Don't let pain stop your exercise program!

Are you already struggling with your New Year’s resolution to ‘get in shape’ this year?  Perhaps you started up an exercise program after the first of the year, determined to lose weight, get toned and feel better.  Maybe your doctor had been encouraging you to exercise.

Then pain showed up. 

Not the soreness or discomfort that comes from putting your body through a new routine, but a shoulder that 'zinged' you when you tried to slip your arm into your jacket sleeve or bursitis knee pain that kept you up all night.

Most people see this type of progression:

First you EXERCISE

So you can LOSE WEIGHT

And then you FEEL BETTER

What if exercise pain stops your best intentions?

But if your body isn’t capable of the exercise because of an underlying problem or you are unwittingly using poor body mechanics, the cycle can look like this.

First you EXERCISE

The PAIN is too much

 So you STOP EXERCISING

Now you are discouraged and you FEEL WORSE

I have had a number of clients over the years that have fallen into this cycle.  Every time they started a new exercise program, their bad back flared up or their joints started to ache too much.  Even if they initially saw some results with weight loss and increased stamina, these gains were soon overshadowed by persistent pain that sapped the fun out of the workout and/or left them with pain that lingered all day.  Their exercise program brought on too much pain.

If you work at feeling good first and eliminating the chronic muscle tension that can produce exercise pain, you are more likely to achieve success with your New Year's Resolution. – Maria Foster

By incorporating the PUSH Therapy program a positive cycle can be started.

First FEEL BETTER

Then start to EXERCISE

So you can LOSE WEIGHT

Then you FEEL EVEN BETTER

I had a client who was an active eighty three year old.  She enjoyed taking classes several times a week at the Senior Recreation Center.  But then she developed some debilitating mid-back pain that made everything, including exercise, a trial.  Using treatment, we made headway on resolving her pain.  But her sessions also involved a lot of education around how she was using her body in ways that unknowingly created a lot of chronic muscle tension.  I didn’t want her to stop doing what she loved.  But she needed to learn that if she kept doing her activities in the same manner, she would likely continue to encounter the same pain issues.

As it happened, she originally came into the office around the holidays, so her exercise classes were suspended for a few weeks.  She was feeling much better by the time her classes resumed and she told me that the first day back, she tried to do everything just the way she had done before.  The result:  the back pain returned with exercise.  The following day when she returned to her class, she still did all the exercises with everyone else, but she modified them slightly based on what she had learned from her sessions with me.  The result:  no back pain with exercise.

The average person watching her would be unable to tell that she was doing anything different from everyone else in class.  She got the benefits of exercise without developing exercise pain.  She worked on feeling better first, so that she could keep exercising.  Being able to exercise made her feel even better.

If you are struggling with your workout and starting to develop exercise pain, don’t get discouraged.  Schedule a consultation today by calling (970) 590-2856.  Let me help you feel better, so that you can go out and achieve your New Year’s resolution. 

Don't let your exercise pain ruin your plans!

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