What comes first, "Pain" or "Weakness"?

Trillions of dollars are spent annually on pain. There is a high probability that you have personally helped finance the global pain machine. 

Pain is considered to be multifactorial. In my opinion, the new Biopsychosocial model has created more rabbit holes in the world of pain science than I care to mention. It has complicated the conversation and left people scratching their heads and blindly chasing their tails for a solution. 

Hopefully, this will help simplify the conversation as a global leader in isometric strength training. I have witnessed firsthand the powers of isometric strength training on pain-related issues. Dozens of studies have indicated that isometric exercise produces an analgesic effect, causing a near-immediate resolution in pain.  

For decades, isometric exercise has been the primary choice in post-operative and injury-based rehabilitation programs led by allied health professionals.

Unfortunately, these known benefits of Isometric strength training have not been widely adopted by the world of physical fitness, and they continue to be an afterthought.   

Several studies have indicated that poor isometric strength is directly associated with higher muscle and joint pain levels. 

Here are the conclusions from two them.

“Chronic pain is significantly related to a reduction of muscle strength of 20–30% in the painful limb. A significant relation between pain intensity and reduced isometric muscle strength was found for most muscle groups.” (1)

“The current study has shown that women with chronic neck pain have lower neck muscle strength in extension than the healthy female group. Peak isometric neck strength values were statistically significantly reduced in the women with chronic neck pain compared with female healthy controls.” (2)

Whether you're an athlete or office worker, you need to prepare your body to tolerate the forces associated with your daily activity. You need to increase your muscles' isometric tension (tone) to hold your structure together. 

As an example, imagine if the bolts on your car became loose. How would this affect its performance? 

Isometric strength and stability are vital to optimize human performance. Without it, your body's systems become compromised and function at less than optimal levels. When the body is less than optimal, your internal warning system jumps into high gear and ramps up the pain signals people experience. We often forget that the pain signal is here to let us know that there is a problem. Fundamentally speaking, at first, the pain signal is not the actual problem. It's the messenger saying, "Houston, we have a problem." However, if you ignore the issue, that pain signal can become a chronic problem. 

If your goal is pain prevention or resolution, resolving isometric muscle “weakness” is paramount to pain-free living. 

Order your Isophit M.S.K today and let us help you resolve your isometric muscle weakness. 

* Huge shoutout to Isophit family member EJ Parris for the photo. Make sure you follow EJ on Instagram at coachpow_

Citations