Why Pushing Through Pain Doesn't Work

Captiva Island Sunset, February 2025

​One of the reasons people come to Essentrics® class is to decrease pain or prevent pain from occurring in the first place. It is ironic that we are looking to reduce pain, yet when we experience pain during an activity or workout we have been well-trained (since birth it seems) to push through that pain. 

The problem with pushing through pain is that we usually cause ourselves more pain in the moment, which is unpleasant to say the least. In addition, pushing through pain continues to irritate already inflamed tissues so that the healing process doesn’t have a chance to progress. The resulting chronic pain pulls at your attention through the day, needing to be tended to - which depletes your resources of focus and energy.

As I often demonstrate in class, if you start to raise your arm overhead, and halfway up your shoulder sends a pain message to your brain - stop, pull your arm back to the position you were in before the pain started, and work in that place. Miranda Esmonde-White, the creator of Essentrics, calls this concept “working in a pain-free zone.” You can watch her Aging Backwards video (less than eight minutes long) detailing this and five other Essentrics principles. Aging Backwards challenges the inevitability of limitation as we grow older.

If your goal is to heal, to reduce or prevent pain, and to return to (or keep doing) the activities you love, your best strategy is to heed the pain message your body is sending your brain. That pain message is different from the discomfort of aching arms because you are challenging your muscles to do one more set. The pain message is very clear: “stop because it hurts in a bad way.” When you are conscious of working your injured or tight body part in a range where it can move without pain, you are creating mobility and allowing the blood to flow, thereby supporting your body’s healing process. 

When you demand that your body work through pain, you set up a fight between your brain and body. We get much better results when we see that our brain and body are on the same team, working for the common goal of pain-free activity, strength, and mobility. So rather than push through pain, work with your body, listen to its messages, and live and move well!

Originally published February 2023