Breaking Free: How to Avoid Getting Stuck in Movement Jail

One of the biggest myths surrounding pain and injury rehab is that absolute rest is a good thing.

I was told when I was diagnosed with a disc herniation all the things I should no longer do. Don’t lift weights (definitely don’t deadlift), don’t let your spine round forward, the list went on. The main recommendation was to rest and give my spine a chance to heal.

This makes logical sense at first. An irritated, injured tissue needs a chance to recover and constantly loading it further may make the issue worse.

But absolute rest starts a negative feedback loop and puts us in what I call, “movement jail”.

It’s not so much a physical problem as it is a mental, psychological one.

When we experience pain and injury we often catastrophize our situation, creating fear and hesitation when it comes to movement. Being told not to do things and what to avoid creates a recipe for hypervigilance and avoidance of movement.

We begin hyper analyzing everything, thinking about basic movements that would have been automatic before. Naturally we begin to move less. Because the body operates on a “if you don’t use it, you lose it”, system, further disuse leads to further inability to move.

This in turn leads to a greater experience of pain. It’s not solely based on physical ability, but the psychological factors feed into it too.

*A post from my Instagram, @CoachStrumos

Like any fear, it’s best to confront it and in this case, find ways you can move. It doesn’t mean you go back to exactly what you were doing before or even what hurt you, but the point stands.

Muscles and joints respond well to movement, even when they’re injured. That’s why more recent evidence-based treatment plans involve optimal loading to not only supply circulation to the area, but to avoid this “movement jail”.

I worked with a client who was dealing with chronic back pain for years. It seemed like she would throw out her back doing basic day to day movements like tying her shoes or bending down to pick things up.

She was seeing a physio and a chiropractor for treatment who recommended her to simply rest and change some aspects ergonomically around her life. Get a new mattress, put orthotics in your shoes, make sure you’re sitting in an chair with lumbar support. But she wasn’t getting better.

Her paranoia around movement and her fear that any sudden movement might put her out of commission was strong.

Only once we began getting her moving and addressing these fears did she improve. At first she was very hesitant, even wanting to cancel sessions because her back was significantly sore one day, but she showed up anyway and didn’t regret it.

She surprised herself that day by deadlifting 15lbs more than she had the week before. The movement in itself is good for building strength and resilience, but the fact that she saw that her body could handle it and that she felt so much better afterwards did the real heavy lifting.

Her mindset began to change after this and the rest is history.

The risks of being sedentary far exceed the risks of movement.

To your good health,

Coach Stephen

P.S.

Whenever you’re ready, here are a few additional ways that I may be able to help you.

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