Exercise, identity and pain

Over the last months I have found myself having a very similar conversation with a number of different people, and it has been something I have been thinking about more.

Several of the people I have been working with were previously very active, some at a competitive level. For a lot of them, sport and exercise was not just something they did. It was a big part of how they saw themselves.

Then pain came into the picture. And exercise, the thing that had always helped, started making things worse.

What tends to follow is completely understandable. They push through it, because that is what has always worked in the past and results in improved performance. They keep going hard, because backing off feels like giving up or a sign of ‘weakness’. This seems to be common in people who have built their identity around performance and competition.

The difficulty is that the same approach that served them so well for so long can become the thing that keeps them stuck or is the cause of significant frustration.

What I have seen help some of these people is a gradual shift in how they relate to exercise. Moving away from exercising for performance, beating previous PR’s, always improving. Instead using exercise to support their health and focusing on consistent engagement and ‘anything is better then nothing’ vs pushing intensity.

I want to be clear that I do not think this is simple, and I do not think it happens quickly. It is not a mindset switch you can just decide to make. It takes time, and for a lot of people it involves some real grief around what they have lost, at least temporarily.

Joletta Belton went through something similar and speaks about it far more eloquently than I can. Her story is worth a watch if any of this resonates. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDtjCqsu7Wo

P.s. I had the chance to speak on the same podcast about some of these ideas from a clinical perspective. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xwyy_XYLlc

Written by

Samuel Bulten

Exercise Physiologist | Masters in Medicine (Pain Management)

Director, Adapt Movement

Disclaimer

This information is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for personal medical advice. These blogs are written by Sam Bulten and represent his opinions and insights and are based on his experience and interpretation of the research. As Sam is a human, these opinions and insights are not absolute truths.