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.

 

The Health Benefits of Words & Reading

Good morning, good evening, and good night! 

Today, I’ve been really feeling the literature, the words, the pages, the books, the library, the agenda, the lists, the pens- and all associated materials and concepts. Plus, Michael mentioned something to me about Barnes and Noble, which reminded me of how much I love the smell of that store. Were it a perfume, I’d buy it. Because I’m weird like that, but I feel no shame. 

I went to the library today for the first time in over a year. It was refreshing and liberating. You see, you’re standing in front of a seemingly-endless collection of books and you can have as many as you want. That’s right: as many as you want. Free. Free information. You have no excuse for ignorance anymore, and that’s final! PS, as I write this, my hands are shaking from the iced caramel macchiato I had earlier today. 

So anyway, I started thinking that I really need to pull myself together. I started fresh with a new planner today, my list written and carefully completed throughout the day. 

Here’s a little bit about who I am, which you can derive from the books I checked out. 

I picked ‘The Checklist Manifesto’ by Atul Gawande, a surgeon/role model guy. If I research him further, I’ll probably blog about him, but for now I need to finish this new book and finish reading another novel of his called ‘Better’. It’s about work in the medical field. It is relevant to my career path. Then, I picked out a film called ‘Lincoln’. I’m sweet on Abraham Lincoln- another topic I’ll probably have to blog about. I found a couple random CD’s, as it is my constant journey to find new music. My neurons are hungry for new sound, I’m sorry Katy Perry- you are not the sound I want to hear anymore. 

Then, for my right brain appetite, I picked out a book called Decorate with Flowers- which I love flowers more than life. However, since flowers are full of life, that sentence doesn’t quite make sense, but make of it what you will. Flower and interior design are two of my little hobbies, I’d like to think. So you’ll find me reading Better Homes and Gardens, decorating magazines, and browsing Michael’s and Hobby Lobby with wonder in my eyes. How you choose to decorate your environment is so crucial. Why not have fun with it? 

I brought my little cousin and sister with me, so they could pick out books. Book reading is what turns people into geniuses, I strongly believe. The more you read, the more you write, the more you think, the more you understand and the more eloquent you become. It’s fantastic. I will, therefore, instill a passion for words in the hearts of my young friends while they are still pliable. 

When you need new ideas, new perspectives- well, books are your complaisant friends. You can reread them, you can highlight in them, write on them, tear pages out and frame the pages… you can burn them, you can even write them yourself. You can do whatever you want with books, because if you change your mind about how you feel, you can just go buy a fresh copy. I never want to be someone who has a bookshelf with unread books. That is just wrong. So wrong. 

Since this is about books and format and grammar and words, I will have a conclusion.

In conclusion,

I love books and I love reading and I love writing. Words give me wings to soar above others who choose to limit themselves to cursing and shaming other people. They are so stagnant and sad, I feel. So when you want to lose yourself and better your mind, open a book. You might be surprised that you will find yourself at home among the little ink’ed letters.