A Modern Human Paradox

I had a common conversation the other day with a client who was experiencing some discomfort. The question I consistently ask immediately is; "What did you do to try to help it?" And unfortunately I received the common answer; "Nothing."

It made me think how THAT exact mentality feeds into a modern human paradox:

We live in a world where we can get everything essentially instantly, or at the very least quickly. We appoach our health in the same manner constantly, as we aim to improve our health and wellbeing; we EXPECT quick results. Yet when we have discomfort, ailment or pain... we wait.

We lack SO MUCH patience in how we approach our health, yet when it comes to a discomfort, ailment or pain we do NOTHING and magically hope it'll go away!? Think about that for a bit. 🤔

I've alluded to the fact that "Doing Nothing, Changes Nothing" many times when discussing our health practices. Those of you who follow the Zen Blog and/or are clients of mine, may be rolling your eyes (loudly!) but it's TRUE. It's also true when it comes to discomfort and/or injury.

Many discomforts can be managed with basics such as heat, gentle movement, paying attention to what makes things feel worse, ensuring good night's sleep, soft tissue work (foam roller, self massage, trigger point ball ...) and so on. Quite often with non-severe discomfort/injury, small actions like these will help the body recover more efficiently. I'll also argue that by DOING something to try to help our body, we are also DOING three more things at the same time....

1) We are listening to our body and building our self-awareness

2) We are building a list (long or short) of things we've done to HELP recovery along. This way if it leads to having to see a health professional such as a physio, athletic therapist, chiro etc to get help, we can discuss with them what we HAVE done, what HAS worked and what HASN'T worked (which better helps them help YOU!).

3) We're showing the body that we WANT to be able to use the body efficiently again, without discomfort. Remember that our body is an amazingly adaptive system. If we "do nothing" as our means to "heal";

-We're not helping the body comfortably adapt to moving again

-We're not helping the body understand that it CAN move in a certain ways WITHOUT this discomfort, therefore trigging a "reset".

-We're teaching our entire self that we don't have to FEAR a movement and/or activity

"Do Nothing" as recovery is a method of the past

We've learned so much about the human body (yet still know so little). We have however learned that HEALING is helped along by DOING, not by doing nothing. Even in concussion protocols for "return to play" there are stages of progression in movement, cognitive activity etc to help the brain heal. DOING heals. Think active recovery.

I'm not saying when you have a muscular issue that you go for a personal best lift in the weight room. Remember, applying heat on and off throughout the day for example is DOING something. Deciding to forgo a lift or two in your regular routine to work through some mobility exercise or two or to do some release work is DOING something to help promote recovery.

"Doing something" to try to promote recovery helps understand when we DO need MORE help

When we actively PROMOTE recovery and healing in our body, we can get a much clearer picture of whether or not we ARE healing. When you do nothing, how do you know "you're better?". You're not doing ANYTHING to know! When you've spent the better part of a week or even a bit more and things have not subsided, any debate of whether or not you should get additional help becomes more clear.

Please remember, I'm talking in general terms. Those general, common aches and pains, soreness etc... We're not talking about a dislocated shoulder or major muscle tear which do require professional help, guidance and healing. In these common cases, taking some time to sort out whether or not something is working will truly help. Your body will tell YOU! It knows. If you're feeling some relief and progress from your efforts, then you can better assess whether or not you want to continue to help yourself recover or whether you still want to seek professional guideance. If after a few days or a week things haven't changed and you're still quite uncomfortable despite your best efforts, you have a much easier decision to book an appointment and get help healing.

-Let's TAKE CONTROL of our own wellbeing.

-Let's HELP OURSELVES in the foundational ways that we CAN.

-Let's STOP inaction! It's NOT a matter of being "right" or "wrong" - it's a matter of taking control of your own health and wellbeing to TRY, experiment and learn with YOUR body.