How do you deal with pain? - Personal Trainer Community - Forum

[ChargedAnimal]

Hello Everyone,

I really need help. I have been training people for about 3 months now. I have a few clients.

I have 3 overweight clients which I train in a group. They are always complaining of some type of pain. As soon as I meet with them they start complaining of having tight painful backs, necks, and shoulders.

This happens before we even start working out. It is getting to the point that I can not move ahead with their weight loss goals because they complain even after the warm up and stretches. I always make sure to ask if they are good to keep going and they always say yes. Their posture and everything else is on point.

They have been my clients for 2 months now but this is limiting my their success and I do not know what to do? I have been 100lbs overweight myself so I do understand some of the pains they are feeling.

I do not know if it is my training or are they just complainers? Has anyone had experience with very overweight people? also how do you deal when a client complain of pain before the start of a session?

I appreaciate the help.

Thank you!

[rs1983]

Most over weight people are going to have chronic pain, it comes from the extra weight they are carrying. I would imagine that their pain is Joint and Low back pain. This is often what keeps them form staying with a program. This is also a sign that they are not doing their exercises on their own. They should be doing at least 30 to 60 min a day of some level of activity, as-well-as moderate to deep stretching every day, This means that they have to have a large level of commitment to their goals, in the end they're the ones who are doing the work, we can only show them the way.

Here are a few suggestions:
One- go slow; this means slightly longer warm ups and cool downs. If you normally do a 5min warm up then do a 10min or 15min warm up. The same goes for their cool downs, have them walk for 5 min at the end and use some active assisted stretching. This will help with joint and muscle stiffness.

Two- do exercises that improve joint strength, stability, and rom. I.E. rotator cuff exercises like Internal and External rotation . Also use hip girdle exercises like abd, adduction. Low Back exercises like prone on elbows and TAC contractions should also help.

Three- refer to a specialist, if their pain is moderate to server at rest, and some of the other suggestions don't work, this could be a sign of a medical problem. Suggest that they see a doctor or a physical therapist.

I hope this can help you out, let me know if it does, good luck.

[kyates00]

I agree with Roger about overweight people having low back and joint issues. Another thing to understand is that due to the excessive weight they've been carrying all this time (and perhaps all their lives) they are most likely very de-conditioned.

Another thing to consider is that the excess weight contributes to misalignment and muscular imbalances.

As a result, they develop compensatory strategies during movements which reduces the effectiveness of the exercises they perform.

In other words, you could design the best program on the planet for them, but if they aren't engaging the right muscles their results will be limited.

For example, if they do squats they'll probably feel the exercise mostly in their quadriceps and lower back which is a compensation strategy for weak core muscles of the abs and hips and increases stress to the knees and lower back.

By compensating with the quads and low back muscles they are limited in how much energy is expended during the exercise because those muscles aren't designed to do the brunt of the work, they do not burn many calories and the client will fatigue quickly.

So, overall they burn fewer calories, become fatigued quickly and experience muscle tightness and pain.

There are a number of other ways muscular imbalances can limit results of an exercise program.

So, if you watch how they move you can identify certain imbalances and by correcting those imbalances you can progress their workouts more consistently.

I hope this helps,

Kevin Yates

[Joe Cannon MS CSCS]

while its possible that they are complainers pain should be investigated.
have you asked them if the pain has been worse since they have been working out. extra weight does stress the joins a lot. for example every step places a load equal to about 3x body weight on the knees. if they are running its more. do they have arthritis? this can be exacerbated from exercise thats too much for them.
did you have them complete a health history form prior to exercise? this can give you ideas as to what to do/not do in them./

Ask them how much the pain hurts on a scale from 0-10 0= nothing . 10 = really bad).

Joe