of it. You can continue to make progress while also making your body more resilient.
There are exceptions to this. These are when there has been a traumatic event. These are the events where something happens and there is an immediate source of major pain. Sports injuries, car accidents, or typically accidents in general are when this occurs. These are what would classify as injuries and need specific care (physical therapy or surgery if it is bad enough). These cases are when it is best to seek the care of a professional.
Ultimately part of your health and fitness journey is understanding pain for what it is. It is just your bodies way of trying to tell you something and nothing more. Many times people feel pain and think there is something wrong. They take time off from the gym, get out of the habit, and have a hard time getting back into it. By learning about pain you can learn what it is, how to work around it until it is better, and ultimately keep making progress!
