Hoping for a quick fix for your pain? Maybe you’ve tried what feels like hundreds of “quick fixes” with no results.
Well, the “fix” might actually be quick, but it has to be specific. It has to be targeted. Unfortunately, online products marketed with a multitude of promises can never be specific to your pain, and that can be frustrating.
The Convenience Problem
With endless tools and videos available online, accompanied by a wrath of marketing and testimonials, it’s tempting to just try device after device that swears to eliminate your pain.
It’s convenient. You don’t have to do anything except order a tool from Amazon and put it to work, hoping for success. If it doesn’t work, you can just order another one with similar or even better reviews.
Your friend swears by one product, and your aunt promises that this one stretch she does each morning changed her life. That’s great, but can it change yours?
No matter how much the product may promise, it’s no guarantee. It may work wonders for some, but do nothing for others. Why is that?
The Solution: Accurate Diagnosis
When do these generic tools actually stand a chance? If your pain is produced by a soft tissue pathology, specifically produced by a muscle, you have a better chance of success.
But when your pain is produced by other structures…nerves, tendons, sheaths, discs, facets, joint capsules, bones, fat pads, bursas…not so much.
How can you tell what structure is causing your pain?
Musculoskeletal pain is generated by specific tissues. The pain that comes from certain tissues is associated with specific patterns that are recognized and treated by a skilled diagnostician.
A skilled diagnostician, having performed a thorough exam, narrows in on the tissue causing the pain and eliminates the aggravating factors. It’s the sniper’s approach: accurate and efficient.
A tool you purchase, or a stretch you adopt from a youtube video, can be akin to taking the “shotgun approach.” It might resolve your problem, but it’s definitely guesswork. You’ll likely end up throwing a bunch of these non-specific interventions at your pain with little to no results.
Conclusion
If you think you’ve tried everything, but that ‘everything’ involves a collection of tools and generic stretches from amazon and your friend, and you’re still in pain, don’t give up hope.
It’s disheartening to see some people believe they have to endure their pain forever because nothing seems to work. It’s not their fault. Unfortunately, they’ve just been guessing and throwing the kitchen sink at their problem, never hitting the target.
No tool or exercise or stretch is a miracle worker. What is the miracle is your body’s ability to heal if you know what to do. Sometimes to know what to do, you need an expert clinician who is an expert diagnostician. You need a “sniper” who will narrow in on your pain and eliminate it at last.