When people suffer musculoskeletal pain—that is, pain arising from muscles, ligaments, bones, or joints—they change the way they move. Sometimes these changes include completely avoiding certain movements, and sometimes they are more subtle.
Someone with knee pain might walk with a limp, for instance, whereas someone with hand pain might pick up an object differently. Someone with neck pain might refrain from turning their head to one side.
Our brains tell our bodies to move differently when we have pain. But there is growing evidence that changing the way we move might actually contribute to the development of pain that lasts for months or years.
Moving Differently
Whether changing the way you move when you have pain is helpful or harmful probably depends on how long you have been experiencing pain.
When pain is short-lived (minutes to hours), changes in the way we move are thought to protect us from further injury by restricting movement of the damaged part.
