"What hurts grows!" An old phrase in the pillory

By Aaron Horschig

Imagine getting the chance to drive your dream sports car. You sit inside and when you press the pedal, you feel the force that pushes you into the seat. After a few hours of driving, you look at the dashboard and see the check engine light is on. It scares you a little bit. You're in a very powerful and expensive car. You're supposed to drive that aggressively, aren't you? What about it?

Your body is such a beautiful sports car. And pain is its check engine. The scenario described above is true for athletes all over the world, regardless of their level.

How are we currently treating pain?

Athletes will do anything for maximum performance. When competition day comes, many of them grit their teeth and go through the pain. That's the motto that's been drilled into our heads for most of our sporting lives. No pain no gain - what hurts, grows.

Whole companies have started to follow it. We mask the pain brilliantly. We put pads on our knees before games, wear braces and swallow pills to make the pain bearable. Although these means allow many of us to continue to compete, it is a double-edged weapon.

Temporary aids have become permanent solutions for many athletes. I know athletes who can't even make it through a single training session without the warm ointment.

Nowadays, we are bombarded with advertisements that proclaim that pain should not put us on the bench. They portray back, wrist and shoulder pain as a mere inconvenience in our busy lives. One pill or a little electrical stimulation can help us get back to our hobbies. But have you ever wondered what the long-term consequences of such an approach will be?

What is pain?

Pain is the body letting us know that something is wrong with it. We usually describe it as a sharp, shooting or throbbing sensation. It can be deep in a muscle or joint and is often caused by overuse, poor technique or inflammation. Warm-up or mobility training will not relieve the pain.

Muscle strain after exercise is not pain. Strain can be greatly eliminated with a good warm-up, and it is a natural effect of training. If warming up or rolling relieves you, you are not in pain. You can train hard. You only have strained muscles.

When playing sports through pain pays off

Why is this such a bad idea? There are several reasons. First, pain is a warning sign for a current or potential problem. Yes, sometimes as an athlete you will have to endure some pain. We can go back to the car analogy. A racing driver doesn't stop on the penultimate lap because his check engine light comes on. He finishes the race.

At times this may prove to be the right strategy, but practicing it constantly can do your body considerable harm. Physical therapist Gray Cook says using temporary pain solutions when you're not competing is like taping over a glowing check engine light in your car with black tape. It won't stop lighting just because you ignore it. If you work through the pain, the pain will come back to you one day. That's when the hurt comes.

Pain also changes movement patterns. The body thus unconsciously defends itself against injury. Pain affects coordination and efficiency of movement. It limits your mobility and strength.

All of this has a profound effect on barbell exercises. Trying to go through pain is a bad idea, especially when you have heavy weights in your hands.

Conclusion

All too often we consider pain to be a mere annoyance. We want to mask it, pretend it doesn't exist, and get on with our lives. Don't ignore your body's signals. Think of pain as an opportunity to fix something about your body and make it able to work safely for a very long time.

Translated by Jaromír Uhlíř

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