Sometimes it takes getting out of your normal, everyday routine to see that maybe it’s that exact routine that’s causing your pain. Most people in my clinic haven’t had an injury. They haven’t been in a car accident or had a huge impact injury. Their pain has come on by a silly movement, overdoing an activity or a gradual accumulation of symptoms over time. We don’t want to admit that our daily habits are causing our pain; after all, daily habits are the hardest thing to change.

So sometimes it takes going on holiday to realise that your daily habits are, in fact, causing your pain.

Is it the way you carry your work bag?
Are you carrying too much to work?
Do you spend too much time hunched over the computer?
Do you wear the wrong shoes for your daily Bootcamp class?
Do you sit in the same scrunched position on the sofa every night?
Is your mattress/pillow completely worn out?
Are you giving yourself enough time to actual rest and relax?

Whatever the “habit” it for you, is it causing your pain? I hear from so many patients that their recurring back pain was ‘so much better’ whilst on holiday. Many people attribute this to the sun and just not being at work, but maybe it’s something more. Start looking at all the little things that make up your day and analysing what makes your pain better or worse. Then start trying to make little tweaks to allow your body to move in a better and more pain-free way!