Is “Resting” causing you pain?

Posted on 17. Feb, 2009 by Keith Scott in Back to Health

When people come to me with pain an issue (which happens multiple times each day,) there are all kinds of reasons they give me for why they are in pain. Some know exactly what happened to cause it, others think they know, but are not sure.

The question I always ask, and it is a question that everyone should ask himself or herself, is “what do you do the most each day?” What I mean is, what activities do you spend the most time doing? It is important to not just think in terms of exercise and major physical activity, rather think it terms of your job, what you do at home after work…and how you do it.

I have found that rest “activities” are many times one of the major culprits for pain in people.

Think about how much time you spend sitting, sleeping, or driving in your car each day. Your body is at rest of the most part during these activities, so why would that cause pain?

Sitting at your desk or in front of your computer all day long is setting your body up for major dysfunction. Hip flexors will tighten, low back musculature will be stressed, neck position is never ideal, and your gluteal muscles start to “fall asleep at the wheel.”

Do this day after day and your body will start to signal you that something is not right. Pain and stiffness will set in, and things will get worse.

Sleeping is another major pain culprit for many people too. I always advise people not to sleep on their stomach. It is not a very good position for your low back health and can lead to a lot of problems. I understand that it is very difficult to control what you do while you are asleep, however, with some practice, you can start to “train” yourself to sleep on your side or back over time.

The problem with all of this is that people cannot always change how they go about their daily activities. I get that. You have to spend a lot of time in the car or at your desk. No matter how much you try, you may wind up sleeping on your stomach anyway.

The answer doesn’t lie in necessarily changing your daily behavior (although there is a lot your could probably change to make things better…more on that at another time,) rather it lies in how you deal with the problems throughout the day.

Instead of popping multiple Advil and just “dealing” with the pain, you need to be proactive.

Here are some things to do each day to help put a stop to the pain issue once and for all.

• If you sit at a desk all day, it is highly recommended that you get up every 20 minutes and stretch, walk around or even stand for a bit. You don’t need to do this for a long time, but just by breaking the cycle of sitting for so long, your body will not tighten up as much throughout the day. Try setting an alarm to remind you to stand and stretch every 20 minutes. Your email may have a built in reminder to help with this.
• If you have a long commute in your car each day, remember to help yourself out when you arrive at your destination. Once you arrive, take about 3-5 minutes to stretch. I like to do some leg and arm swings at the side of my car for a bit, followed by some standing quad, glute, and hip rotator stretches. It pays off big time. You might look silly, but who cares, you will feel better.
• When you wake up in the morning, don’t just “get up” from the bed. Take a few minutes to slowly stretch a little bit. Lie on your back, bend your knees, and pull both to your chest. You will start to feel a slight stretch in the low back. Hold this for a bit and repeat. Once you stand, take some time to stretch the legs and arms. You have to remember that you were just sleeping for 6-10 hours and your body may be in some pain from the positions you were in, etc…find sometime to “undo” that stress.

Take some time to think about what you do the majority of the day and find some ways to undo the stress that occurs. Many times it is not the workouts or exercise that causes the issues, rather it is the little things you don’t even think about that cause the troubles.

Tags: pain, sleep pain