Getting fitter and being more active

This chapter aims to help you understand:

•   How being more active can help you manage your pain

•   How to assess your present activity level

•   Frequently asked questions about increasing physical activity

•   How to get started on a basic exercise programme

TIP

Don’t be tempted to skip this section. However, just reading it won’t make you fitter or more active. Action is called for, and changes to your daily routine may need to be made!

How being more active can help you manage your pain

People with chronic pain say that regular daily physical activity is vital to manage the impact of pain on their lives. Being active has so many benefits that help to make a real difference to you and the quality of your life. Physical activity may simply mean doing an activity faster, more often or for longer – for example, getting off the bus one stop earlier, stretching to put the plates on a higher shelf, or using the stairs more.

Initially many people with pain are told to rest as part of their treatment. Rest is helpful in the early days of an injury or setback, to reduce pain and help with healing. But doctors and physiotherapists now realize that rest is only beneficial for a short time – one to three days. Being inactive for longer does not help to rebuild fitness and so adds to the problems.

Sometimes people with pain are unsure when it is safe to move, exercise and return to normal physical activities, such as walking to the shop for a newspaper or doing the ironing. Common sense might suggest that we should judge our level of recovery by the amount of pain we feel. However this approach is not helpful, as hurt is not the same as harm in chronic pain. (For more on this, see Chapter 2.)

Increasing activity with chronic pain may be difficult. The pain can feel as bad as when it started, months or even years ago. Understandably, people with chronic pain often think they should not increase activity if they still have pain. However, gradually increasing your activity level, at a steady pace, can prove very successful and rewarding.

Trying to get fitter: What does having more pain mean?

Starting to increase activities and exercises can mean experiencing new or different aches and pains at first. These aches and pains might make you think:

•   This exercise has made me worse.

•   This new ache means that I have injured myself again and I am back to square one.

•   This activity is bad for me. I should stop and not do it again.

Actually, new aches and pains can be normal. They may not be connected to your main area of chronic pain. For example, you would have aches and pains if you had:

•   Not dug the garden for a year, then dug it over on the first day of spring.

•   Not washed the car for six months, then given it a full clean, including the inside.

•   Decorated the bedroom – painting, scraping and hanging wallpaper for the first time in five years.

You can probably think of other examples from your own experience. Use your notebook to write them down.

Why do these types of activity cause aches and pains?

The feeling of aching and stiffness after activity is because muscles, ligaments, tendons, joints and scar tissues have become stiff, tight and less flexible over time. There are many reasons for pain following an increase in physical activity. You may have:

•   Done too much

•   Done it too quickly

•   Be less fit than you used to be

•   Be unused to doing this type of activity

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Pain is not always a sign that we have damaged or injured ourselves. (See Chapter 2.)

As your body gets used to being more active, the aches and pains will often gradually reduce and settle (see Chapter 8).