But it hurts over here...
This is something we hear and see often. A typical scenario? An area hurts. So we try heat, or ice, then pressure, or stretching. We push and pull on the area, trying anything to get rid of the pain. I think we've all been there at some point. Often, those things mentioned above do the trick, a day or two later the area is better.
But what about when those things don't work? A joint is painful, irritated, inflamed, but it moves normally.. This is the thing that used to drive me crazy in my early years as a massage therapist and prior as a patient. How can something that moves normally, fully, seems healthy, have these symptoms?? It made no logical sense.
We start by cross-referencing a pain pattern with referral pain areas, movement restrictions, patient history, minor symptoms and little details. We figure out if the pain is local or secondary.
Often the body functions like a moving party, there's usually one person who only picks the lightest boxes, takes more breaks and eats the most pizza. All the others who are doing extra work can't help but complain. Its the same in the body, when one area of the body isn't doing its job, other areas that have to pick up the slack start to complain. The complaints are registered as Pain.
So when something hurts, take a moment to check all its neighbouring areas, joints, opposite limbs and other end of the spine. Does something feel stuck, restricted or have an old injury to it? Take a few moments to stretch these tissues and areas, very gently of course, as see if that changes anything about the pain. Even if the problem isn't there you will give your body a way of adapting until you can get treated.