Episode #80: How to ease back into movement when you’re in pain (using 2 of my favourite analogies)
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In this educational episode, Rhonda shares two of her favourite analogies: motion is lotion and the farm field analogy, to help you ease back into movement when you’re dealing with pain.
This episode is packed with practical, compassionate strategies for navigating symptoms without pushing through pain. Rhonda breaks movement into three approachable phases, showing you how to respect your body’s limits, expand your “movement farm field,” and gradually rebuild strength. All while reminding you that healing isn’t linear and small steps really do add up.
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🔗 Links & Resources Mentioned:
Episode #62: How do I know if I’m getting better if I still have pain?
Group Physiotherapy Classes – class information and waitlist
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📝 Episode Talking Points:
Life + business updates (summer camping, fall routine, new classes)
Why fall feels like the best season for structure and balance
Analogy 1: Motion is lotion – three phases of movement
Phase 1: Gentle motion is lotion
Phase 2: Variety of motion is lotion
Phase 3: Progressively loaded motion is lotion
Analogy 2: Farm field analogy for nervous system + movement
Using pain as your guide (safe zone: 3/10 or less)
Tools for each phase (e.g. Z-lying, gentle mobility, band + dumbbell work)
Healing is a rollercoaster – why basics always matter
Encouragement that small nudges expand your movement “farm field” over time
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Episode #80: How to ease back into movement when you’re in pain (using 2 of my favourite analogies)
Welcome to Pelvic Health and Fitness, a podcast for moms who want real honest conversations about their body, their health movement, and everything in between. I'm Rhonda Chamberlain, orthopedic physiotherapist, pre postnatal fitness coach, and mom of two. I'm here to share practical tips, informed insights, and the kind of support I wish more women had access to.
Whether you're navigating pregnancy, postpartum recovery, perimenopause, menopause, returning to exercise, or just trying to stay strong through the chaos of everyday life, this space is for you. We'll talk pelvic health, fitness, and the emotional ups and downs of motherhood with zero focus on weight loss, and a strong focus on realistic sustainable movement that fits into your real life.
No, all or nothing mindset. No gimmicks, no quick fix. Is no bs. Just small, consistent steps that support your long-term health. A quick reminder, this podcast is for education and general information only. It's not medical advice, so please be sure to connect with your healthcare provider if you have specific concerns.
I'm so glad you're here. Let's do this.
Hey friends, and welcome back to another episode of the Pelvic Health and Fitness podcast. Today I'm excited to walk you through how I help my clients ease back into movement when you are in pain, and I'm going to be talking about this featuring two of my favorite analogies.
The one is motion is lotion, and the other one is a farm field analogy, which I'll get into later in the episode. First, just wanted to start out with a couple life updates. So if you're listening to this when it drops live, it is the beginning of September. Um, I don't know how that's possible. I don't know about you all, but the summer definitely flew by.
I know it's cliche to say, but life really is moving so quickly now that I have kids. Um, August has been amazing and so much fun. We, I think I've shared before on the podcast that we have a trailer that we've been using quite a bit this summer. Um, we've gone, um, when this drops, I think we'll be on. Our fourth trip, um, with the trailer of the summer, which has been amazing.
The kids have been loving it. It's been such a great summer and definitely serves as a, as a reminder for me, um, why I've created my business and why I've structured my life in the way that I do. Definitely pros and cons with owning a business and being self-employed because when I take time off, I don't get paid.
But I so am so grateful and so thankful for the flexibility to spend lots of time with my family this summer and understanding that it's not all about the money we make. And I know that's a very privileged thing to say, um, but truly just trying to find that life balance for myself and. It's been a really great summer.
Um, and I don't know about you all, but always around this time of year, I'm actually really excited to get back to the routine of the fall. Fall. I'm starting to think is my favorite season. I always said it was like a close second of summer, but I think I love the fall the most. Love the colors, love the trees, changing.
Probably a sign that I'm getting older that. I have so many pictures of the trees and the leaves changing in the fall. Looking forward to that and also, again, need that structure, that routine. I definitely thrive on that. And I will say, um, as I'm recording this today, I'm going to be taking some pauses, which you won't notice on your end.
Um, but my breathing is definitely a little off, which if you heard my sort of comeback episode, um, talking about the health concerns that I've been dealing with with my trachea, um, definitely feel like it's coming back a bit, but. I know how to deal with it, and I will pause and, um, make adjustments to the podcast as needed, as I catch my breath.
As for a business update for you all, I am excited for the fall for my business as well. I am loving being a practitioner at Encompass Health and Wellness in Kitchener. It's been such a good shift for me to be back in person again and. Seeing people there, helping them ease back into fitness in person has been amazing.
And I have created two classes there, um, group physiotherapy classes that I'm super excited about. I already did one session of ease into fitness. Um, back in the spring, and that's going to be returning in the fall. Um, and I'm also going to be adding a, I'm gonna call it Strong for Life Class, which is a continuation class to help continue to build strength, um, in a realistic, sustainable way.
Weekly at Encompass and that will also be billed as physiotherapy. So I'm not gonna get too much into detail about that. But if you are someone who is newly postpartum, three months-ish postpartum, definitely check out ease into fitness if you are sort of in the six month post postpartum range. The Strong for Life class will likely be a good fit for you.
Um, but what I'll do is I'm gonna link the website below, um, signups for both of those classes are live Now, um, when this podcast releases, I'm not sure if they'll be full already, but either way you can get your name on the wait list if, um, they are full for a future class. So definitely check that out.
Alright, so let's get into our episode today. So, like I said, I'm going to be talking about two analogies that are going to help you if you are someone that's dealing with pain. Help give you a bit of a structure, a framework to help you ease back into movement. Because movement is the ultimate goal. That is what's going to help you heal.
So the first, um, analogy that I love to talk about is motion is lot. Motion is lotion, but what that actually means changes depending on where you're at in your healing journey. So how I've sort of edited it. Is sort of three different phases. Phase one, when you're dealing with pain or symptoms, I like to say gentle motion is lotion.
As you're starting to feel better. In phase two, a variety of motion is lotion, and then phase three. When your pain and symptoms are well managed, progressively loaded motion is lotion. So we're gonna get into each of those phases today. I'll also link, I did an Instagram post, um, about this that I'll link to so you can kind of go through that.
And then the second analogy is an analogy I actually learned from one of my mentors, Anthony Lowe. And we talk about him on the podcast a lot, Dan and I did. So I will also link his episode, um, episode 23, called Do something Different where you can kind of listen to his advice and his approach to postpartum and prenatal fitness.
Um, so the analogy that I learned from him is a farm field analogy, and this analogy really helps us to understand. How our nervous system adapts to movement over time. So let's get into it. Alright, so I have broken this into three phases and I'll just start out by saying that. These are not definitive phases where I can say, you know, phase one is this amount of time or this amount of time.
Um, just sort of a way to organize how I'm talking about this to you all. So phase one, when you're in the thick of pain or symptoms, I like to say that gentle motion is lotion. So, for the purposes of simplifying this talk today. I'm gonna use back pain as my example. Back pain is definitely something I treat a lot of.
Probably the most common one I would say that I help people with, and I feel like it's just the easiest to apply to these concepts. So when you're in sort of phase one in the thick of pain and symptoms in this stage, your nervous system is on high alert. So our nervous system is designed, designed to keep us safe.
So when we're dealing with pain, it goes into sort of like a protective mode and it's nervous, worried that all movement will hurt. So in this phase, the goal isn't to push through pain or say no pain is no gain. That is just not true or helpful when it comes to rehabbing pain or at all. I would say in my world at least, um, the goal in this phase is to help our nervous system, which includes our brain and our body to understand that safe movement exists.
So I like to use, um, a safe zone. I think I, I learned about this concept at some point from somewhere. If you know of this concept, um, shout out to, or give me a heads up as to who started it, um, so I can give them credit. But the safe zone I like to use personally that I think works really well is using the, um, pain scale from zero to 10.
And anything three out of 10 or less, I consider sort of your body's safe zone. So anything in that range, um, your body might be giving you little whispers or little. You know, slight, um, communication that it doesn't feel a hundred percent, but it's in sort of that safe zone that you're okay to keep doing that movement.
When that pain or symptom starts to creep up to four, outta 10 or more, in my opinion, that is your body's way of telling you that it might not either be quite ready for that movement that you're doing or maybe for that intensity. So sometimes that's a good indication to. Either change how you're doing that thing or change it to something else.
So I want to tell you all to use pain as your guide during movement, and also track it after. So if you're doing a movement session and your pain is present, four outta 10 or more in that session. Again, definitely change it up. Maybe modify what you're doing if you do your session and it was pain-free during or minimal pain, but pain lingers or starts to show up that night, or especially if it lingers into the next day.
That could also be an indication that you push beyond your body's limit or what it felt safe currently to do. I will say nuance to this because it could also be if you have soreness the next day. It could also be an indication of DOMS or delayed onset muscle soreness, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
We, I personally don't like to push my clients to the point where they're so sore that they can't take care of their kids the next day. However, some. Amount of muscle soreness might be quote unquote normal when you're starting to push your body to do things that maybe it hasn't done in a while or it hasn't done before.
So this is where working one-on-one with a physiotherapist like myself might help you to sort of like workshop through these things when you're dealing with soreness. So yes, there's nuance to this conversation. Okay, so when you're in this phase one of feeling symptomatic, so again, let's use back pain as that example, your back is pretty sore.
As a general rule of thumb, try to add movements into your life that keep pain and symptoms. Two, three outta 10 or less. So in this phase, some examples might be, first one is my favorite, um, z lying plus relaxation and breathing. I'm going to put a link to this. Um, I did a post, uh, Instagram reel about this, um, that I will link.
Think of Zed Lying. Basically Zed lying is you're gonna lay on your back on the ground. With your legs up on the couch or an ottoman somewhere where you can basically take the effect of gravity. Off your back. So just gives you that nice, supportive position so that your body can feel safe to relax and think of this as a quote unquote reset button when you are in pain.
So even if it's three outta 10 or less, or obviously more. This position is so great to think about, again, pushing that reset button to get that pain down. The goal with this position is to get the pain as close to zero as possible. Zed line is typically my first go-to. You can also modify this, um, if it feels okay, but still a little bit sore in this position, try adding a pillow and then maybe two pillows under your hips.
Um, to see if that helps bring the pain even closer to zero. You don't have to stay here for long. The goal when you're in this position is just to do some nice relaxation breathing. Think you know in through your nose for four, out through your mouth for eight. Um, talk to you through that on the last episode if you heard it.
Um, you could also use a body scan meditation. Um, I will link my five minute body scan meditation, um, in the show notes below. Basically just something to help you relax and release tension in that position. With the ultimate goal of bringing your pain down to zero pain. Um, and then you can use this position multiple times throughout the day as needed if you can.
I know everyone's life is set up in a different way, but use this, you know, three, four or five times a day, one to two minutes at a time type thing. To push that reset button multiple times. Some other examples of gentle motion is lotion. In this example would be gentle mobility, lying on the ground. So things like figure four.
So laying on your back, figure four position, knees to chest, laying on your back, just doing a nice gentle rock side to side. Um, a hamstring stretch if that feels okay. Can be a little tricky if you're dealing with some symptoms traveling down your leg with your back pain. Child's pose is often a really good one.
Some gentle cat cows. Um, you can also try to add some gentle movements on the floor, like some glute bridges, some side bridges. For dogs hip hinge or like a kneeling squat, and maybe even just trying to go for a short walk and just seeing how your body and back pain respond to that. Okay, so here's where the farm field analogy comes in.
So when you're in pain, your, let's picture a farmhouse, and then around that farmhouse is a fence and a field when you're in pain, your farm field of movement is really small, so that fence is really close to the farmhouse. Think of it as almost like touching the farmhouse. So your nervous system has sort of set that small area up to keep you safe If you play, if you stay in this zone and you stay completely still because you're afraid of movement, that field obviously doesn't expand.
It stays small. But if you start to gradually do gentle, safe movements. Think of it as you're slowly nudging against that fence without breaking through it. So breaking through it would be forcing yourself to do something, even if it hurts. So think of these nice, gentle movements. As a slow, gentle nudge against the fence, and slowly but surely that's going to expand your farm field of movement.
As your nervous system adapts to these new, new movements, the pain signal quiets down and the result is that you're able to do more movement with less to ideally no pain. Okay, so that was phase one, phase two. As your symptoms start to settle, the term, I like to say, or the analogy I like to say, is a variety of motion is lotion.
So in this phase, pain is maybe less often. Less intense, maybe doesn't last as long, or you're finding that you're able to do more things, more movements without pain. I'm going to link an episode, um, that relates to this episode number 62, which I talk about. How do I know if I'm getting better, if I still have pain, many ways to sort of track your recovery.
Um, outside of just feeling the pain, so check that out too, to help you sort of like, understand this concept a bit more. So in this phase two, um, as your symptoms start to settle, this is where you can begin to expand your, your movement farm field even more so in this phase, variety is so important because it helps your nervous system learn.
That different motions like twisting, bending, reaching, can also be safe. And we live in a world, especially if you're a mom, that you are already moving in all kinds of different ways and sometimes awkward ways. So we want to be able to re retrain your body. To do those movements without pain or fear. So in this phase, you're continuing to remind yourself and your nervous system, your brain and body, that safe movement exists in multiple forms.
So a reminder in this phase and forever, um, healing is not linear. Healing is more like a rollercoaster. So there's always going to be ups and downs. So I always say to my clients, never forget the basics. So it's great to have some of these basics in your toolbox for when, um, not if, because symptoms are always gonna come and go in our life.
Um, you'll have these tools in your toolbox to help you navigate pain. When it comes back again. So some examples in this phase two, um, might include continuing to use deadline and gentle stretching if your pain is three outta 10 or more. So again, in the grand scheme, if you're starting to feel overall better.
But you're still having little blips of pain. Keep using the Zed lying as needed. Maybe you won't have to do it as often, but keep doing it and always remember Zed lying. If pain does arise again, maybe you're going to try to add different stretches, adding in maybe, for example, some rotation movements like thread the needle, maybe some T-spine rotations laying on your back or in a kneeling position.
Um, increasing your range of motion with some of the other stretches that you were already doing. If it feels okay in this phase, you might also consider adding some body weight or no dumbbell movements like squats, good mornings, lunges, incline pushups on a countertop or a favorite of mine. Step ups.
Maybe try some planks, see how they feel. I always say to clients, pick two to three movements for maybe two to three rounds. And see how your body responds during that night and the next morning to see if you are living in that sort of safe zone, but gently nudging the fence. So we want to gently challenge ourself because again, we don't wanna live in that tiny farm field forever.
So gentle nudges against the fence without breaking through. Um, you might also in this phase, consider going for a longer walk or maybe a slightly faster pace. Okay. So back to the farm field analogy. In this phase two, every time you introduce a new pain-free movement, you gently nudge those fences outward without breaking through.
Your field gets bigger and your nervous system becomes less fearful of movement. All right, so let's move on to phase three. So when your pain and symptoms start to be pretty well managed, the analogy is progressively loaded. Motion is lotion. So this is the fun. I would say for me, the fun strength building stage.
So in this stage, you're going to slowly add resistance in a gradual, progressive way, and this reassures your nervous system. That you can do even more. And it's building your tissues, resiliency and capacity to handle more challenging tasks. So in this phase, some examples might include always continuing to use that z lying and gentle stretching if your pain starts to creep up to three, outta 10 or more.
So I would say to clients in this phase, if you can book end your session. With some Z lying. So if say, you know, you're overall feeling much better, but you wake up and your back's a little bit sore, maybe it's like a three outta 10, but you know, you wanna do some movement, start with Z lying. Hit that reset button before you start your workout.
See if it gets it down to less than three, and then carry on. And then if as the workout goes on, you're like, oh, it's not painful, but I feel like my back is kind of talking to me a bit by the end. Finish your workout with that Z line position again, bookend with that position to hit that reset button one more time.
Sometimes that helps you get through your rest the rest of your day without pain. In this phase, you can start to consider doing more functional tasks around the house, so starting to lift things like your laundry basket. Carry groceries, playing with your kids a little bit more, maybe lifting them up more often if you were nervous to do that.
Maybe going for bike rides with them if they're a bit older. Um, in this phase, you can also start to consider adding resistance in the form of bands. So I love using circle bands. So the band that can go like around your knees. To do things like glute bridges, squats, um, monster walk, which is basically like side to side stepping with the band.
Or you can use a long theraband for upper body things like a pull apart. So just pulling the band apart to squeeze those shoulder blades together. Um, overhead pulls, so attaching the band to your foot, pulling it overhead to get some upper body strength. Using Vans is such a nice, accessible, accessible way to start easing into resistance training.
The next thing you could do is slowly add load in the form of dumbbells. I love dumbbells because they're so accessible, um, and you can do so much with them. So adding dumbbells to the functional movements we talked about earlier. So things like squats, lunges, step ups, deadlifts, um, you can add overhead presses, dumbbell rows, um, dumbbell floor presses, or a bench press if you have a bench, that type of thing.
And then in this phase, the goal is to gradually increase the weights over time and then adding new and different movements. So maybe eventually getting into things like some single leg exercises, single leg deadlifts, single leg sit to stands, lateral step-ups, that type of thing. And then also beginning to add some impact type movements.
Um, because in life we might need some impact. So things like the dreaded burpee. I don't get my clients doing a lot of burpees, but honestly, the fact that it teaches you and keeps you doing the skill of getting to the floor and getting back up, it's, it's needed because if you don't use that skill, you lose it.
Um, so bures mini hops, so just jumping in place, maybe some jumping jacks, um, things like that to start to see how your body responds to that. And then maybe in this phase, if you enjoy it, you could start to add either a gentle jog instead of walking or maybe a run walk combo, if that feels good for you, or if you prefer to keep walking, maybe a longer walk or at a faster pace.
So to bring it back to the farm field for this phase three, at this point, your farm field, think of it as wide and open, and by progressively loading movements in that wide open farm field. You're making the movements in that farm field more durable, more adaptable, more resilient, and you're helping your body to feel ready to handle all the unexpected things that life throws your way.
Alright, so that, those are the three phases to easing back into movement when you're dealing with pain. I hope that helped you conceptualize what it looks like to ease back into movement. Um, so let's go over some key principles to remember. So no matter what stage you're in, these are some guiding reminders.
Number one, keep moving. Even if you're dealing with pain and symptoms. Motion really is lotion. The longer I work as a physio, the more I see this, but try to use these edits. So when you're dealing with pain or symptoms, gentle motion is lotion. As you're starting to feel better, a variety of motion is lotion when your pain and symptoms are well managed and feeling better.
Progressively loaded motion is lotion. Number two, a great skill is learning to listen to your body and not only listen to your body, but actually respect and follow what it's telling you by modifying your movements as needed and using pain as your guide. So using pain as your guide during movement that night and into the next day.
And the goal is to aim for roughly three out of 10, pain or less as often as possible. Number four is slowly, gradually start to nudge against those limits, nudge against the fences instead of smashing through them. Take it slow. And then number four, reminder. Um, over time, those small, those small nudges really do add up.
So before you know it, that movement field expands and you'll find yourself doing things you never thought possible. And I see this time and time again, and truly it's the most rewarding part of being a physio when clients come to me, not being able to do. Much. And then within, and I will say again, these phases aren't time specific, but I see this happen within like two, three sessions.
So it's not like it takes months. Sometimes it takes days, weeks, um, and I see these drastic changes, so super cool. And um, like I said, if you need guidance with this, definitely reach out to myself or another physiotherapist. To help you get through these phases with support, it is, can be challenging to do alone.
So definitely reach out if you have the means. All right, so to wrap everything up, whether you, your farm field of movement feels small and fenced in right now, or you're working on making your farm field of movement strong and wide open. Trust that every little boot, every little bit of movement counts and matters.
You are teaching your nervous system, that movement is safe, and that's one of the most powerful things you can do for your long-term health. Alright, friends, that is it for today. A little bit of a longer episode. So thank you for sticking around and bearing with me. I really do hope that these concepts help you navigate pain and easing back into movement.
Let's keep moving. Talk to you soon.
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