Our bodies are built for movement, yet modern life has us sitting far more than we should. Compared to our ancestors, we’re moving less and sitting more – sometimes for over half the day. While fitness trackers and smartwatches encourage us to stand and get more steps in, it still doesn’t seem to be enough to counteract the effects of a sedentary lifestyle.
Physical inactivity has now become a major health issue, and the consequences are clear: less movement leads to more musculoskeletal issues and chronic pain (among other things). And the unfortunate reality is that most folks turn to pain medication for relief, despite research increasingly pointing to regular exercise being just as effective and far healthier.
Here are five reasons to ditch the pills – and embrace exercise instead – as a powerful form of medicine to manage musculoskeletal pain naturally.
The way we perceive pain is complex. Many assume it’s a direct response to physical damage or injury – but it’s not that simple. The perception of pain involves numerous physiological and psychological factors that the brain must interpret. Depending on your general health, past experiences, and mental health condition, this can vary quite drastically from person to person. In other words – it’s your brain that decides how much or how little pain you experience.
Because of this complexity, external factors like exercise (and also pain medication) can alter how we perceive these signals. When we exercise, our bodies exhibit an increased tolerance towards pain, and a lower perception of pain intensity. This phenomenon is called “exercise-induced hypoalgesia” – and it works by closing down the gateways that allow pain signals to enter the brain. Certain medications can do this too, but when you exercise, you’re doing it naturally.
Inflammation is a normal part of your body’s healing process, and it occurs when inflammatory cells travel to a place of injury. However, if inflammatory cells stick around too long, it can result in chronic pain and irritation. This is where exercise can really help.
When you exercise, your body experiences minor physiological stress, which triggers your body’s natural inflammatory reaction. During the inflammatory process, certain proteins called anti-inflammatory cytokines are produced. These protein chemicals help to modulate the body’s inflammatory response – ultimately reducing the level of inflammation associated with your pain. Inflammation can be both good and bad. When you exercise, you are creating “good” inflammation, which will naturally help to ease your pain.
Ever wonder why a quick walk outside or a strenuous gym workout magically makes you feel better? It’s not your imagination. It’s something called endorphins – neurotransmitters released by your brain to alleviate pain and promote pleasure.
Endorphins are considered your body’s natural “opioids” because they interact with the same pain-inhibiting receptors in your brain that drugs like morphine do. But unlike morphine, endorphins are triggered naturally and don’t come with harmful side effects like addiction, drowsiness, or mental fog. Exercise stimulates the production of endorphins, boosting your mood, reducing stress, and giving you access to your very own stash of natural, healthy painkillers.
Exercise and mental health share a powerful connection. It’s virtually impossible to influence one without the other.
Regular exercise stimulates the production of various mood-boosting chemicals, including endorphins (that we just spoke about) along with serotonin and norepinephrine. Aside from helping to control pain, endorphins are also considered a “feel-good hormone”.
They trigger feelings of positivity that, once again, are similar to morphine. Serotonin and norepinephrine are instrumental in alleviating symptoms of depression and anxiety. Therefore – when you exercise – it’s virtually impossible not to feel better. And since we know that pain is controlled by your brian – anything that improves mental health is going to contribute positively to your relationship with pain.
OK – so we’ve discussed the multitude of positive effects that exercise has on pain perception, inflammation, and mental health. But what if you’re currently suffering from an injury? Is it possible to still use exercise as a pain reliever? The short answer is yes. But it’s challenging to do on your own. You can’t just google “best exercises for back pain” and expect good results.
When it comes to using movement or exercise to rehab an already existing injury – it needs to be carefully prescribed.
For all the reasons already discussed, physical activity will still help you modulate pain – but you must consider the role exercise is going to have on any potential tissue damage. With weakened or damaged tissue, exercise is still an effective pain reliever, but it has to be prescribed or you risk worsening your injury.
For these reasons, I always recommend working with a movement expert who truly understands the nature of musculoskeletal pain and tissue healing. If you start a general exercise routine because you want to feel better – I applaud you – just make sure you’re getting your desired result.
But if you start exercising to help with pain and don’t experience any noticeable improvement – or you catch yourself modifying to work around your pain – then it’s time to enlist the help of an expert. Otherwise, you risk ending up on pain pills, which is exactly what we want to avoid.
Dr. Carrie Jose, Physical Therapist and Mechanical Pain Expert, owns CJ Physical Therapy & Pilates in Portsmouth and writes for Seacoast Media Group. To get in touch – or to request a free Discovery Visit to explore a solution for your pain or injury with a mechanical pain expert – visit www.cjphysicaltherapy.com or call 603-380-7902.
The study included 914 women born between 1932 and 1945 (average age 77 at the study’s start). Half were assigned to an exercise intervention group and half to a group given no special exercise instructions. The exercise group participated in twice-weekly guided sessions for the first six months that included tai chi on one day and circuit training on the other. All participants underwent fitness tests at the beginning of the study as well as one and two years later. They also completed questionnaires reporting their medication use and were split into six groups based on the number of medications they used. Every two weeks, they texted with researchers to report any falls.
Results from a recent study suggest regular weight training may keep your brain strong as you age. Scientists recruited 44 adults (ages 55 or older) who were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and randomly divided them into two groups. One group did twice-a-week weight training workouts with progressive load, meaning they added weight and did more of each exercise as their muscles strengthened. The people in the other group didn’t do any weight training.
You probably experience soreness in your hips—I certainly do after long periods of sitting at my desk. But did you know this tightness can sometimes result in a lack of mobility?
I spoke to BODYBAR Pilates’ Jill Drummond, a NASM-certified personal trainer and Pilates instructor, who explained that your hips move in three planes of motion, and you can have good mobility in some types of movements, but not others.
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