Why Rest Isn't Always The Answer

It’s usually the first thing that most people try, and rightly so. A short period of rest can work wonders for the intensity or your pain, and sometimes it’s almost necessary to allow you to start any meaningful rehab. However, what happens to those people who rest until the pain goes away, then jump straight back into the activities they were doing before their injury or pain flared up? You guessed it, they generally end up right back where they started, resting again. We are often amazed at how many times people will go through this cycle, before they finally admit defeat and seek some guidance from a professional. The question you may be asking yourself is “well why doesn’t this approach work? Surely if I rest the injured area it will heal and be back to normal?”. Although the logic in this thinking is correct, there is one hurdle that needs to be overcome to allow any rehab to be successful. That is, increasing tissue tolerance.

All of our musculoskeletal structures have a certain tolerance. Put simply, If we exceed that tolerance level by too much, things break or we get pain. The flip side to that coin? If we don’t place enough stress on the system to force it to adapt, we never get stronger or more robust. This is what happens with people who persistently think that rest will fix their problems. By going through the cycle of pain flare ups, then resting, what actually happens is that tissue tolerance drops each time, meaning that it takes even less stress to exceed the new level of tolerance. It’s this slippery slope that can lead to a cycle of chronic long standing pain or injury.

Yes, it’s ok to rest for a short while, but what you doing following this short period of rest can make or break your overall recovery. Don’t navigate this period alone. Get the help of a professional. Our team are here to help. Call 01563262123 to find out more…