Three things mothers need to know about chronic pain

April 24, 2012 - PRLog -- Nobody said being a mom was easy, but there is one specific challenge that is a drag on a lot moms that no one is talking about: chronic pain.

"Most moms are too busy to pay attention to pain," says Matt Hsu (pronounced like "shoe"), founder of Upright Health in San Diego.  "They have a lot on their plates, and that often means Mom, herself, comes second."

Hsu has worked with many moms in their 50s and 60s.  He notes that once the children have grown up and left the house, the pain they haven't bothered to tell anyone else about becomes a priority.  "A lot of times they haven't told anyone. It's just something they suffer with as they raise their children. Only when life has settled down or their pain has gotten really severe will they say anything. It's a real testament to women's ability to endure pain!"

And it's not just back pain. Hsu says he's had clients with hip pain so severe they were unable to walk across a parking lot to the grocery store and shoulder pain so bad they couldn't reach up into a cupboard.  

"I was in my late 20s when my mom finally told me that since the day she had given birth to me, she'd had pain in her right hip!" says Hsu. "And in that time frame, she's lucky it didn't get much more severe."

Hearing that from his own mother, Hsu wanted to share three facts about chronic pain for all mothers:

1. Pain is often a sign that muscles are unbalanced, whether from activity, inactivity, or traumatic event (and childbirth qualifies as traumatic).
2. If left long enough, imbalances can severely affect your ability to function in daily life.
3. It doesn't matter how old you are; you can always address muscle imbalances and get rid of pain.

And on that last point, Hsu is adamant. "I've worked with people as young as 10 and as old as 93.  It's not about age."

After learning a few stretches that helped rebalance the muscles of her hips and took away her hip pain, Hsu's mother is one more mom who can attest to the fact that it really isn't about age.