Dooley Noted: 8/1/2015
A few mornings ago, I woke up with severe neck tension. I could not turn my neck.
Pain is something none of us really want. But what if we learn to accept it as an educator, we can learn quite a bit from it.
I had a heavy workout ahead of me. I was scheduled to deadlift and do a good amount of other compound movements.
At first, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to execute the tasks with the level of neck tension I carried.
But as I loaded the bar, I realized that shouldn’t be feeling neck tension anyway – if I was pulling the weight from the right places.
To my surprise and delight, I felt zero neck pain nor tension while executing heavy deadlifts.
I transitioned to things like push-ups, rows, and pull-ups.
Again, I was well-trained in technique and knew not to use my neck as a force generator.
Again, I felt zero neck pain nor tension during my exercises.
The only time I felt the neck tension at all was when I executed too much movement from my neck.
The cervical strain was an amazing gift.
It taught me not to use the neck for force generation, when I could be using other parts that have more strength and stability.
Today, just a few days later, I feel no neck tension at all. I gave my body an opportunity to move as a unit, and the neck tension released itself.
I hope you learn a lesson from your pain generators.
I hope you see pain as an effective educator in your movement picture.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley
