2 Minute FitBit: Pain, Origins and Treatments of Minor Injuries Artwork

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2 Minute FitBit: Pain, Origins and Treatments of Minor Injuries

April 17, 2022 • Jerry Bacall • Season 1 • Episode 9

0:00 | 6:42

In this episode, Jerry tackles what lurks behind everything in the gym, and that's injury and the pain associated with it. Jerry encourages you to seek immediate treatment from your physician for severe injuries, but offers insight into dealing with the less serious injuries and the pain associated

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Pain, Pain Thresholds, and Training Through the Pain

Welcome to this edition of the 2 Minute FitBit brought to you by Phaze One Fitness and me, your host, Jerry Bacall. In this edition we’re going to be talking about, pain, its different origins and some treatments for non-serious injuries. I tried to fit this into the standard 2 minutes but there was just to much to tell so please bear with me as I’m sure you’ll find it to be worth it.

We’ve all heard the cute gym catchphrases like “No Pain No Gain”, or “Pain is just weakness leaving the body”. They’re cute to recite but dealing with pain from an injury is anything but cute. If you plan on spending time in the gym working towards a serious fitness goal, there is no doubt that sooner or later you are going to have to deal with pain from either injury and or muscle soreness. The bad news is that it’s unavoidable. The good news is that your pain thresholds will change and what you think is an injury today, may just be the sensation of a good workout in the future.

In what ways can pain find you in the gym? Well, everything from dropping a weight on your toe…OK…DON’T LAUGH…to muscle pulls, strains, and tears, …..along with tears of your connective tissues, usually due to poor form and weights that are too heavy…… and then there’s pain from just plain old soreness. I left slipping in the shower out because no one wants to admit to that anyways. All kidding aside, however, don’t mess around. If you feel you severely damaged muscle tissue or connective tissue consult your physician immediately. Healing is a process and like any other process the sooner you get started the sooner you get through it.

So we know pain is going to happen… what are the potential causes? Well first, with any kind of serious training regimen, you should be stressing the body enough to feel the pain of soreness. So what’s the derivative of that pain? It’s usually associated with the buildup of lactic acid in the muscle. Lactic acid is one of the bi-products of ATP production in the absence of oxygen. ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is the only fuel source your body can use at the cellular level, so its’ production is imperative for muscle contraction.

Unfortunately, when your training goes anaerobic (working in an oxygen-deprived state indicative of weight training) lactic acid, hence soreness, is one of the bi-products. One of the most effective ways to control the pain from soreness is to stretch immediately after your workout. Stretching tends to help dissipate the lactic acid from the muscle, decreasing the potential for severe discomfort. After an upper body workout, simply hanging from a pullup bar for 60-90 seconds is usually sufficient for noticeable prevention.

And then there’s the pain from actual injury. The best remedy for any injury in the gym is rest. But rest is something none of us want to hear or do. We want to get back into the thick of it and keep making the gains we worked so hard to obtain. So what do you do? Risk further injury because you’re too stubborn to rest. That’s not the answer. First and foremost you have to tend to the injury. 95% of all pain is caused by inflammation. You immediately apply ice to begin reducing the swelling. In order for the healing to begin, the injury needs blood circulating at the site and it can’t do that with the inflammation. So for the first 24-48 hours, it’s as much ice as you can stand and your schedule will allow. After that, its heat to increase the circulation. As for medication, any of a number of NSAIDs (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) will help. These include aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), and Naproxen (Aleve).

And then….Just like anything else in life, you try and find the happy medium between rehab and training. For instance, if you pull a hamstring doing heavy leg curls or stiff-legged deadlifts, that doesn’t stop you from training your upper body. You may have to do some exercises sitting that you would normally do standing to keep the pressure off of the injured hamstring, but so what…you should be switching things up anyway for increased stimulation. For further insight on that, you should consult my 2 Minute FitBit on “Taking the Routine Out of Your Training”.

Now if you’re like me you’re going to constantly be pushing the envelope and probably test the injury too soon. In doing so you could have a setback and make the healing process even longer. So please Beware. But let’s say you play it smart and give the injury total rest while training around it…and it’s been a time frame that you think the injury should have healed but you still feel a pain sensation with the slightest bit of testing.

You have to keep in mind what you could be experiencing now, is pain from soreness and stiffness from lack of use, rather than pain from injury. The sensations can be very similar. The difference should be in the feeling after stressing the injured muscle or joint. If the pain doesn’t get any worse from the slight stressing then chances are its pain from stiffness. Always use caution. Because even if the muscle or joint has healed you need to exercise restraint in bringing it back to full use.

So there’s no way around pain if you spend any amount of time in the gym at all. How you manage the underlying soreness or injury will determine how successful you will be in your fitness endeavor. So respect the pain, determine the origin, follow the recommended treatments, and stay on the path to your goal.

Thanks for tuning into this edition of the 2 Minute FitBit and join us again when we discuss another interesting topic. Until then I’m your host Jerry Bacall wishing you success and above all please stay safe and healthy.