First of all, we need to get one thing straight: pain does not equal damage.
Come again?
Ok. If your arm or leg is pointing in the wrong direction, then please get an ambulance or present yourself to emergency right away.
There will be occasions where you experience pain and immediately know that you have done some serious damage. For example, if you’re in a footy game and land on your foot with excessive force and can no longer put any weight on it when you try to stand again - yes, you most likely either tore a ligament or worse, broke a bone.
But don’t forget there will be occasions where you might wake up the next day with a few unfamiliar aches and pains. That could be from the heavy lifting you did yesterday while moving house or you tried a new exercise regime and your body just didn't agree. This doesn't mean that you need to run out to the doctor's clinic right away because more often than not, your body is just trying to tell you that you have exercised a part of your body that you haven't used for awhile and it's just trying to recover from the extra work your muscles have done.
So next time you reach up to grab a glass from the cupboard and felt a twinge in your back, don't panic.
Olivia Ting is an in-house telehealth physiotherapist at Travel Physio. When she's not writing or treating clients for Travel Physio, you'll probably find her chasing sunrises or sunsets on a beautiful mountain somewhere.
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