Many people end up waiting weeks or even months for their pain to "go away on it's own". For some, this is a natural instinct and believe resting the body part that hurts will eventually cause their pain to go away. Sometimes this is even the advice that you've gotten from doctors. The issue is that this doesn't tackle the root cause of your pain. Until you do this, no amount of rest will help you be pain free during your favorite activities. Waiting can even make it more difficult to get pain-free in the long run.
There are two main reasons that waiting to get treatment is not the best option if you'd like to eventually enjoy a pain-free life again. The first reason is that resting is not a real solution to the problem your dealing with. If you want to be able to perform activities, you need an active solution. Postponing the start of treatment means that you spend all this extra and unnecessary time dealing with your pain. This is time that you could have been using to address the issue head on, which will allow you to return to your normal life much quicker.
Secondly, acute pain is much easier and quicker to treat than chronic pain. Acute pain means that it's a short amount of time since the pain started while chronic is the opposite. The more time we spend in pain, the more sensitized our brain and nervous system become. This means that less input is needed for them to perceive a threat and light up the pain signals. Positions and movements that are normal become difficult and irritating. We will need to spend more time convincing your body that these things shouldn't hurt and that's it's okay to let's it's guard down. This makes your recovery journey that much longer and difficult.
If you feel like spending more time in pain and having a longer recovery process, then resting is a perfect plan for you. If you want to get back to your normal life and the activities you love in the least amount of time, then I encourage you to face this challenge head on. Here at Rise Above PT, we are ready to walk you through every step of your recovery!