Have you had any pain and saw the doctor but were told that there was anything wrong?! Have you had pain that gets better with rest but comes back as soon as you start using the body part?! There is probably nothing more frustrating as an athlete than having pain that keeps you from training and competing but no one can figure out what is really going on. It is a lot easier to understand why you are having pain when you see what is damaged on a film such whether it is broken bone or torn ligament. However, there may be a lot more to "pain" than pain caused by injuries diagnosed by the doctor. Let's say there is a female figure skater with chronic lower pack pain. Her back is fine as long as she keeps her training short, however, her pain increases as her training intensity and length increase. Her doctor took an x-ray and MRI of her back but did not see anything wrong with her back structurally. So she was told that she was fine and keep training as pain permits. So in her case, is she really fine?! Or is there something wrong that did not show up on the films?! The fact that she has pain that keeps her from training is not "fine". There must be something wrong. But what is wrong with her that even her doctor could not find?! First of all, lower back is where she is having pain and may not necessarily be where a cause of pain is. Then, where is her pain coming from?! This is something we, rehabilitation specialists, can or should be able to find and fix so she will be pain free. We examine things such as flexibility, muscle strength, range of motion, core stability, feet, posture, etc etc etc to name a few. One of the things we look at is how her body is moving or the way she moves her body. And what movement(s) she is having trouble with, having pain with, is not doing right, etc. And what movements she has no pain with. Having strong muscles and strength and good range of motion is one thing. But how she is using those in a system during movements is another story. Every body movement happens in a system, which means that each part of the body/segments have to work in sync to optimize the movement and to prevent stress from being placed on the body. The human body is very well balanced withing asymmetries that we have. Our body is not completely symmetrical but well balanced. So, if a part of the balance system fails, this can be a problem. Doing a certain movement wrong a few times are not likely to cause pain right away, but if that happens over a long period of time, this can be a problem. There are a lot of things that may have caused her lower back pain. But just because the pain is not diagnosed or there is no structural damage, this does not mean there is nothing wrong. Bottom line is... pain is a sign that there is something wrong and it is very important to figure out what is really causing the pain and fix the contributing factors. Otherwise, it will keep coming back.
