Many people move on autopilot and only when something pain or immobility strike that more consideration may be given to what is going on.

One of my teachers has always said, ‘injury and pain are good teachers!’ I will explain this idea in different ways with relation to increasing our awareness of movement connections between different parts off our body.

Think about a time when you have twisted your ankle; on initial walking again, you become hyper aware of the pain sensations as you weight bear and the link between different parts of the foot, ankle and lower leg; we become more sensitized from our wish to avoid further damage. Pain reactivity is a strongly conditioned natural response and with good reason, we want to avoid harm and with broken bones or significant swelling, immobilization is obviously necessary for initial healing. For the rehabilitation stage to be most effective, there is a need to explore weight bearing and movement carefully/progressively which will involve some discomfort or ‘good pain’ as stiffened joints and unused muscles come back to life. This is an important point; we may avoid movement if overly sensitized to pain and inhibit effective rehabilitation. Some discomfort is normal, the skill lies in careful exploration, not tensing up around pain and careful exploration. It’s like exercise; when you start from a place of limited fitness, it is hard work and to make progress you increase duration gradually, become fitter and build endurance.

Careful observation of sensation is important in rehab conditioning work and with stretching. We want to find the right balance between engaging sufficient effort but without strain or tension.

This is a skill which requires patience and interest, the practice of which is always a work in progress.

Go well. Will