Pain is such a literal pain in the ass. To have to live with constant pain is very taxing on your cognition, mobility, and your freedom. To deal with pain many are told to either take a pill or stop moving that part completely until it is “healed”. Both methods only treat the symptom of pain and do not find the root cause of why it hurts in the first place. Do you see the problem? You can’t keep putting band aids on a knife wound with the knife still in.
Forcing yourself to move through pain is not the solution. The pain exists for a reason, and you should listen to your body to stop when you feel pain. There are plenty of reasons that joint pain can happen, and a proper diagnosis is the first step. One can possibly reduce joint pain through soft tissue mobilization, fixing muscle imbalances, and reducing sodium intake.
Why joint pain may occur
Joint pain is such a pain in the ass. It limits almost everything that we do and catches us by surprise when we hit that range of motion that causes us pain. It can be especially difficult to manage if it is in a joint that we use on a daily basis for something like work. Some times we can attribute the pain to an acute injury or maybe a degenerative disorder. However, what about everything else?
Weak muscles
Our joints are held together by muscles. You could make the comparison to rubber bands holding together two balls. If those rubber bands start to weaken or lengthen too much, then the balls may not be able to be held together. If our muscles are too weak then our bones may fall out of place and not move in their proper alignment. I’m sure you can imagine how this can create stress on the surrounding ligaments, tendons, and bones causing pain.
Tight muscles
Muscles that are too tight can have the same effect. Tight muscles are typically also over active muscles and can pull bones out of alignment. You can imagine a game of tug-o-war. This will have a similar effect on the surrounding tissues in terms of creating pain.
Kinetic chain
The kinetic chain is the way the feet is connected to the head, and the way all these parts work together to create movement. If there is a break or a kink in the chain, then everything else will also get kinks to compensate. Therefore, if your walking gait is a little off it can affect your knees, then hips, then back, and so forth. Your body wants to stay balanced and functional so it will take anything done consistently as the new normal and will change how the rest of the body functions to compensate.
Poor movement patterns
Improper squat where knee extend too fast (stripper squat), improper deadlift, and a push up or bench with your shoulders shrugged up will likely create pain. Poor movement creates improper muscle recruitment and sequencing to execute the movement correctly. This will likely create muscle imbalances and create tightness where there shouldn’t be. There is an optimal way for the muscles to move the joints to create movement.
Overuse and Inflammation
Repetitive movements done too frequently and improperly can create joint pain. You may have no pain with that one singular movement, but you may feel pain with other movements or other joints up the kinetic chain. If this is a motion, we do for something like work then we will put less of a conscious effort and allow our bodies to take the path of least resistance. This also includes overtraining and not allowing your body to rest and recover from any activity that you do.
This can contribute to an inflammatory response in the joints as well. Diet can play a role in chronic inflammation in the joints because of a diet high in sodium. A diet that high in sodium likely consists of more processed foods than whole foods. So, if there is inflammation in the joints already from overuse or overtraining then a diet high in sodium will be adding gas to the fire.
What you shouldn’t depend on
If you are in so much pain that it is nearly impossible for you to move or perform your daily activities because of pain, then absolutely feel free to use these methods to help you. However, my recommendation is to use them as sparingly as possible and to use the methods later in this article to possibly fix the cause of your symptoms. Depending on the following list will only relieve some of the symptoms and not fix the cause behind them.
Medications
No one should have to rely on pain medications in order to get through their typical day. Constant reliance on meds numbs you from the pain and won’t allow you to feel what is going on or if new pain starts. Medication effects also lose their effectiveness over time which means you have to take higher doses to get the same effect. This creates a rabbit hole of issues down the road.
My suggestion, if you need something, would be to stick with Tylenol or acetaminophen. Avoid high doses and anti-inflammatories as much as possible. Inflammation is an important step of the healing process and constantly inhibiting it with meds is handicapping your ability to heal. You will be fine short term, however, there will be long term effects especially in the stomach after prolonged use.
Cortisone Shots
This shot is a steroid designed to dramatically reduce the inflammation in and around the joint area. Have you seen what else this shot can do? It has a side effect of destroying damn near everything in and around the joint. It can degrade bone and cartilage, so what makes this a valuable solution for knees? This is only another band aid for temporary relief, because you will have to go back when the pain returns in 3-6 months. So why did this inflammation occur in the first place?
Ice and Heat
Probably the two most common therapeutic modalities used by the general population. Ice is used by millions of people including professional athletes taking ice baths to help speed recovery. But does ice or heat really help that much? Unfortunately, all the evidence points to neither modality doing anything, and the person that develop RICE (rest, ice, compression, and elevation) retracted his statements on his own protocol.
There can be some short-term effects, but you shouldn’t rely super heavily on either one. Ice can reduce some of the swelling that comes with inflammation which can reduce pain and allow you to move more. This can let you exercise without pain which can have positive effects. Heat should allow you to pump some of the swelling out as well just by warming up the area. The point is that just ice or heat do not heal the body.
Stop all activity completely
Resting and allowing your body to heal is a great idea. If you are suffering from joint pain due to overuse or overtraining, then this may be a quick temporary route to go. However, there is an issue with stopping all together for an extended period. You will likely start to feel better, but you as you return to the activity that same injury will return. This cycle will continue and may even get worse as time goes on. You must maintain at least a small level of activity to get better.
Now that we have covered the most common “treatments” let us dive into the 3 things you should be doing.
Soft tissue mobilization
This is basically like a massage. I will start by saying that this isn’t the full solution to your joint problem. Soft tissue mobilization will allow you to unlock more pain free range of motion (ROM) and relieve some of the pain that you are having. This is a short-term solution; it is not a long term fix to your problem. Remember that we need to treat the cause of the pain and not the symptom.
Soft tissue mobilization will have two essential functions, which are relaxing the nervous system and working out any knots. Allowing the muscles around the joint to relax is what gives us access to more pain free range of motion. You should feel a little discomfort, but no pain when it comes to the massage.
A foam roller is one of the best tools that you can use for this modality. You can target and really work the area that is causing you issues. One could say that they are a little pricey but definitely worth the investment. You want to roll all the muscles surrounding the joint for about a minute each. This should give your muscle sufficient stimulus to release any knots and fully relax.
Another great tool would be a tiger tail or a hand roller (rolling pin will work too). These can be a little harder so they will take a little adjustment to figure out how much pressure you need. These will allow you to really target your area with a little more precision and allow you to use it on areas that are difficult to foam roll. The quads are one example of a difficult area to foam roll because it will require a decent amount of upper body strength.
After a minute test the joint and see if you have more pain free range of motion. If this is successful, then move onto the next step.
Fix muscle imbalances
This is going to be the biggest key to unlocking that door to pain free movement. Strengthening the muscles around the joint properly will allow the bones to move in proper alignment and avoid imbalances whether they are overactive or underactive muscles. So how do we go about properly strengthening the joint?
Learn proper movement patterns
Learning how to move may seem like a ridiculous concept, but you wouldn’t believe how many people I’ve worked with that move awkwardly. I’m not making fun of anyone; it is difficult to visualize yourself doing something without being taught or someone coaching you through it. Let’s walk through one quick example, the squat.
The squat should start with strong feet gripping the ground creating more surface area for you to push and increase balance. Hips and knees should start to bend almost simultaneously allowing your shoulders to drop down on top of your feet. There should be a slight outward pressure on your knees to allow good hip and knee mobility. Theoretically, you should be able to lower your body to the point that your upper leg is parallel to the floor. Finally, reverse this movement perfectly back to the starting position while maintaining a perfectly flat back and tight core.
What do you think? Is the squat more complicated than you thought? It is a full body movement that It is a full body movement that starts from the feet and goes all the way up through the head. This is a perfect example of how the kinetic chain and proper movement patterns are connected. If any part of the squat is done incorrectly you will be strengthening those kinks in your chain. You must activate the right muscles at the right time to create a smooth balanced squat.
Strengthening opposing muscles
Tight and overactive muscles can be a factor with joint pain. Sometimes it is not the muscle itself that is overactive, but the opposite muscle that is underactive and weak. This is a common occurrence because we tend to focus on the muscles that we want to focus on. Proper programming would force you to hit all the muscle equally. Instead, you have the meatheads that do chest 7 days a week.
In other words, you will be using strength building exercises to create more range of motion. Not stretching! Strengthening those muscles that are losing this tug-o-war battle will naturally lengthen the tight muscles without stretching.
The back is a very common example of weak muscles. We tend to focus on everything that is in front of us and forget about the things behind us. By always doing chest exercises and never working our back muscles we fall into a forward shoulder posture which creates shoulder pain. Strengthening your back muscles will allow your shoulder to be pulled back into correct alignment and more efficient movement.
Don’t Overtrain
With fitness we all believe that more is better. But you can have too much of a good thing. Overtraining the muscles and never allowing them to recover will create more pain around the joint. This will either create inflammation within the joint, or a tendinopathy with the tendons surrounding the joint. Either way there will be pain at the joint area if you overtrain.
Exercises should feel good, and you should feel good after a workout. If you are constantly sore and leave the gym with little confidence, then you are over training. You don’t have to stop completely, but you do need to back off a little. Controlling the intensity of your workout is the key to ensuring a proper workout.
Reduce sodium intake
This will obviously be more of the dietary approach to helping get rid of the annoying joint pain. Inflammation can be influenced by the amount of sodium that we have in our diet. Sodium has been known to raise blood pressure and be almost a catalyst to the inflammation process. Now please don’t forget that inflammation is a very important step of the healing process. However, if you experience a prolonged period of pain, excessive swelling, and tenderness then we can investigate how to reduce the inflammation.
The biggest culprit with sodium intake comes from processed foods. All the foods that are from fast food or from a box in the middle of your grocery store. Processed food typically contain far higher amounts of sodium compared to their minimally processed counterparts. In fact, you would probably find it difficult to put enough salt on your food to match the sodium content of a boxed or frozen meal.
Start by aiming for nutrient dense foods. This will be your meats, fruits, vegetables, and starches. Making your meals revolve around these food groups will drastically lower your sodium intake if you mainly eat processed foods. To be clear, you can put salt on your food that you cook it is unlikely that you will put on enough to even come close to processed food.
Solving joint pain is a puzzle
There are tests that you can do that will allow you to have a better understanding of the source of the pain. However, these should be conducted by a trained professional like a physical therapist. But if the source of your pain is unclear then these methods can help with the real cause of the pain. Remember, that you want to treat the cause and not just the symptom of the pain. There will be some trial and error and you may even uncover other imbalances within your body in the process. Keep working at it because this will take consistency just like everything else in fitness.
