The Importance of Being Aware

A friend of mine has been complaining about hip and sciatic pain to me for a few weeks. He consistently complains about his leg and hip pain, but when I ask him questions about what makes it worse or better, he cannot give me a straight answer.

Another friend complains that her stomach is always bloated, gassy or painful, but refuses to admit that the food she is putting into her body is affecting the way she feels.

These are only two examples of the complaints that I hear every day. Although it’s easy to complain about symptoms, the difficulty comes when you have to be aware and pay attention to what is causing your pain. The pain message is critically important, as it is a symptom that tells us something is wrong. But it’s often misinterpreted.

Do you cross your legs when you sit? Which leg do you apply more pressure on when you’re standing for a long period of time? When you’re squatting in the gym, is your head in line with your spine, do you have an neutral pelvic tilt, are you pressing equally through your heel and big toe? When doing a ‘pull’ exercise, are you keeping your shoulders down (away from the ears) and back so that your upper traps don’t take over your ‘pull’ and exacerbate any neck pain or headaches? Did that salad you ate at lunch contain gluten or dairy? If it didn’t, what else was in it that has caused stomach pain in the past?

Do you even know WHERE your pain in coming from, WHEN it feels better or worse, or HOW to fix it?