Understanding Pain
How is your understanding pain? Have you been told by a medical professional that the pain you’re experiencing is all in your head? Yes, it’s true. But it’s also much more complicated than that. It does not mean you’re crazy. It’s possible that that particular professional is not fully suited to help you through the healing and recovery that you need. There are active steps you can take to fully heal, and there are amazing professionals that can help you through this process.
Understanding Pain: What to do about it in less than five minutes?
Do you have a story of pain you’d like to share? Please share in the comments.
Jesse James Retherford is a Movement Therapist and owner of The Art of Fitness in Austin, Texas. We offer professional movement assessment, hands on massage therapy, personal training and coaching, and a personalized exercise program to help you move better, feel better, and live a pain free life.
The Art of Fitness
6512 Lancret Hill Drive
Austin, TX 78745
Phone: 512.587.2283
Jesse James has been understanding pain for years. You can read My Story of Pain here.
After peroneal tendon repair and retinaculum reattachment surgery on my left ankle several years ago the geography of my ankle changed. It was basically destroyed by stepping into a deep pot hole while wearing tightly laced boots and a brilliant sports medicine doc for a professional football team, a colleague of mine, fixed it up as well as he could. In the approximately five years that followed, despite vigorous rehab, it was as if my entire body fell apart. First my mid back, then c-spine, then right knee, then lumbar spine…all began to deteriorate at an alarming rate and the 3 miles a day plus Tae Bo classes 3-4 times a week, ANCIENT HISTORY! My life is not defined by pain, but I do not want to become dependent on medication even though my mobility is severely limited–to the point my career is also a thing of the past. Any ideas you can offer are more than welcome. Funny thing is that prior to my injury and even since I’ve HATED shoes. I have the dirtiest, toughest feet of anyone I know. I can even walk on snow, ice, rocks…it doesn’t matter. I despise shoes. So we’re on the same page there. My surgical ankle just doesn’t want to act the same. I now have one duck foot with a perpetually swollen ankle and one normal foot below a perpetually swollen knee. I am under fifty. Thoughts?
Hi Chelle,
Thanks for the comment. Sorry for the slow response. My comment notifications were turned off and I just saw this on my page. Now to your question. It sounds like you have quite a bit going on. It’s difficult to give to much advice without seeing you in person. Based on the issues of the thoracic, cervical, and lumbar spine, I would look at how your core and hips are functioning and how it relates to your ankle injury. With a severe ankle injury which requires surgery, you’ll develop some significant compensation patterns through movement. Especially if you continue a high level of training without addressing the bio-mechanical dysfunctions. Unfortunately, these kinds of dysfunctions tend to be missed with some physical therapists who focus on the site of injury and not global movement.
I highly recommend finding a highly skilled movement therapist to help assess and correct the movement issues you have throughout your body. Fix the core, then retrain the extremities to move from the core. I suggest finding an NKT therapist if one is near you. This is the work I do, and I have see amazing results through it. If you tell me where you live, I can try to find you a quality referral.
Good luck with your recovery.
Jesse James
http://www.tao-fit.com