Everyday Things That Might Be Causing You Pain

Our body is an incredible thing, but it is prone to injury. This doesn’t even refer to serious injury as much as it refers to smaller injuries that accumulate over time. Whereas serious injuries come with a sudden jolt of pain, which is enough to remind us never to repeat that behavior again, smaller injuries don’t come with such a jolt. Because of this, we continue the behaviors that lead to these smaller injuries day after day, eventually resulting in more serious injuries over time.

With this in mind, if you’re suffering from pain that you don’t know the cause of, below are four areas that you may want to do some more investigating into.

Sitting

You’ve likely heard the saying “Sitting is the new smoking.” While this is perhaps a little exaggerated, there is some truth behind it. Sitting for long periods of time can be incredibly uncomfortable, which is why people often switch up their sitting positions. You may tuck one lug (or both) under your butt, switch to cross-legged sitting, lean to one side, and so on.

While consistently switching positions like these might alleviate temporary uncomfortableness, it can lead to your weight being unevenly distributed to one side of your body for long periods of time, which isn’t a good thing. To understand why it’s not a good thing, try imaging two concrete pillars holding up a home. The pillars are built to withstand the home’s weight only if its weight is equally distributed between both of them. However, if something happens that causes the home’s weight to suddenly be on one of the pillars instead (the ground shifts, perhaps), then the likelihood of that home’s collapse becomes much higher.

This same idea can be applied to your body. If too much of your weight is distributed to one side of your body for too long, you can quickly develop issues with your supporting limbs, joints, and muscles on that side of your body. The problem with uneven sitting is that it can be hard to self-diagnose; you may think you’re sitting evenly, but the natural design of your body may result in your weight leaning to one side. This is why seeking out experts in chronic pain in Pekin is a good idea, as they can use specialized tools to quickly identify any issues with your sitting.

Sleeping

If you’ve ever gone to sleep fine but awoken with a twinge in your neck, you know just how easy it is to injure yourself while sleeping. It makes sense, as you have no control over your body’s movements as you sleep, especially during deeper stages of sleep where your body naturally goes into a state of paralysis to stop you from acting out the actions in your dreams.

However, what thing you can change about your sleep that can help minimize injury or pain is to choose the right mattress and pillow setup. For example, if you’re sleeping with your partner, it’s important to choose the right mattress size. If you don’t, you risk having to contort your body to be able to fit on the mattress, which can lead to a greater risk of injury. To avoid this from happening, always opt for a mattress where both you and your partner have plenty of room to stretch out.

Another quick fix to decrease the likelihood of pain and injury resulting from sleeping is to correct your pillow setup. If you’re using too many pillows or too large of a pillow, you’re likely cranking your neck too much. The thinner pillow you can get away with and the less it cranks your neck upwards, the better. In the best-case scenario, you can opt to sleep with no pillows at all.

Finally, consider what position you’re sleeping in. In many cases, sleeping on your back can take away from quality sleep. This is because when you’re not controlling the position of your tongue, such as when you sleep, it can fall to the back of your mouth. This can obstruct your airways, making it harder for your body to breathe as you sleep, which can result in you waking up with headaches, fuzziness, and all sorts of other sleep-apnea-related problems.

There are also other, more serious issues that can occur as you sleep, such as those related to post-traumatic stress. These can be more difficult to diagnose, let alone treat, which is why you should always consult an expert in PTSD  if you think you may be suffering from pain related to post-traumatic stress.

Exercising

As good as exercise is for you, it comes with its fair share of injury risk. This is particularly the case for new gym-goers who want to see results as fast as possible. After getting some tips from friends and online, it’s all too common for people to go to the gym and start doing exercises that are way beyond their experience level.

For example, one of the riskiest exercises you can do is the squat. The last thing you want to happen is to load up the barbell with too much weight, get halfway through a squat, and not be able to push the weight back up to where you can rack. Then, you’re stuck in a very risky position with a bunch of weight on your back. Sure, you might be able to grin and bear it all the way back up, but your form is likely going to be terrible, which will put you at an even higher risk of injury.

This is why it’s so important to prioritize form over the amount of weight you can lift. When you use lower weights but proper form when you first begin exercising, you can train your body to perform the exercise safely.

Takeaway

Pain and injury aren’t always the result of something obvious, especially if the pain you’re experiencing is the lower end of the spectrum. To reduce your risk of injury, both sudden and long-term, be sure to consider the tips outlined below. Of course, if you’re experiencing something more serious such as MS, be sure to visit an expert for Multiple Sclerosis.