Why Small Movements are a Big Deal for Pain Relief

When we feel pain, it’s common to think we need to stop moving.

It's a natural, protective instinct. Whether it's a sharp twinge in your back when you bend over or a persistent ache in your knee, the immediate, logical response is to quit moving. We're afraid of making it worse, of causing more damage, of doing something that will make the recovery even longer this time.

A lot of the time, this leads us down a path of complete rest. We stop going to the gym. We avoid taking the stairs. We modify our entire life to stay away from any movement that might feel uncomfortable while we wait for the pain to go away.

Disappointingly so for most chronic aches and pains, this strategy of complete rest often backfires and can result in actually setting us back further over time.

This is called the "Rest Trap," and understanding how to escape it is one of the keys to getting through acute pain and not developing chronic pain.

The Problem with the "Rest Trap"

Your body is a remarkable, adaptive system. It responds directly to the demands you place on it. When you're active, your muscles, tendons, and ligaments build strength and resilience. When you're inactive, the opposite happens.

This is the "use it or lose it" principle, and it's a major reason why complete rest can be detrimental:

  1. Your Tissues Get Weaker: Muscles that aren't used begin to atrophy (shrink). Tendons and ligaments do the same thing. This is called deconditioning.

  2. Your System Gets More Sensitive: As those tissues get weaker, they are less capable of handling everyday loads. This means it takes less and less activity—sitting, walking, bending—to trigger a pain response. Your "buffer" for activity shrinks. Maybe walking 10,000 steps a day doesn’t cause you any soreness but scaling it back to 3500 steps a day for a few weeks will make that next 10,000 steps a day a lot harder.

  3. Your Brain's "Alarm System" Gets More Sensitive: Pain isn't just a physical sensation; it's a protective output from your brain. When you avoid all movement related to a certain body part, your brain can become hyper-protective of that area. Its "alarm system" becomes overly sensitive, ringing the "danger" bell even for movements that are perfectly safe.

This is the cycle so many people get stuck in: Pain leads to rest. Rest leads to weakness and sensitivity. Weakness and sensitivity lead to more pain, often from less activity.

The Other Extreme: "Pushing Through the Pain"

So, if rest is the problem, is the answer to just "push through the pain" and ignore it?

It really depends on the level of pain - but for the most part. No, that's not the answer, either.

When doing a movement or an activity causes pain and that pain sticks around or gets worse it’s a sign that we need to change something about the movement.

Pushing through pain can reinforce your brain's belief that movement is dangerous. It can keep tissues in an irritated, inflamed state and prevent them from ever truly calming down. This "warrior" mindset of pushing through the pain can often lead to repeated flare-ups, frustration, and a recovery that feels like one step forward, two steps back.

The Middle Path: Finding the "Good" Movements

The path to recovery lies in the middle, between the two extremes of "doing nothing" and "doing too much."

Instead of pushing through pain, we need to find the "good" movements.

We have to become movement detective. To explore the small, gentle, and comfortable motions that, crucially, do not significantly increase your pain. And then, you do those.

What does a "good" movement feel like?

  • It might be a small pelvic tilt instead of a full back bend.

  • It might be a half-squat instead of a deep squat.

  • It might be decreasing the amount of time we do a movement as opposed to taking it out completely.

  • It might be slowing down a squat as opposed to bouncing at the bottom.

  • It could be as simple as adjusting the positions of your shoulders or your feet depending on the movement.

  • It's a movement that your nervous system registers as "safe" and "non-threatening."

When we find these movements and perform them consistently, that’s when we start to feel change. Movements that were once slightly painful will get less painful. Movements that might have ached or felt jerky and guarded will start to feel smoother and more fluid.

These good movements are actively retraining your nervous system, teaching it that movement is safe again. You are also providing just enough stimulus to your tissues to stop the deconditioning cycle and start rebuilding capacity.

Your Toolkit for Smart Modification

The truth is, there are very few cases where completely stopping all movement is the right call. In most cases, we just need to modify the movement.

The next time an activity hurts, don't just stop. Ask yourself: "How can I modify this?"

  • Adjust the Load: Can't do a weighted squat? Try a bodyweight squat. Does that hurt? Try a "sit-to-stand" from a higher chair. Still too much? Try just tensing your quad muscles while seated.

  • Change the Tempo: Sometimes, moving slowly and deliberately feels safer to the nervous system than a fast motion.

  • Alter the Rest Times: Maybe working in the garden for an hour really caused your back to flare-up. Next time work for 30 minutes give yourself a 10 minute break and then get back to it. Give your system time to settle.

  • Find "Movement Relatives": If running hurts, can you walk on an incline? If that hurts, can you march in place? If a forward lunge is a "no," is a reverse lunge or a simple step-up a "yes"? Find an exercise that works similar muscles but in a non-threatening way.

  • Reduce the Range of Motion: If bending over all the way to grab something causes your sciatica to flare-up, try bending over a little less with an additional squat to still get the desired movement. If hitting your driver is causing you elbow pain, maybe back off for a week and focus on chipping then slowly adding back in a little more driving practice overtime.

This is how you start strengthening the body and preparing it to recover. You're not giving up; you're getting smart. You're respecting the body while still doing the work to rebuild your resilience.

When it comes to working through pain get curious. Find your "good" movements, and start there. That small, safe step is your first, and can be the most important one you take on the path back to a strong, confidently moving body.

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