How To Overcome A Flare-Up
Flare-ups are very common when recovering from pain or an injury. Unfortunately, the healing process isn’t a linear progression. Throughout that process, there are many ups and downs, but that’s okay! It’s easy for us to have a bad day and panic. This leads me to step 1.
Step 1: Don’t Panic
When we get a flare-up, don’t panic! Like I said, flare-ups are normal. Just because we’re having a flare-up doesn’t mean we’re doing anything wrong or going in the wrong direction. I like to think about the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan. Yes, I said he’s the greatest basketball player of all time. But let’s not get into that debate right now. If MJ were losing a game at halftime, he wouldn’t freak out, right? Right! He would make adjustments and figure out how to win the game.
Step 2: Modify Activity
It’s important to not stop all activities, especially those that are meaningful to you. It’s better to try to modify those painful activities. We can do this by modifying the intensity, frequency, or volume at which we’re doing them. If it’s a specific movement, let’s say a squat, we can modify the range of motion, the speed of the movement, or the type of squat. So, if a barbell back squat is causing pain, we can manipulate this in a variety of ways. We can change it to a box squat to shorten the range of motion. Lower slower down to change the speed. Or switch to kettlebell goblet squat to completely change the type of squat.
Step 3: Do More of What Makes You Feel Better or Happy
This can mean a couple of different things. This could be similar to step 2. Let’s say running makes you happy. Then we want to try to do everything we can to make sure we continue running. We don’t want to remove the things that make you feel better. Another common way we could do this and something that I recommend a lot to my clients is engaging in social activities. Oftentimes, when we hang out with friends, we have a great time and forget about our worries or pains. So by doing things we enjoy, we can take our minds off of our pain for a little bit. This can be huge by giving us a much-needed mental break.
Step 4: Seek Help From a Professional
Flare-ups can last anywhere from minutes to weeks. It’s okay if the pain isn’t improving quickly. But if you’re still dealing with a lot of pain, you’ve tried the steps above, and there’s no sign of improving, then it’s best that you seek help. If you do go to find help, I suggest you find a good, evidence-based rehab professional. This can be a chiropractor or physical therapist. Just make sure it’s someone who takes the time to truly listen to you and spends time with you one-on-one to help you navigate your pain. I recommend you stay away from the PT and chiropractic mills where you only spend a couple of minutes with the doctor and get passed off to random assistants.
If you’re struggling with pain or are dealing with a flare-up and need help, send me a message via text, email, or through my Instagram listed below.
Talk soon,
Andrew
resiliencechiro@gmail.com
(704) 659-4249
Instagram: @resiliencechiro
