Pain is a warning sign for our bodies, encouraging to desist and avoid whatever we are doing that might be causing the pain. Yet exercise can cause pain, anywhere from sore muscles to aching joints. If athletes let pain ruled their behavior all the time their conditioning would suffer. I won’t say my body is perfect in detecting the difference, but over the course of many long distance aerobic endeavors I know there is pain I should heed immediately and pain for which I am better off ignoring.
Now I’m trying to ascertain this distinction for Cindy. Research has demonstrated physical exercise to be good for brain health (you can contribute to such research here). I certainly don’t want Cindy to feel needless pain, yet if we heeded all her pain signals we would likely deprive her of beneficial exercise.
Yesterday morning Cindy expressed feeling physical pain. Yet there were two things about this pain that made me suspicious of it’s significance. It wasn’t localized, she was feeling pain in more than one area. Also, she was melancholy that morning, which made me suspect that the physical pain could be emotionally related.
I decided we should go for our four-mile hike with full packs on as intended. Within a half mile Cindy declared that all pain was gone. I’m sharing this because I doubt many people caring for Alzheimer patients have the background to know there is a distinction between “helpful” and “misguided” pain. Unfortunately, I cannot make that distinction for anyone else but myself and for Cindy to some extent. Yet in a country where many people fail to get enough exercise, particularly the aging middle class, people should be aware that there are times when you could be doing more harm than good by not pushing through pain.
