Aches And Pains - How Often How Normal - What is it to be human?
May 17, 2013 4:10 PM   Subscribe

If asked how is your health, or how are you feeling, I'd answer almost always "fine", because that's how I regard the state of my health, unless I'm undergoing something like a cold or some illness. But it is also true, that if I concentrate really hard, I can usually spot some ache somewhere, or some muscle spasm, or much more frequently, utterly transient episodes of a fairly strong sudden stab of pain somewhere, which passes within a second or a few seconds, sometimes slightly longer.

This question has been rattling in my mind for literally decades, and I have no idea how to approach answering it, hence an appeal to the hive-mind.

I regard these transient aches - perhaps wrongly? - as "normal" for all human beings, a kind of background nerve-noise, which we don't usually notice because it's like ambient sound or room-tone in audio - only when there is dead silence do we notice "silence", or a sound/pain needs to reach a certain amplitude or duration to come to our notice. These transient aches and pains don't usually signify any disease process (I think?!) particularly that it's rarely consistent - like f.ex. the right elbow always slightly sore, I would think is probably some disease process, but a passing stab of pain in the groin, then in the shoulder, then a few hours later - or days later - a stab in the forearm that lasts a second or so, just normal muscle/bone type twitch or spasm that means nothing beyond the stab itself.

Now, because I've been wondering about this for decades, I do perform a sort of scan to see if I can spot some background nerve-noise to become more aware of what is just noise, and what might be more of a disease-process. Occasionally, I perform this scan and I literally can not feel the least discomfort anywhere, but that's definitely a small minority of time. Also, as I age, I have noticed some slight elevation in the frequency of these aches and pains, i.e. the "normal" has become more noisy, such as the knee I've injured in a car accident when I was 17 lets me know that the accident may have been old, but has not been forgotten.

So, my question is centered around: what is a *normal* amount of such aches and pains for a healthy human to have and still be called a "healthy human"? I have tried to look to medical literature, but I don't even know how to phrase the search terms, because any "transient aches/pains" brings forth a bunch of diseases... which makes me wonder if I'm perhaps 100% wrong to think that there is such a thing as a normal low-level harmless background nerve-noise of aches and pains, and it is all low level entropy working to destroy the body... we all have to die of something, and the normal rate of "degeneration" appears to us as 'normal state', and only sudden sharp deterioration makes it a 'disease'. I really just don't know.

What is 'normal' in this scenario? Is any amount of transient aches or pains 'normal' or are all of them signifiers of an inexorable deterioration that will end in the grave? How can I tell apart transient harmless aches and pains, and symptoms of disease that should be taken seriously - my criteria so far have been duration of the discomfort, intensity of the pain and if it falls within known symptoms (like heart attack, stroke, etc.).

How should one think about "aches and pains"? Is it just part of being human? Do you have them and do you think it's normal?
posted by VikingSword to Health & Fitness (22 answers total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Is any amount of transient aches or pains 'normal' or are all of them signifiers of an inexorable deterioration that will end in the grave?

Yes and yes!

Once you reach maturity, you are pretty much just deteriorating after that. Thankfully you can survive in a broke-ass body for a startlingly long time these days.

I think a reminder of death isn't necessarily a bad thing. You can think of these pains as reminding you of the reality of your body, or of the certainty of death. You could think of them like little pokes saying, "Hey, you could die any time. Make sure you get what you really wanted to get done done! There's no time like the present!"

IMNAD, just the way I think about it
posted by selfnoise at 4:17 PM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


Well, I've had random aches and pains my whole life, and I've always been considered extremely healthy (with the exception of my stupid allergies). I probably don't notice most of them (for example I didn't notice my shoulders are tight and achy until I read this question) but I do also get occasional stabby impossible-to-ignore pains that go away as quickly as they arrive.

So anecdatally... I think they're just part of the human condition.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 4:27 PM on May 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


Human condition. I'd say aches are common, and as I get older I'm coming to discover so are little muscle twinges =(. The time to be worried would be if there's a sudden change, or if it starts to interfere with your quality of life.

One of the things that I find very disconcerting about medicine and about our understanding of human physiology in general, is that we mostly study and write about pathologies. So there isn't a big collection of data that says 'lots of normal healthy people have...'. It's really just anecdotal data and personal experience - there's not much on a google search that'll get you there.

Even within the range of 'normal human condition' (i.e. "not going to kill you"), there can be things that you can do to decrease your pain level. Things like diet, exercise, ergonomics, etc. On the other hand, that's not a field that's well understood - 'back pain' wouldn't plague so many people if we had a magic button to push that made pain go away. Aches and pains are just part of life, for the most part.
posted by Lady Li at 5:50 PM on May 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


Normal. I am extremely healthy - my immune system appears to be really top notch. I am 27 and I very rarely get sick. I've never been hospitalized and I have no major health issues. I've gotten passing random pains (sometimes very painful, though usually less than a few minutes in duration) my whole life. These random pains (or, if not pains, other unusual sensations) don't occur according to any pattern I can see or in consistent locations in the body. I have often wondered what causes them (nerve death? tissue remodeling? blood vessel changes?), but I've never found out. I vote for these things being part of the human condition.

Relatedly, here is a wacky thought experiment. Shut your eyes, sit quietly, and hold out a hand in front of you. Then just feel what it feels like - what is the sensation of having a hand? So much stranger and less solid than our concept of "hand".

If you get an answer, let me know!! I've always wondered.
posted by Cygnet at 6:47 PM on May 17, 2013 [5 favorites]


I'm an apparently healthy person and just about any time I pay close attention, I notice some minor pain or discomfort, most commonly a very minor tension headache (or tension that doesn't quite reach the level where I would call it pain.) It's usually not enough for me to notice unless I make a deliberate effort. The "strong sudden stab of pain" is something that happens from time to time, but not very often. Since I feel very healthy and have made it past 50 without any known major health problems, I assume having pretty much constant minor background discomfort is normal.

Lower back pain is also a common thing for me, but that's something I don't consider "normal." I assumed for a while that it was, when I was much younger, but then I talked to a number of other people, including some much older than I was, and learned that they didn't have constant low-level back pain. I saw a doctor for it and found that the right kind of exercises could reduce it a lot.
posted by Redstart at 7:19 PM on May 17, 2013


Another vote for, "just part of normal life." I get random sharp pains fairly often-ish and have various occasional aches, but other than that I am extremely healthy, seem to get sick a lot less than most people I know.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 8:00 PM on May 17, 2013


It is perfectly normal unless the pain is significant enough to keep you from sleeping or moving normally, then it is serious.
posted by myselfasme at 8:13 PM on May 17, 2013


Yes, you will end in the grave, and until it's interesting, you are fine.
posted by lathrop at 8:27 PM on May 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


I stopped having those weird aches and pains when.....

- I got more in touch with myself emotionally. A lot of the weird chronic physical aches I had in my 20's went away when I got rid of my (family emotional) stress. YMMV.

- I started taking vitamins and supplements. WOW. The difference!

- I do regular acupuncture, which helped in my 30's, and now has become a Big Neccessity again in my early 40's. Frankly, I should have never stopped the practice.

- Yoga and/or meditation and/or massage and/or gentle regular exercise might do the same or similar for you as acupuncture might.
posted by jbenben at 9:02 PM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


Aches and pains, yup. Ouch, limp.
In my mid-fifties. Started in late thirties. Here and there, some days are worse than others. Some are permanent residents (hello L rhomboid and R hip continuous charley-horse, wtf?)
Many come and go, but they still pile on.
I work a very physical job and go to the gym (weights and machines) three times a week. Exercise helps A LOT, but still.
I think some of this is part of the human condition. Owwie!
posted by bebrave! at 9:13 PM on May 17, 2013


My Nonnie (grandma) always said a good day was when you only hurt in three places. :)
posted by cecic at 9:39 PM on May 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


hmm...I think the 'average' amount of pain involved in the 'human condition probably hovers somewhere between 4 and 5 on the second chart here.
posted by sexyrobot at 9:42 PM on May 17, 2013


My lab mate once told me a Russian saying which goes something like, "Health is when something different is wrong every day."
posted by en forme de poire at 10:35 PM on May 17, 2013 [8 favorites]


Yeah, I get these random transient pains sometimes -- occasionally quite intense. I just regard them as noise in the machine. Never asked a doctor, but I did ask my dentist once about sharp, transient pains in the teeth, and that was basically her take on it too.
posted by pont at 10:49 PM on May 17, 2013


I too have occasionally felt random aches and pains that last a few minutes and are gone, for as long as I can remember. I've always assumed they were nothing because a given random ache could be pretty much anywhere on my body. If it were repeated pains in the same place I would be more concerned.
posted by fullerenedream at 11:57 PM on May 17, 2013


Universal in my experience. My Tai Chi tutor used to encouurage us to concentrate on identifying such sensations and acknowledging them with the goal of making them less intrusive.
posted by BenPens at 4:45 AM on May 18, 2013


Huh, these answers surprise me. I don't get these random pains, never really have, and I'm 52. However:

- I stopped eating meat at the age of 19. (I resumed eating poultry and seafood at age 40'ish, when I discovered I'm allergic to dairy and soy. Still don't eat beef or pork though.)

- Like Jbenben, I take vitamins and other supplements. Have since I was a kid.

- I rarely eat refined carbs or grasses. As in, I never eat sugar, and I almost never eat any wheat, corn, etc. The only grass I eat is some occasional brown rice.

- Overall, I do a lot of cooking at home, from scratch. There's too much crap in processed food.

- I've always had a lifestyle that includes a lot of exercise, whether it was riding my bike 13 miles a day, or working a job that is very physical.

(My own crackpot theory about some of the deterioration of aging is that we're born with a supply of all the vitamins and minerals we need, thanks to our mother, but that the modern diet is so crappy that we aren't getting everything we need. As the vitamin/mineral deficiencies get worse over time, things start falling apart. This is, of course, just my personal crackpot theory, but so far it's working for me. And for the record, my good health doesn't seem to be inherited.)
posted by MexicanYenta at 5:45 AM on May 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Your body is constantly repairing itself, replacing dead cells, repairing small bits of damage, etc. If you pay close attention, small strains and aches become apparent. I think it's healthy that your mind & body generally ignore what is, basically, maintenance.
posted by theora55 at 7:02 AM on May 18, 2013


My motto is "If nothing hurts you didn't play hard enough."
posted by BrooksCooper at 10:14 AM on May 18, 2013


Some of this depends on how well you sleep, too. There are days when I obviously stayed in one position too long, and it feels like I was sleeping on a softball.

I also find that moving a lot (walking, biking) seems to keep the pains and stiffness at bay. It's when I'm working on something in a very focused way, without moving around much that the aches and pains flare up.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 2:28 PM on May 18, 2013


I think a few random aches are normal, but I would be a little more concerned about sharp stabbing pains. Those can be a warning that you are doing something specific wrong, especially if the same thing hurts regularly.

But, while pain might be "normal," especially if you live a standard western lifestyle, it is not inevitable. Around a year ago, I went on a major health kick and adopted a low-carb eating plan based on The Primal Blueprint. I lost a lot of weight, and have found that at least 85% of the aches, pains, and stiffness I accepted as a fact of life after the age of 25 have gone away.
posted by rpfields at 3:23 PM on May 18, 2013


I have always had random aches. After x-rays for an unrelated accident in my mid-twenties, I was diagnosed with very mild osteoarthritis in my hip (essentially my hip joint is not quite perfectly round which sometimes causes irritation). Now when I have a random ache I am often able to pin down a cause, such as overdoing certain exercises (jogging) or stretches, or a sharp change in the weather. I also am generally able to identify that the pain is really originating in my hip, even though sometimes it is more noticeable in my thigh or back.

It wouldn't surprise me if undiagnosed mild arthritis is fairly common in otherwise healthy people, it only takes one joint which is a tiny bit off to give you pretty frequent aches.
posted by anaelith at 4:56 PM on May 18, 2013


« Older Paid off car, have title. Now what?   |   Tastes, smells, and looks fine Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.