Traffic Lights, Tendons, & Pain

What’s the correlation here? It’s a pain to wait at traffic lights??

Well yes, AND…

Using the “traffic light” system is a way to acknowledge pain, but also monitor your pain and adjust your plan for MOVEMENT.

GREEN: 0-3/10 pain rating. Minor increase in symptoms, if at all. You are OK to continue the activity and increase load!

YELLOW: 4-7/10 pain rating. Mild increase in symptoms, but you can move without compensation. Acknowledge the pain and also allow for recovery (ex mobility, compression).

RED: 8-10/10 pain rating. Stop activity at this pain level. This pain level indicates rest for 12-24 hours, but then begin MOVEMENT again.

Now, most of the time I ask folks to rate their pain at the beginning of the day, or 24 hours after the activity that they performed. If pain is > 4 points above baseline (ie normal pain is 2/10, pain overnight rose to a 6/10) then we would need to change the intensity and/or volume of exercise for that day. But that doesn’t necessarily mean rest!!! It means MODIFIED ACTIVITY. Totally different :)

What this allows for is to perform activity with some pain. Usually folks think or are told not to perform a certain activity until there is NO pain. This allows for a bandwidth of discomfort that is not changing the way the person is moving, but allows them TO move in efforts to continue to make progress towards their goals.