Activity management and pain management kind of go hand in hand because, often when you are not fully healthy or indeed, you are experiencing any type of long term health issue, you will be needing to learn how to manage your new level of body ability. I’ve learned the hard way that forcing things and being so optimistic that I want to believe it is all mind over matter, just ends up in a crash and pushes long term recovery further off the mark. Everyone has to come to know their own limits and thresholds.

When Claire, my awesome Occupational Health Therapist, first described the boom and bust cycle of overdoing and crashing, I had an “aha!” moment. It was like being described my whole previous attitude to going about life. It’s taken me a long time to try and change my pattern of binging on lots of amounts of “doing”, before my body stops me. It’s been liberating to go at an appropriate pace, being present in my body as I go, rather than being fueled by my mind. I am still working on this, but I give myself credit because it’s thirty odd years of mental rewiring!

If you’ re now learning this new approach for a health reason, the new skill of “present moment, prioritising, planning and pacing”, could become a reward new lesson. Go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back for even attempting to go against your familiar conditioning! 

These two websites have a huge amount of helpful information about the three, or even the four P’s, so rather than spend too much time spilling my own limited knowledge about the P statergy, I shall let those who know more explain it to you. Here’s to curbing the boom and bust or crash and burn!

Click to access Pain%20and%20The%20Three%20P’s.pdf

http://www.movingintobalance.co.uk/the-4-ps/?doing_wp_cron=1439478291.5546131134033203125000