🚨 Read this if you’re dealing with nagging pain
It may have something to do with the time of year.
Spring is upon us (maybe?), and I’m sure most of us are tired of cold weather.
Groundhog Day said we’d have at least six more weeks of winter four weeks ago, so we’re almost out of it.
Which means the end of jackets, sniffles, and possibly… prolonged pain?
I’ve unfortunately dealt with three or four injured clients over the past few months who were brave enough to work through their injuries while training with me.
And while we couldn’t quite get to the bottom of why their injuries were lingering, there’s a theory there with some validity.
Newsletter Summary:
The fact that cold weather has on healing (or the lack thereof)
How this might affect your pain management strategies moving forward
One quote about being smart to end the week
🚨 Read this if you’re dealing with nagging pain
If you tweaked or twisted something over the past few months and it hasn’t gotten better, it might have something to do with the weather.
While I don’t pretend to be a physical therapist, I do know a thing or two about injuries, having suffered many.
I’ve been through the whole game of treatment protocols:
The old “RICE” Method (not unfalsifiable, btw):
Rest
Ice
Compress
Elevate
The “Contrast Therapy” Approach (effective, but not foolproof either):
10 mins of heat therapy, followed by
10 mins of icing the injured area, repeating as necessary
The “Gimmicky but Somewhat Effective” Placebos:
Stem (Electrode) Therapy
Topical analgesics like Icyhot, CBD cream, and Salonpas
KT Tape
[Insert Random, Rite-Aid-based OTC treatment here]
The “Expensives”:
Massage
Cupping
Acupuncture
There are a whole host of others that I’m not naming, but these are the ones I’ve tried.
Since pain and injuries are relatively unpredictable, it’s hard to say there’s a one size fits all pain management plan.
What we can at least try to understand are the mechanisms by which pain persists.
Posture, faulty movement patterns…and believe it or not…the temperature outside can contribute to the intensity of pain we feel in our body.
It’s quite possible that the cold can have a dulling effect on our bodies, regenerative processes:
“Cheng et al. found that cooling skeletal muscle to temperatures as low as 15°C slowed the recovery of contractile function and endurance in humans and mice, primarily due to impaired glycogen resynthesis.[1] Similarly, Shibaguchi et al. reported that icing treatment (0°C) delayed the restoration of the myosin heavy chain profile and muscle mass in rats recovering from bupivacaine-induced muscle injury, whereas intermittent heat stress facilitated recovery.[2]”
This makes sense from a scientific standpoint.
If you remember anything from chemistry class in high school, (don’t worry, I barely do too) entropy, or the speediness of molecules moving around, is generally a good thing.
It is a key component of cell division and heating, both of which are helpful for recovery (spoiler alert:🚨If you own a heating pad and want to stop reading here, that might be your go-to for healing yourself).
Considerations for pain management in cold weather (or any weather) moving forward
This isn’t to say none of the interventions I mentioned above are effective — however, cold temperatures are typically best for sleeping in, and the ice bath craze, there’s little evidence that they promote healing.
If you spent the winter with an injury hasn’t gone away, it’s safe to say being outside and trekking through the day with said injury might not be speeding you along to recovery.
It’s likely you’re going to want a mixture of heat, pressure, and maaaybe a small dose of NSAIDS, depending on recommendations from your doctor, about how to manage the pain and its intensity.
Also, for those who care about being strong and muscular, more evidence suggests that cool temperatures might actually reduce the contractile efficacy of your muscles:
“Comeau et al. observed that environmental cooling significantly decreased force production in the quadriceps and hamstrings, which could potentially prolong rehabilitation times.[3] These findings suggest that colder environments may negatively impact muscle recovery processes, thereby extending the duration of rehabilitation.
In other words, strong, supple muscles that heal quickly need to be able to squeeze and contract to heal faster. Contraction is more difficult in the cold.
So turn up the radiator and start flexing in the mirror so you can speed up that recovery! (kidding, kinda).
One Quote About Being Smart To End This Week
“Genius is talent set on fire by courage." 🔥
— Henry Van Dyke
If you read this newsletter, you care about being smart. Maybe not being a genius, but having some courage to try new things and learn more about yourself.
If you learn anything from reading my newsletters, I would encourage you to share it with a friend.
The best thing you can do for me as a writer is let people know about my newsletter and encourage them to subscribe.
Thanks in advance!