Life’s Lies: “No pain, no gain”

“You know this whole ‘no pain, no gain’ thing is a widespread lie,” the sports medicine surgeon said. He’s a handsome, bald man on the latter end of his 40’s with laughter lines.

He presented, as usual, wearing a grey, collared shirt with the NAU logo emblazoned on the front left corner and dress pants with leather European shoes. He had just finished discussing with me about how I am supposed to go about getting better, with respect to my knee surgery.

I told him that I thought the reason I have been experiencing significant knee pain was because I had been ‘pushing through the pain’ as it were, by riding my bike at ridiculous amounts, just over 2 months out from my knee reconstruction. Inflammation is a vicious thing- but you can be smarter than the inflammation.

For have so much free access to educational materials over the internet, you would think that Americans wouldn’t be so ignorant, or rather- prone to believing everything they hear. For example, ‘no pain, no gain’ is absolutely not applicable in most situations. This is a very specific phrase, which should be taken with a pound of salt. The surgeon continued , ” Keep in mind that’s a phrase probably coined by someone who plays football!” He smiled, wryly.

My mind searched for a witty remark. I added ,” Yeah, a sport with a high occurrence of concussions!”

He laughed. I will explain this small piece of medical advice. In many cases, we are taught day in and day out to ‘push through the pain’. What does this mean, though?

Well, as a patient recovering from a traumatic surgery [mind you, most all surgeries are traumatic; it is not commonplace for the body to be opened up and manipulated] you should use pain as a gauge of your progress. That means, if you begin to feel pain, stop what you’re doing. Now, there are types of pain that you can push through. But if you really think about it, it is easy to differentiate between types of pain. There is pain that you have that is more pathological in nature- like that of spraining your ankle and swelling, with sharp, stabbing pain when you try to move it. Or there is less-pathological pain, like muscle soreness and burning after a workout. Maybe dull aching with some stiffness. Some pain you should push through, like dull and aching pain– that type of pain can actually be alleviated by warming up and moving. But if you are having stabbing pain, that takes the energy out of you, you should REST and ICE.

Listen to your body. If it feels good, it’s probably good for you. Sometimes, applying pressure might raise our blood pressure, but it will also give us this little relief, or a ‘hurts-so-good’ feeling. That is okay.  For example, if I bend my knee, it will get tight and uncomfortable, but it’s not stabbing, so I know it’s good for me. Largely, my pain can probably be attributed to muscle tightness– which is NORMAL, for someone who hasn’t bent their leg in over a month. Work with yourself.

Never let anyone push you through your pain, so that you are in agony. Don’t try to be a hero and ignore what your body is telling you! You’ll pay the price later.  I mentioned ‘inflammation’ earlier. Inflammation can be good, but obviously there’s a reason we try to get rid of it. Too much inflammation causes a cascade of negative effects. Chronic high blood pressure, swelling, more pain , discomfort, and stress. The body’s defense mechanism can be very harmful, if not contained. That’s why we don’t do things to encourage inflammation, but rather help it do its job so that it goes. away. as. soon. as. possible.

What I’m saying is that you need to be patient with your body- help it work its little miracles, like cellular re-growth and reproduction. The real pain you have to push through is the development of mental endurance. Without that pain, there is no gain. But don’t be dumb.