The Over and Under Activity Cycle

Let's try a little scenario and see if you recognise it.

You wake up one day and you pain is not too bad for a change.

So what do you do? After all, there are so many things you have been wanting to do, so many chores, so many people to please or treat, so much to achieve. And now you can do it!

So you happily get going, delighted you can really get something valuable done for a change. But that's not how it goes.

As you push on with your chores or chosen activities, your pain worsens. At some point it becomes severe enough to stop you in your tracks. So you stop your activity and rest.

Unfortunately that is not how it ends. The pain continues to worsen until you find yourself very restricted and are forced to continue to rest. And the next day. And the next day if you are unlucky. All those wasted days and you are back to square one!

This is the over/underactivity cycle, a typical behaviour that many, many people fall into as they struggle with chronic pain. But there is something you can do about it. It is called Pacing.

Typical Pain Behaviours

Pain sufferers tend to fall into two major groups:

One avoids activities because of pain problems, choosing to rest to relieve the pain.

The other pushes to get things done and suffers significant pain afterwards.

Many people combine aspects of both behaviours in their lives.

Pacing is one of the most useful skills to learn if you have pain. Many people with pain tell us this. It's not easy but it works! Try it.

Typical Over/underactivity Scenarios

Helen has chronic low back pain.
She wakes up one morning and notices that her back pain, usually bad in the mornings, is much better than usual. "Great", she thinks, "now I can get all the things done that have been building up, and I can cook the family a good dinner as I have not done that for so long."

She spends the morning cleaning the house, getting the shopping and starting to prepare the dinner. As the afternoon goes on she notices her back pain becoming worse but continues so she can get done all the things she has planned.

By the evening her back pain is so bad she is forced to stop all activities and lie down. The pain is much more severe for the next few days and Helen is unable to do anything useful
Michael has chronic low back pain.
Since his injury at work he has found that almost all activities and postures give him pain. He is only comfortable lying down in bed at night and on the sofa in the day.

Overall he does very little and admits he is very unfit and has gained weight. When he does do something he is so unused to it that it's very easy for him to overdo it and be much worse after. This puts him off trying to be more active or doing any exercise

Both these imaginary people are doing completely normal things and trying their best to cope with chronic low back pain. Helen particularly tends to overdo things while Michael tends to avoid activities and rest. Both these strategies are unhelpful and in the long term counterproductive, leading to increased disability with time.

Problems With Unhelpful Pain Behaviours

Several problems occur with these types of very common behaviour. Scientific work shows that rest is not a treatment for back pain and may be a factor in ensuring a worse outcome in the long term.

People who avoid activities may have a series of problems:

Loss of confidence in their ability to do these activities
Decreased strength and fitness from underuse of their body
Loss of role at work or at home as they do not do the activities expected of them
Depression/sleeping problems
Overdoing when they do try an activity, as they are unfit.

People who overdo activities face other kinds of problems:

Pain is much worse after, forcing them to rest for a time
The extra pain puts them off trying the activity again, leading to avoidance
The amount they can do gets less with time, and the enforced rest periods become longer before the pain settles to a level where they can be active again

How Would You Like To Control Your Pain And Reclaim Your Life?

Get the “Secrets of Pacing” today!

How will you feel when you can do the things you want to again? When you have regained control over your own body and can plan your life the way you decide? The “Secrets of Pacing” can show you how!