Compromised activity performance with pain Part 1 - understanding what leads to poor performance.

From my observations, people in pain tend to gradually cut down on their physical activity. As a result, they would also start to reduce the amount of everyday activities they do, as well as cut down on the quality of the activity. For instance, the hypothetical client in the activity log post, by the time she gets back from grocery shopping with a pain level of 9 - she would be rushing to get home as soon as possible. This could compromise the qualify of performance in the following activities: driving (to get home), and putting the groceries away, even getting from the vehicle to the house.

What leads to poor performance when in pain?

1. Fatigue and physical exhaustion

Pain can be very physically taxing and energy zapping, particularly if the client doesn't know how to manage their bodies in a certain manner. In the example of the hypothetical client above, fatigue and exhaustion can affect her in the following ways:

a) safety when driving - losing control of the car and putting herself and other road users in danger
b) at risk of dropping groceries when getting them from vehicle to house or when putting the groceries away
c) at risk of falling when moving groceries from vehicle to house or when putting them away

2. Frustration and clouded judgement

Frustration creeps up very easily when experiencing pain. Pain can easily distract on our focus from a task at hand, and if we are trying to perform the task while addressing the pain at the same time, this could easily result in:

a) missed turns
b) not noticing the movements of other vehicles around us
c) not noticing what's happening to the car (this actually happens to my clients - they didn't realise that the car had overheated or that the car was running low on fuel)

As a result they end up stranded in an emergency situation that is very difficult to deal with because of pain + physical exhaustion + frustration from the buildup of all the errors that could have possibly happened. This is very real and has happened to my clients before, resulting in falls and subsequently escalated pain that puts them in bed for a few days in order to be able to recover, resulting in what could be perceived as "wasted" time and "wasted" money (if treatment is involved - there would be money spent, and even if treatment is not involved, there would be missed opportunities for potential income. For some people, they would still have money flowing out of their pocket when they are not at work even if they don't make a deliberate effort to spend money - this is particularly true for self employed business owners who still have overheads in their business that would keep taking money out of their pocket while they are unable to work - rental, etc.)

I'll show you solutions which has worked very successfully for me (yes, I experience pain too - and am very fortunate that my occupational therapy skills have helped me deal with it) and my occupational therapy clients in another post. :)