Dealing with pain

There are ways to adjust your workout when in pain

by Justin Grinnell

It doesn’t matter if it comes from working out, a sport, an activity, or just from daily habits. We all will have to learn how to deal with pain. When most people get injured, they get very discouraged and discontinue their current workout regimen. This is a common roadblock but, believe me, it is one that can be busted through.

This affects people’s confidence. They sometimes think they can’t do anything physical until their injury clears up. Depending on the situation, being sedentary is the worst thing you can do.

DISCLAIMER: Always follow your doctor’s orders and check with your physician before you engage in any activity during and after an injury.

Cautiously, you need to continue to stay active to keep the rest of your body strong, resilient, and to improve the recovery process when your injury heals. Here are five common injuries, and how you can train around them. Make sure to check with your doctor before embarking on a fitness program if you have one of these injuries.

Injured shoulder

The shoulders seem to be involved in so many exercises that, when someone has pain, it is very discouraging to keep exercising. I don’t blame them. A bum shoulder can bother you in day-today events, mostly due to poor posture. That is a sure sign that you need to keep your upper-back strong and shoulder complex mobile. Clients who keep working on their core, upper back and leg strength, and who do not stop their workouts, recover much faster from the surgery or physical therapy than the ones who decide not to keep up their fitness routine.

If a certain movement hurts, don’t do it. With shoulder pain avoid pushups, bench press, overhead pressing, and other upper-body pushing movements to salvage your shoulder. Instead, target horizontal rowing such as cable rows, dumbbell rows, and TRX Strap rows to focus on keeping the upper-back strong, which will also help improve your posture. Also, perform core and lower-body work, and pick other exercises that don’t bother your shoulder.

Knee pain or injury

There are many variations of knee pain and injuries. Torn meniscus, patellar femoral syndrome (front knee pain), and torn ACL or MCL’s are just a few. There will be a large variance of what someone can do. If you are post-operation, your wait time before starting to work out will vary.

For a general rule, the most stable upper-body and core exercises should be fine. I have worked with many clients who had ACL surgery, and once they are cleared by their doctor to work out, they can do almost everything a person with healthy knees can do, for the upper-body. Keeping up your glute and core strength is key. If you keep the hip and core area strong, it will improve the stability of your knee so much that it will make the recovery process much smoother.

Exercises like hip lifts, planks, and upper-back exercises will help keep your posture in balance, and your hip and core muscles from becoming atrophied (your muscles shrinking and not working). Avoid single legwork on the injured knee (lunges, single-leg squats), and focus on doing exercises with the non-injured leg.

Wrist and elbow pain

It is unbelievable to me how many people don’t work out with various wrist and elbow pain. Yes, you do need to rest to reduce the inflammation build-up, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop doing your interval cardio workout and strengthening your lower-body.

Just avoid any upper-body movements that bother that area. Go through your physical therapy (if prescribed).

Then, if you want to strengthen that area and prevent future pain and injury, use kettlebells and ropes in your training.

Performing various kettlebell work and using the battling ropes is the best way to strengthen the surrounding muscles of your wrist and elbow. I love loaded carries to help improve overall grip strength. The stronger they get, the more resistant to injury they will become.

Low-back pain

Our sedentary lifestyle of sitting too much has caused an epidemic of back pain. To avoid, and correct this issue, here is what you need to do.

First, buy a foam roller. The healthier your muscle tissue, especially in the hip area, the less tension you cause to the lower back. Foam roll your IT bands, glutes, inner thighs, and hamstrings daily. Then, stretch your hip flexors, hip rotators (think glutes), and hamstrings dynamically.

I like the 90/90 positions, active straight leg raises, and hip-flexor mobility exercises. By improving your hip mobility, you will reduce some of the stress on the lumbar region.

You should also focus on strengthening your core to improve your lumbar stability and overall functionality of your core. Start simple with various planks, bird dogs, McGill sit-ups, stir-the-pot, and rollouts on the stability ball, and suitcase carries. These exercises will help improve the stability of your core and get the proper muscles fired up.

Then there are the glutes. The core (abs) gets a lot of attention but we also need to focus on glute activation and strength. I like mini-band walks, hip lifts, hip thrusters, frog pumps, and clamshells to fire up the glutes to keep them strong and active.

Plantar fasciitis

Having the bottoms of your feet hurt can be one of the most nagging injuries. With every step, you feel pain. It is a reminder that something is wrong.

Proper footwear is the main issue here. We put ourselves in such stable shoes that our foot muscles don’t need to work as hard, causing them to become weak and tight. We also don’t do enough exercise for our feet. Having minimalist shoes, and performing single-leg exercises and balance work will help improve your proprioception and strength of your feet.

Before you go barefoot or go out and buy minimalist shoes, visit a good shoe store or a foot doctor. This way you can see what shoe best fits your current needs, get your foot stronger, and then progress to a shoe that has less support.

‘Being injured’ doesn’t mean ‘be inactive’

While all situations will be unique, there is a way to work around nagging injuries. You first must avoid movements that hurt that current injury. Then, find movements that do not hurt and improve other areas of the body to aid in overall recovery and fitness. Work with a physical therapist, physician, and qualified fitness trainer to find what best fits your individual needs. Never stop moving!