Threshold

What is pain and why? It's a simple question but one I think has to do with self preservation and survival. I'm no scientist. Have never claimed to be. I don't do much research. All I do is type out what I think. This is a blog. Not a white paper!

Pain, to me, is a self preservation tool. Picked up a hot potato? You'd drop it plenty quick. Because if you didn't, it'd cause damage to your fingers. Walked into the side of a table? It'd hurt. You wouldn't do it again. And your shins would thank you for it. I barked my own shin in the dark while I was in Singapore staying in my sister's guest room. I'd switched off the lights and didn't really know the geography of the place. I spent a few minutes in the dark rolling around on my back while clutching the aggrieved bit of leg, whimpering softly so as to not awaken my sister and bro in-law.

Sometimes pain comes immediately. Sometimes it takes a while. Why?

Just on Sunday I was playing futsal as usual and I had three separate incidents. First, I did my ankle after being pushed while jumping for a high ball. Then I aggravated an existing injury when I landed on my knee while I had a stint in goal. Then I got kicked (really kicked) in the thigh from someone else's follow through.

I still played right up to the end of the game. When I got home later, things were a bit different. After I'd taken off my shoes and all the football armour, my ankle started to swell and my thigh became increasingly sore. This was almost two hours after I'd stopped playing. The next morning I couldn't walk. It's Tuesday and I'm still lurching about like Igor from any horror film involving reanimated corpses.

My thinking is this. If I'd lived 10,000 years ago, one time or another I'd be running from something big and hairy with lots of teeth. If I fell and sprained my ankle theoretically I'd be chopped meat. However, I'd been able to get up and keep running at the same pace even on the bad ankle (left) and the bad thigh (right). I think adrenalin has a whole heap to do with it. After I got to safety and the adrenalin wore off, that's when I'd feel how much damage was really done.

That's what happened to me. With the adrenalin flowing I could keep going. Once I slowed down, everything started to swell up and hurt. The 10,000 year reasoning that I've already gotten to safety. If I didn't, it wouldn't matter would it? One thing for sure, if I'd been chased again the next day, chopped meat. So I'd lie low and hide away till I got better. Damn good thing humans are social animals.

So, I have to rest until my legs are better. If I tried to play again too soon, I might damage something really quick. Still, it's better than being chopped meat.