Moving Beyond Pain
- Dr. Brian Abelson
- 50 minutes ago
- 8 min read
Living with ongoing pain alters far more than physical sensation. It reshapes how people plan their days, how they move through their environment, and how much confidence they place in their own bodies. Over time, many individuals begin to adapt in subtle but significant ways, modifying posture, avoiding certain movements, or restructuring daily routines to minimize discomfort. These compensations often develop gradually, becoming so ingrained that they are no longer consciously recognized.
What is frequently lost first is not strength or flexibility, but trust in the body’s capacity to move safely and reliably. As pain persists, movement can become cautious, guarded, and increasingly limited, reinforcing a cycle of restriction that extends well beyond the original injury.
The encouraging reality is that pain is not inherently permanent, nor is meaningful improvement limited to recent or acute conditions. Even long-standing pain can change when care is attentive to how the body adapts, responds, and reorganizes over time. When treatment is responsive, individualized, and grounded in an understanding of human movement and recovery, the conditions for meaningful change can be restored.
Understanding Pain Beyond Injury
Pain is often described as a direct signal from damaged tissue, but in practice it reflects the interaction of multiple biological and behavioral systems. Movement patterns, mechanical loading, stress physiology, sleep quality, breathing, and nervous system sensitivity all contribute to how pain is perceived and expressed on a day-to-day basis. As a result, pain cannot be fully understood by examining tissue health alone.
This does not diminish the reality of pain. Rather, it acknowledges that pain is adaptive and dynamic, not a fixed marker of ongoing injury. The nervous system continuously evaluates threat, safety, and context, and modulates pain accordingly.
When pain persists, this system can become increasingly protective. Movement may be restricted, sensitivity heightened, and sensations amplified, even when tissues are structurally capable of change and recovery. Over time, this protective response can limit function and reinforce pain without ongoing damage.
Recognizing pain as a multi-system process shifts recovery away from identifying a single cause and toward restoring balance across the systems that support movement, regulation, and adaptation. This broader perspective creates space for more effective and durable change.
Why Recovery Requires Engagement
Across years of clinical practice, a consistent pattern emerges: individuals tend to make the most meaningful progress when they become active participants in their recovery rather than passive recipients of care. Treatment can provide guidance and support, but recovery itself unfolds through what the body experiences repeatedly over time.
Engagement does not imply blame or responsibility for injury. Bodies are exposed to forces, stressors, and circumstances that are often unpredictable. Rather, engagement reflects an understanding that healing occurs through ongoing interaction with supportive inputs, appropriate movement, nervous system regulation, adequate rest, and recovery. These elements work together to shape how the body adapts and reorganizes.
In this process, consistency matters far more than intensity. Small, well-chosen actions performed regularly create the conditions necessary for physiological adaptation. Over time, these repeated exposures rebuild capacity, restore confidence in movement, and allow progress to accumulate, even when improvement feels slow or incremental.
Treatments: Just One Piece of The Puzzle
Many individuals living with persistent pain describe a sense of frustration after trying multiple treatment approaches with limited or short-lived results. In many cases, each intervention provided some degree of relief, yet none led to sustained improvement. This experience can understandably create the impression that nothing truly works.
Most often, this outcome is not the result of insufficient effort, poor technique, or a lack of professional skill. Instead, it reflects a mismatch between isolated interventions and the underlying complexity of the individual’s condition. Persistent pain rarely arises from a single source. It typically involves the interaction of multiple systems, including movement, nervous system regulation, recovery capacity, and stress tolerance.
From this perspective, the most important clinical question shifts. Rather than asking which technique should be applied next, the focus becomes identifying what is currently limiting the individual’s ability to adapt, recover, and move forward. When care is organized around that question, treatment becomes more coherent, responsive, and effective.
Finding the Right Treatment Plan for the Individual
Effective care is not defined by allegiance to a single method or modality. It is defined by how thoughtfully different techniques are selected, sequenced, and adapted to the individual in front of you. What matters most is not what is available, but what is appropriate at a given stage of recovery.
For some individuals, progress begins with restoring a sense of safety and ease in movement. Early hands-on care can help reduce protective tension in muscles, fascia, nerves, and joints, improving circulation and making movement feel accessible again. These initial changes often create the foundation needed for further progress.
For others, restricted joint motion represents the primary barrier. In such cases, targeted mobilization or manipulation can restore lost movement, improve mechanical efficiency, and allow surrounding tissues to function with less strain. As joint motion improves, movement patterns often begin to normalize naturally.
As stability and confidence return, individualized exercise becomes central to recovery. Movement retrains patterns that pain has altered over time, rebuilds strength and coordination, and helps recalibrate an over-sensitive nervous system. Exercise is not a generic prescription. It must reflect the individual’s current capacity and evolve as that capacity changes.
In many cases, regulation is just as important as physical capacity. Breathing practices, relaxation strategies, and attention to sleep can significantly influence pain sensitivity, recovery, and overall resilience. Nutrition also plays a quiet but essential role by supplying the resources required for tissue repair, energy production, and sustained adaptation.
No two individuals follow the same path. The most effective treatment plans remain responsive, evolving in step with how the person adapts over time rather than adhering rigidly to predefined protocols.
Redefining Progress
Progress in recovery is not always best measured by changes in pain intensity alone. In many cases, early improvements appear first as smoother movement, better balance, improved sleep quality, or a greater tolerance for everyday activities. These shifts reflect meaningful physiological and neurological adaptation, even when pain has not fully resolved.
Fluctuations in symptoms are common during recovery and should not be interpreted as failure. Variability often signals a system that is learning, adjusting, and recalibrating in response to new inputs. This adaptive process is a normal part of long-term change.
Ultimately, true progress is reflected in restored function, growing confidence in movement, and an increased ability to engage with daily life with fewer limitations. When recovery is viewed through this broader lens, the focus shifts from eliminating symptoms to rebuilding capacity and resilience.
Moving Forward With Clarity
People move beyond pain when care acknowledges the full complexity of their experience. When treatment is organized around movement, regulation, recovery, and resilience, rather than isolated symptoms, the conditions for meaningful and lasting change begin to emerge.
These principles are explored in greater depth through real-world examples and case studies in my upcoming book, Trajectory, scheduled for release in late 2026 or early 2027. One chapter follows the recovery process as it unfolds over time, not as a rigid formula, but as a responsive and individualized journey shaped by how each person adapts.
Pain may be part of your experience, but it does not have to define the direction you move from here.
References
Butler DS, Moseley GL. Explain Pain.
Gatchel RJ et al. Pain Management: A Practical Guide.
Kisner C, Colby L. Therapeutic Exercise.
International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP).
World Health Organization. International Classification of Functioning.
DR. BRIAN ABELSON, DC. - The Author
With over 30 years of clinical experience and more than 25,000 patients treated, Dr. Brian J. Abelson is the creator of Motion Specific Release (MSR), a multidisciplinary assessment and treatment system that integrates biomechanics, fascia science, neurology, manual therapy, exercise rehabilitation, and acupuncture. He is an internationally recognized best-selling author of 10 books and 200+ articles, and has trained healthcare professionals through structured MSR courses and clinical education programs throughout Canada and the United States. Dr. Abelson practices at Kinetic Health in Calgary, Alberta, and continues to develop educational resources focused on long-term function, resilience, and the health trajectory shaped by everyday choices.
For patients, his goal is simple, reduce pain, restore movement, and build long-term independence. For practitioners, MSR provides a practical framework you can integrate directly into daily clinical care.
Why Choose MSR Courses and MSR Pro?
Elevate your clinical practice with Motion Specific Release (MSR) training and MSR Pro, a comprehensive, evidence-informed approach to musculoskeletal assessment and treatment designed to improve diagnostic precision, hands-on skill, and patient outcomes.
MSR proficiency goes far beyond videos and articles. True clinical mastery requires hands-on training, refinement of palpation and force application, and a deeper command of applied anatomy and biomechanics. MSR is a skill-based system built through deliberate practice, real-time feedback, and mentorship, where clinical reasoning and tactile execution come together.
Here’s why practitioners join MSR:
Proven Clinical SystemDeveloped by Dr. Brian J. Abelson, DC, with over 30 years of clinical experience and more than 25,000 patients treated, MSR integrates the most effective components of osseous and myofascial therapies into a cohesive, repeatable framework. The system is grounded in clinical logic and supported by patient outcomes, with a clinic success rate exceeding 90% in decreasing pain and improving function.
Comprehensive, Practical TrainingCourses blend rigorous clinical education with hands-on technique development. You’ll strengthen orthopedic and neurological examination skills while learning targeted myofascial procedures, fascial expansion concepts, and osseous adjusting and mobilization strategies that translate directly into daily practice.
MSR Pro, Your Clinical LibraryAs an MSR Pro subscriber, you gain access to a growing library of 200+ MSR procedures, instructional videos, downloadable and fillable clinical forms, and in-depth practitioner resources that support the full clinical workflow, from intake to reassessment and exercise prescription.
Ongoing Support and UpdatesMSR Pro includes an extensive resource base of 750+ videos, including technique instruction, rehabilitation exercise progression, and clinical application guidance, supported by a large MSK article library and condition-based resources. Content is actively updated and expanded to reflect evolving clinical needs and course development.
A System Built for GrowthMSR is designed to help practitioners think clearly in complex presentations, develop adaptable strategies, and evolve as clinicians. This approach aligns with the broader Trajectory principle, better outcomes are built through the cumulative power of consistent, high-quality clinical decisions.
Unlock your practice’s full potential with MSR Courses and MSR Pro, and join a community of practitioners committed to excellence in musculoskeletal care.
YouTube Channel
Explore Dr. Abelson’s YouTube channel, Kinetic Health Online, with 200,000+ subscribers and 37+ million views.
The channel features a large library of evidence-informed musculoskeletal education, including Motion Specific Release (MSR) procedures that integrate fascial-based concepts, manual therapy, movement science, and select Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) principles.
You’ll also find:
70+ essential physical examination videos
MSK condition tutorials and clinical education content
Hundreds of mobility, strengthening, and rehab exercise demonstrations
A dedicated Yang Style Tai Chi playlist, reflecting Dr. Abelson’s decades of teaching experience
Disclaimer:
The content on the MSR website, including articles and embedded videos, is provided for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for individualized medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. MSR techniques require appropriate professional training; do not attempt or apply these procedures unless you are properly trained and licensed where applicable. By accessing this content, you assume full responsibility for your use of the information, and to the fullest extent permitted by law, the authors and contributors disclaim liability for any loss, injury, or damages arising from its use.
This website does not establish a healthcare provider–patient relationship. If you have a medical concern, consult a qualified, licensed healthcare professional. This website is intended for adults and is not directed to individuals under 18. The MSR website may include links to third-party sites; we do not control and are not responsible for the content, accuracy, or practices of external websites.
By using this website, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless the authors and contributors from any claims, liabilities, and legal fees arising from your use of the site or violation of these terms. For more information, please review the full disclaimer and policies on this website.
Comments