What I’ve Changed My Mind About: Strength and Pain
Muscular strength is one of the biggest themes in rehab. Weak muscles are often blamed for pain - weak glutes or core for low back pain, and weak shoulder muscles for neck pain or poor posture. The logic seems straightforward: if weakness causes pain, then getting stronger should fix it.
When Pain Doesn’t Mean You Need to Change Everything
Whenever something starts hurting, our first instinct is usually to do something about it. We look for different strengthening, stretching, or self-massage exercises, try to figure out what’s going on, and modify activity or stop altogether until it settles. This is a completely understandable reaction, and something I’ve done for my numerous injuries. But over the past few months, I’ve been doing almost the opposite with my own ankle.
Pain Relief is Not the Finish Line
When pain starts to settle, it’s normal to think that you’re ready to get back to physical activity and sports. Reducing pain is one of the first goals we focus on in early rehab given the unpleasantness of pain - it’s uncomfortable, limits movement, and can negatively affect how we view our injury. That’s why, when pain does start to improve, it feels like a big win. We can start to move more comfortably again, and we’re able to return to various activities. We can feel like we’re ready to jump back into sports, but this is usually a false sense of security. For many injuries, pain relief is the beginning of the next rehab phase, not the end of rehab.
The Best Plans Aren’t Perfect. They’re Adaptable.
We’re always told that if you want to achieve something, the best thing you can do is make a plan. But as Mike Tyson said, everybody has a plan until you get punched in the face. You start feeling better, but then work gets busy, you get sick, you go on vacation; life happens. Suddenly you’re not following the plan exactly as intended, and it can feel like you’ve fallen behind or failed. But needing to adjust a plan doesn’t mean the plan failed. In many cases, the ability to adapt is what makes a plan successful in the first place.
Build Calluses, Not Blisters
Load management and gradual progression can feel a little abstract sometimes. One analogy I often use with patients is the difference between building calluses and developing blisters.
Injury Prevention Doesn’t Mean Injury-Proof
Athletes, professional organizations, and everyday active people are always looking for ways to prevent injuries, and why not? Injuries hurt, interrupt training, and take you away from the sports and activities you enjoy. For teams and organizations, injuries can also mean reduced performance and financial loss. Because of this, there’s constant attention on injury prevention strategies, from training methods to recovery tools. But can injuries truly be prevented? Yes, but no. Unfortunately, you can do everything right and still get injured.
How to Build a Better Arm Care Program
There are many exercise programs out there billed as arm care programs. Most of these rely heavily on bands or light dumbbell exercises, like the Thrower’s 10. These programs can be great for the early stages of rehab after an injury or surgery, but if you really want to strengthen your throwing arm, arm care needs to involve more than just bands and external rotations. Here are some things I think you should consider as part of your arm care routine.
Consistency is What Makes Running (and Rehab) Feel Easier
2025 was the year I decided to get back into running seriously. I had run cross country all through my younger and teenage years, but stopped due to university. There were a couple of times when I tried to get back into running, but it never felt great. Reflecting back, I realized I had been approaching my return to running all wrong. I learned that I needed to be consistent if I wanted to feel better running. Once I applied that, everything about running started to feel easier.
Throwing With Arm Pain: Should You Stop or Keep Throwing?
Now that baseball and softball games have started all across Ireland, it’s not uncommon for arm pain to show up with the sudden increase in throwing. The big question is: “Should I keep throwing?” The answer isn’t as simple as stopping completely or pushing through. Rest can lower your tolerance and set you back when you return, while pushing through can make things worse. Like most things, the answer lies somewhere in the middle, and there are a few key things to consider to help you make the right decision.
You’re Focusing on the Wrong Things for Recovery
When people think about recovery from training or rehab, they usually think about what they need to add. Some of the common things I see are stretching, foam rolling or other myofascial release tools, massage guns, saunas, ice baths, or even recovery sessions consisting of low-intensity exercises. The goal always seems to be flushing things out or speeding up healing. But if your recovery routine is built around tools, you’re probably missing the point. You don’t need more recovery tools - you need better habits.