A friend had passed this along to me.  I thought it was fitting for what I do for work, perhaps even for what I do for “fun” too.

I don’t know too many people that haven’t thought these 5 words to themselves as their body is balking at whatever they are doing:  Bending over to put your pants on (ouch, my back!), running (my foot is killing me), sitting at work (my shoulders and neck), going up and down the stairs (my knees…)….you know, normal life stuff. 

It seems we go into this denial state that our bodies are speaking to us in this manner.  “Oh, I’ll be fine in a few days.”   Usually that few days turns into a few weeks.  A few weeks turns into a few more because “I’m too busy to deal with it” while holding out hope that it will get better.

Ignoring these signals from your body can set you up for long term consequences.  Typically if the pain really hasn’t gone away after a few days to a week, it’s best to get on top of it BEFORE your body has a chance to create new compensatory patterns to avoid the pain.  Think of it as your body’s way of getting back at you for failing to address the “signals” it screamed at you for pushing through it.

Because….”maybe it will go away.” 
 
As weeks go by, which suddenly turns to months, maybe….just maybe…you decide to actually take action.  The pain teases you for a day or so pretending to be “better”.  NOPE.  You attempt to try a do the thing that angered it in the first place thinking all that rest should have helped.  The pain returns as if it never left.  

Because…”maybe it will go away.”

Believe me, we are all guilty of this behavior.  We literally go through the stages of dealing with an injury.  Shock, denial, anger, frustration, acceptance and finally taking action because you are done dealing with it.  However by that time, your body has managed to re wire itself to either work around the painful patterns or carefully attempt to work through them.  Your movements change and muscles tighten without your conscious knowledge.  All while leading to possibly creating new problems….remember those long term consequences I mentioned earlier?

Why do we do this to ourselves?

Because….”maybe it will go away.”

Lesson here: don’t wait to address your body’s cries for attention.  There is no sense in suffering more than you need or want to. Nobody has time for that!  I know a PT that can help sort it all out and ease your mind AND your pain!  :-)