Progressive loading: Avoid doing too much too soon

By BLAKE FRENCH, DC

When it comes to pain, it can limit us in our daily activities. It can cause us to change the way we move to avoid it. Pain can make us feel unbalanced and even shift to a different location in our body.

So, let’s talk about the ways to help prevent or lessen the occurrence of pain symptoms.

The key here is progressive loading. It is a strategy used to help the body build a tolerance level because when we do too much too soon it can affect us in a negative way. When we schedule a 10K run or go for a new personal record lift, we do not start those activities by doing the maximum effort on the first day. What we want to do is gradually build up and let the body adapt to the stressor.

The same goes with any activity, especially a new one or one that we have not done in a while. When the body is not use to a movement or is in a specific position for too long, it can increase our sensitivity. When this happens, we can reach our pain threshold quicker or even go above our body’s normal pain threshold, thus causing the pain symptoms.

We can reduce or prevent this from occurring by introducing the activity, or movements, routinely for our body to have time to adapt. We then are more likely to tolerate the activity over time.

If you struggle with an activity or want to improve your activity level, please give us a call. We can help.

Watch Dr. French discuss ways to avoid injuries during his segment of Lifestyle Matters.