Rethinking Pain: Movement Matters
Rethinking Pain are developing a series of Movement Matters videos for people who live with long-term pain, to support them to move more in ways that feel safe.
It’s natural to be hesitant when moving more if exercise has felt painful in the past or if you’re worried about doing more damage. But if you become more active gradually, it’s unlikely you’ll cause any damage or harm. The pain you feel when you start gentle exercise is because the muscles and joints are getting fitter.
Movement matters because being active helps lessen pain by stretching stiff and tense muscles, ligaments, joints and in the long term, the benefits of moving more and exercising outweigh any temporary increase in pain. In fact, it has been shown that for some people who exercise regularly, their experience of daily pain decreases and they can do more everyday tasks.
Following these videos and doing other simple, everyday activities like dancing, walking, swimming, and gardening can ease some pain by blocking pain signals to the brain.