Join Mandy Mercuri and Carole Staveley as they talk to special guests Jeff Stapleton and Jillian Halligan, who are both exercise physiologists, about tissue tolerance and training the body for any and all sport types in this first podcast of a series of two podcast episodes.

Intro by Carole and Mandy – Meeting Jillian: Jillian helped Carole understand the importance of a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach to managing pain. There is a lot more to pain, than just creating an exercise plan or popping pain pills. Todays topic is Tissue Tolerance: Building your body’s tolerance/ability to handle repetitive forces for the activities you want to perform. (Sports, etc). Meeting Jeff: He looks at things differently, focuses on running muscles, and running injury free. Practices Barefoot Running

04:35 Pacing Your Muscles: Mandy comments that idea is similar to what she calls Pacing - Starting slow and building slowly up

05:18 Is there hope for people who are sidelined by injury?: Jillian—Discovery comes with understanding your body’s history; of your injuries and of your training experience, and from there knowing where you want to go. Knowing where you want to start is critical on your journey. Only a little bit of change is required to make a big difference. (10:36) Jeff: Want to reach a state of functionality and we need more focus on feet because everything starts from the feet. If the feet aren’t engaged, then your body can’t follow suit

14:30: Training Sport Specific Muscles or the Whole Body? Jillian—Olympic Weight Lifting background and this can help the central nervous system. Jeff - Focuses on training around a specific sport. Important to engage full body initially, but move on to sport specific training.

Contact Jeff on his website http://www.naturalrunning.ca/

or by email at: [email protected]

Contact Jillian on her website http://jillianhalligan.ca/

or by email at: [email protected]

In this episode you’ll get to hear Mandy Mercuri and Carole Staveley discuss Mandy’s journey and struggles as she learned how to cope with being diagnosed with Scoliosis as a young girl, and dealing with the pain that came from her corrective surgeries. Pain management is a process that anyone can achieve.

00:33—Intro

01:40—Mandy’s Background: Youngest of 5 kids, diagnosed with Scoliosis, Spine in a “S” shape, side to side, multiple surgeries, corrective footwear, casts, etc. Ongoing pain.

07:39—Life with Pain: Became accustomed to pain, didn't let it stop me, ignored pain. Always in the background, don’t go away.

09:30—Looking Back: Didn’t read the signs and just pretended to be fine. Pushed through pain, used pain killers. Avoided situations where people would ask questions.

10:39—Life Continues: Pregnancy and specialists. Being a new mother came with various strains and challenges, then became consumed with pain. Hormones changing and became very emotional.

14:48—Darkest Place: Felt like a bad mother and a burden and that I was letting people down. But I knew something had to change.

16:10—Trigger to Get Help: Conversation with husband, realized that negative emotions were also affecting him. Wasn’t fair, something needed to change for the better

18:19—Pain Management Clinic: 3 week course where I came off all pain meds. Went into it with a good mind set and with a long term goal to have another baby

20:30—Emotionally Significant Goals: Find your own “IRONMAN®”, like Carole did

21:00—Key Strategies to Manage Pain: Daily strategies include stretches, meditation, not sitting for too long, being aware of thoughts and of posture, creating reminders and pacing—not over doing it and taking breaks as needed

23:40—Chain Reaction with Pain: Understanding more about impacts of pain. Previous approach was rest = deconditioning muscles, which causes more pain. With pain stress response kicks in—fight or flight, shuts down body, doesn’t allow it to heal.

26:36—Key Messages for Others and Advice: “Pain is Inevitable, suffering is optional”. There is so much is within your control. No magic cure or pill. You need to take responsibility for your life and body, take your power back. Diet is key with overall lifestyle change. “I can avoid suffering and I can deal with pain”. You have options and there is hope!

Get in touch with Mandy:

www.takeholdofpain.com

Email Mandy

Get a copy of Mandy's FREE ebook "Focus on the RAINBOW - Some practical tips on how to self manage chronic pain"

Listen in as Mandy Mercuri and Carole Staveley discuss Carole’s 13 year journey to finding a diagnosis for her pain while asking the right questions, meeting the right health and exercise professionals, and achieving her ultimate goal: crossing the finish line of an IRONMAN® Triathlon.

00:33—Intro

 00:57—Carole’s Story/Background: Chronic Mayofascial Pain Syndrome/Fibromyalgia

In constant pain/constantly stiff

02:25—First Injury: Muscle tear in hip

03:35—After Injury: Started with walk-in clinics, and various doctors

04:45—Dealing with Pain: Started getting depressed, letting pain weigh down on self

 05:35—Impacts of Condition: Not being able to carry or lift anything large or heavy, at constant risk of new injuries and muscle tears. Have to be extra careful and protective about body.

06:30—Moment of Change: “Wake up call” moment came when dealing with infertility. Needed to pick the right doctor, and asking specific questions. realised your health journey is up to you!

08:32—Meeting Exercise Physiologist: Looked at things differently - a multi-disciplinary approach.

No quick fix—no magic solution but takes time and effort. Lots of hard work and dedication are required

11:15—Achieving Your Goals: Work within an achievable time frame, Exciting to have a goal/reason to keep going.

11:58—Training Regime: 60-90 minutes per day but body still wasn’t ready. Wasn’t engaging body to be ready to compete

13:40—Pain Before and After: Moving is good. Get lower “bad” pain feelings, and enjoy the “good” pain. If you set a goal that you think might be reasonable, you might learn something along the way and surprise yourself!

15:00—Crossing the Finish Line: Win your race, not the whole race

15:50—Setting New, Larger Goals IRONMAN® Triathlon: 3800 KM Swim, 180 KM Bike Ride, 42.2 KM Run (Full Marathon)....All you can do is try because uou don’t know if you don’t try

17:48—Crossing the IRONMAN® Finish Line: Feeling of elation, 15 hour ordeal, Life changing

18:48—Pick Your Own “IRONMAN®”: Any unlikely achievement is a personal statement so be your own IRONMAN and cross your finish line.

21:00—Support Network: Never questioning your goals, Always supportive and never doubting.

Find your true supporters and surround yourself with them. Share your challenge with your social network

23:50—If you Had a Time Machine: Years of pain were a gift in the long run, Set right expectations

Find your solutions and find the best health professionals. Do your own research about injury(s) and ssk more questions. Don’t let go, don’t give up

26:00—Dealing with Chronic Pain: You are your own chief problem solver, Don’t expect for someone to give you the exact answer, It’s a process.

27:25—What’s Next?: Meeting new health professionals and helping others

 

www.CaroleStaveley.com where you can get a copy of Carole's FREE ebook "The book of Health Champions"

Email Carole

Carole's books:

Not Lying Down - How I Conquered Years of Pain to Triumph at the Finish Line

Conquer Your Pain in 9 Steps: Building the mindset and team you need to suffer less and achieve more