Aches and Pains

[stef]

by Austin Baraki

Pain: everyone has felt it, whether they train with barbells or not. It’s part of the human condition to feel aches, pains, and tweaks of the neck, back, shoulders, knees, ankles, and just about everywhere else...

Article

[SpecialRider]

I have, for many years now, believed that most chronic pain is psychosomatic. This is based first on personal experience with horrific low back pain about 10 years ago and my subsequent recovery from that. It seems like pain has to be attributed to a structural flaw/injury by most medical professionals and if anyone looks hard enough I think they can find one using modern imaging tools.

I feel like this comes down to getting the diagnosis correct. If I break my femur I will get a diagnosis of a broken bone. Then the bone set, cast, then it will heal. Correct diagnosis and correct treatment. If you are dealing with pain that is psychosomatic in origin and apply any kind of physical remedy to treat the "injured" body part (i.e. massage, chiro, surgery, pills) the results of the treatment are very inconsistent due to an incorrect diagnosis in the beginning followed by incorrect treatment.

My opinion is that barbell training helps many with chronic pain issues because you are performing exercises that are supposed to be bad for you...but then you wake up the next day and feel fine(and stronger!). This helps to break the pain cycle being played out in our crazy ass brains.

This is a fascinating topic that I feel this article just scratches the surface of something that is an issue for many, many people.

[Farback]

This was a great read. I've long had a old layman's feeling that all these non-medical 'solutions' were something one should avoid stepping in. This was driven home the one time I attended a session with a physical therapist to 'treat' an injury. The absolute BS that she told me was beyond belief. I'll have an old Haitian shake a dead chicken at me before I visit any of these charlatans again. Time and training heals all but real injuries. Then a real medical professional might be required.