As Pilates
instructors, addressing a client's questions regarding a sensation they
are feeling in their body presents a challenge -- and a dilemma.
Sometimes, a muscle is working, which is "good pain," but other times,
pain is not at all good. So how do we answer?
We would love to be able to enter our clients' bodies for that instant to evaluate whether the pain is good or bad, but alas, we can not! Thus it is important for Pilates practitioners to learn to distinguish good pain from bad pain.
If
you are sitting down reading this, contract your gluteus maximus
muscles (the ones you are sitting on) and hold the contraction until
you start to feel the muscles tiring. (If you have an injury in your
low back, sacrum or hips, please do not do this.) This is typically
considered "good pain," as it is the sensation you get from a muscle
working. It is often referred to as "muscle burn."
For
a relatively safe example of bad pain, take your ring finger and gently
pull it back towards your wrist until you experience discomfort. In
most cases, because this joint does not have a lot of flexibility, you
quickly feel discomfort and know instinctively that you should stop.
The difficulty in discerning the good pain from the bad pain in Pilates
arises from practitioners experiencing bad pain and thinking it is good
pain. They don't want to give up or complain, so they continue
exercising. One of the most common examples of this is neck pain in a
Pilates session. Because many Pilates exercises require you to lift
your head off the mat, the muscles in your neck must engage as well as
the abdominal muscles. Many clients experience muscle fatigue in their necks quickly, and if they do not rest, this can turn into muscle strain.
Learning
for yourself what is good pain and bad pain in your body is very
important. Feeling your muscles working is normal, but feeling
discomfort is not! If you have trouble distinguishing between the two,
please discuss this with your Pilates instructor. Also, following a
workout, delayed onsent muscle soreness is normal, so feeling sore the next day is not a cause for alarm.
Those of you at home doing workout videos, be careful about turning your head to watch the television while exercising! This is a recipe for neck pain!