It's probably related to doing literally nothing.
this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2024
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Well now I feel personally attacked
And or being overweight. Took me awhile to figure out why people started talking about pains starting in their 30s.
Yup, I've started working out specifically so getting older sucks less.
It's truer than most realize.
Decided to start lifting at age 47 because I was depressed with work, expecting to be laid off, and needed something positive in my life. A few months in I realize my back no longer hurts while sleeping. I'm not waking up in the morning aching. Here I thought I was hurting just because I was getting old when the reality was I was hurting because I was weak. I was dealing with back pain for several years unnecessarily.
I can do nothing and suffer, or I can suffer a little under the bar and feel great. Either way I suffer but the latter suffering is so much better.
I'm convinced that a rather large portion of lower back pain is from atrophied hamstrings.
Same with me. It was the realization how shitty it would be getting old the way i was living. It's working out so far, me and the getting older part.
What still sucks when reaching a certain age, is how fast muscles just vanish, after a few days without working out. Like, if you get sick, you can't workout and after a week in bed, you'll probably still be weak from being sick and working out is a tee bit harder to get going again.
Getting really old, brings more time being sick and i wonder, when the final workout timeout doesn't let you exercise anymore and that's it.
This is a character inside everyone and it's like a level boss .... the more years pass, the bigger the pain level boss ... you can easily beat the early bosses but eventually they get harder and harder to fight until eventually the pain boss kills you.
Is this a thing even for people who get regular exercise?
Yes, everybody grows old.
I'm almost 50 and even with regular exercise ... things are still not easy. You have to maintain a certain level of activity and if you just get off one or two days, it will take you a week to jump back to the same level again. A year ago, I got excited and went running around with my little nieces and nephews for a game of lazer tag. I did shuttle running without thinking for about an hour. I thought I did great, everyone thought I was in great shape and an athlete ... I felt like I was 18 again. I couldn't move out of bed the next morning and my muscles cramped up for two or three days after ... it took me a couple of weeks to get back to normal. Enjoy what you have ... the end, beginning of the end or the ending is closer than you think.
Pain science is real weird.
This is a bit reductive, but one of the theories of pain is that it's entirely neurological, essentially meaning that pain doesn't actually correlate to physical harm to the body meaningfully. The other thing this means is that we tend to build these neural pathways the more we pay attention and hyper focus on any given body part. Compounding on this: the less outside stimulus, the more likely it is that we will have the ability to focus on the minutia of our internal processes in the first place.
Again, this is somewhat reductive as a measure of explaining pain, but it is probably partially correct.
Except it does correlate meaningfully, don't believe me? Break your index finger, does it hurt? No shit.
That's not to say the nervous system can't create pain that has no source, the entire condition of fibromyalgia is evidence of that possibility, but to say they aren't meaningfully correlated is insane.
Most people who have pain unrelated to medical diagnosis in their 30's and 40's are fat as hell, eat like crap, and get no exercise, and are constantly dehydrated. That's why they hurt so damn much.
I wonder if complete sedentary lifestyles correlate with inflammation, stress on joints, and overall negative health outcomes?
Hmmm... If only there were studies on such a thing.
Fibromyalgia sufferers here be like:
First time?
Ah yes, fibromyalgia
Yeah, as someone who has it, it's so fun
Same. Best thing that ever happened to me.
Wait,
no,
not that
I did some deadlifts over the weekend. My body won't let me forget what I did every time I do anything.
Look I don't get your point? Every day is leg day
literall--
downvote
That image is racist
How? Unless you are joking.
Y?