A gradual return to normal movement and activity helps in recovery from pain
By Paul Bolger. Chartered Physiotherapist at Nano Physiotherapy, Kilkenny (www.nanophysio.ie).
Astronauts have a lot to teach us about recovering from pain. After months in zero-gravity in the international space station, aches and pains are a guarantee for most astronauts when they step back onto terra firma. Foot pain is a particular problem upon returning to Earth. Why is this the case? Any ideas?
Months in zero-gravity takes all strain off the feet. The tissues of the foot – the skin, joints, muscles, nerves, fatty pads – haven’t been compressed, squeezed, stretched like they are used to here on Earth. They’ve been offloaded, rested extensively for weeks and months.
Sensitised
They become used to this. The body begins to adapt to this new way of life while up in space. Then, when back on Earth and asked to once again take the body’s weight, the once-normal squashing, compressing, stretching of the tissues in the feet is interpreted as something new, something potentially harmful and damaging. The experience of pain with walking is a normal and expected part of returning to Earth for astronauts.
But does this mean that a trip to space results in lifelong foot pain? Not at all. It’s normal for this foot pain to linger around for days or weeks – or even longer in some cases. The feet gradually become desensitised and, over time, the astronaut returns to their normal activities without issues.
Lessons in Recovery from Pain
Recovery from persistent pain can take a similar route. Like how the astronauts’ feet become used to zero-gravity, a painful body part gets used to being protected, moving less and taking less weight. Often the body finds clever ways off offloading the sore spot – compensating by altering movement. When this happens over weeks, months, or sometimes years, the body part can become sensitised – just like the astronaut’s feet.
A Little Pain is Ok
To recover, then, we can learn from the astronaut returning to Earth and learning to walk again. Initially, some pain is expected with returning to normal movement and activity. With time and practice you should expect to move more and be more active without an increase in pain.
Gradual, Consistent Increase
An astronaut would never go for a 10km walk the day after returning from space – if the agony from their feet didn’t stop them, an injury might. Returning to normal movement and activity after long-term pain takes time. It’s important to start slow and increase gradually. Consistency is key. It’s ok to take a small step back occasionally if needed.
Develop Resilience
Gradually exploring movement and taking weight through the body part will not only help to desensitise the area, but it also develops strength and capacity of the body’s tissues (the muscles, bones, joints, etc) so that they can tolerate more and become more resilience to injury.
Prevention is Better than Cure
Ideally, we could all get ahead of the problem by keeping fit and strong enough to live the type of lives that we want to. If pain or injury does get in your way, gradually returning to normal movement and activities when you feel ready is a great way to reduce your risk of developing longer term problems. If you need help with this, working with an injury expert like a physiotherapist who empowers you to take charge of your own body is a great place to start.
