Doctors learn very little in medical school about fitness. Hence, when patients complain to their doctors about weight gain, deteriorating physique, low energy, and depressed mood,unless those doctors have gone well out of their ways to self-educate, they’ll simply repeat what they were taught in residency: walk more, use an exercise bike, avoid lifting weights if you have a back or joint injury.
It’s bad advice.
If we turn to sports physiology, athletic performance, and anti-aging literature, we’ll reach far different conclusions. I started my own deep dive into that literature in 2016 when I co-founded Revive Aesthetics and Wellness. I think my learning trajectory has been typical. At first, I was overwhelmed by the data. Thousands of studies, conflicting results, nothing practical and applicable to my patient population. I was left feeling utterly buried by charts and graphs and numbers.
Fortunately, as so often happens, a step back provided the perspective needed to conclude that none of this should be complicated. Fitness is fitness, and the same principles that work for people who don’t have chronic pain work for people who do. The endeavor itself is straight-forward
- Restore the hormonal balance that pain has disrupted
- Build a strength/resistance training program that doesn’t irritate the anatomy generating the pain
- Adjust/adapt the program to correct maladaptive movement patterns caused by chronic pain
- Assemble healthy athletic eating to fuel the necessary lifestyle renovation
Over my 30 plus years in pain management, I have had patients with chronic pain really take this bull by the horns. Those who stayed with the process achieved impressive, lasting levels of fitness as well as impressive pain relief. What lessons did I learn from them?
- GOOD PERSONAL TRAINERS. Most patients who succeeded in restoring fitness in the face of pain had one. Some patients met with the trainers once a week, others 2-3 times a week. Some patients met one on one, others met with their trainers in small group classes (1 trainer for 3-5 students). Some had a trainer evaluate them and design a workout program. Good personal trainers will help you avoid reinjury and will hold you accountable.
- SELF-EDUCATION ON ATHLETIC EATING. I like Dr. Robert Lustig’s book
Metabolical. I consider it to be must-read. Reducing systemic inflammation and correcting dysbiosis (including having the wrong bacteria in the gut) are essential to success.
- FOLLOW THE S.M.A.R.T. PROTOCOL. It’s an acronym for “specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound”. These parameters were first outlined by George Doran in 1981 to help business management teams design, develop, and accomplish objectives. You’ve likely heard that “The difference between a dream and a goal is a plan”. S.M.A.R.T. will help patients struggling with deconditioning establish appropriate short and long term goals.
Revive Pain Solutions can help you every step of the way on this journey. Tell us when you are ready to commit. We will obtain the baseline blood work needed to assess how chronic pain has affected you hormonally. After a careful review of your family and personal health histories, we can initiate restoration. As for strength/resistance training, if you’ve gone years without exercise, you will need to reintroduce your body to fitness. We recommend whole body resistance band workouts twice weekly, 20-30 minutes each session, for six weeks to lay the groundwork. There are hundreds of band workouts online for free. It’s easiest to simply choose one and follow along. Switch things up every week or two if you’d like.
Once you’ve completed the prerequisite reconditioning and restoration, we’ll help you take the next steps.