RECOGNIZING SIGNS OF PAIN IMPROVEMENT
Small wins matter
If you’ve been living with pain for a long time, it can be hard to notice small improvements. No matter how your pain started — whether from arthritis, injury, stress, or an unknown cause — most people focus on one measure of success: the complete absence of pain.
While being pain-free may be your ultimate goal, there are often subtle signs that your musculoskeletal (muscle and joint) pain is improving, even if it doesn’t always feel that way. It’s also completely normal to feel like progress is too slow.
Recognizing small changes in pain and function are meaningful steps on the path to recovery.
Why is it so important to acknowledge these small wins?
Our brains are wired to notice and reinforce behaviors that promote survival, achievement, and personal growth. When you recognize progress, you activate the brain’s reward system — and along with it, a big hit of dopamine…perhaps you have heard of it — helping to encourage and sustain positive change.
How is our brain’s reward system involved?
1. Dopamine Release:
When we notice progress—no matter how small—our brain releases dopamine. This neurotransmitter is associated with pleasure, motivation, and reinforcement. This release encourages us to continue (reinforce) the behavior that led to that progress.
2. Positive Reinforcement:
This activates areas in our brain that are specifically responsible for processing rewards. When we acknowledge even minor improvements, this pathway signals that we’re on the right track, making us feel good and encouraging continued effort.
3. Motivation and Goal-Directed Behavior:
Recognizing progress helps sustain motivation by reinforcing the idea that our efforts are paying off. This is crucial for long-term goals, where results may not be immediate. This helps recruit other areas in the brain, which are involved in planning and decision-making, thus working alongside the reward system to keep us engaged in the process.
4. Emotional Regulation & Reduced Stress:
Acknowledging small wins can also reduce the activation of the alarm centers of our helping lower the brain’s stress and responses. This helps lower stress hormones like cortisol, making us feel more in control and optimistic about our progress.
5. Habit Formation:
The brain learns through repetition and reinforcement. Recognizing progress strengthens neural pathways related to positive behaviors, making it easier to continue those actions in the future.
Acknowledging progress isn’t just a feel-good exercise—it’s a way to leverage our natural reward system to sustain motivation, reduce stress, and keep us moving forward.
So What-Went-Well? (Even when you think things didn't)
Subtle signs of pain improvement can easily go unnoticed. Our brains are naturally wired to focus on the negative — a tendency known as negativity bias. This evolutionary survival mechanism helped us detect and respond to potential threats. But once serious or dangerous causes of pain have been ruled out, this negativity bias can still take over, drawing our attention toward pain and away from signs of progress.
You might notice weekly reflection prompts like “What-Went-Well” in your True Coach programming. (If you aren’t training with us…why not?!) These are designed to help you look back on your week, celebrate small wins, and give us valuable feedback so we can fine-tune your program and plan of care.
If you struggle to identify a weekly win when it comes to pain, try asking yourself these questions:
What is my daily pain level like now compared to before?
Example: “I used to have constant low back pain at a 6–8/10, but now it fluctuates between 2–4/10.”Does the pain take longer to show up?
Example: “My knee pain used to start at the 1-mile mark. Now I can run 4 miles before feeling it.”Does the pain go away more quickly?
Example: “My shoulder pain used to linger for days after a tough workout. Now it’s gone within an hour.”Is the pain less intense with specific triggers?
Example: “My hip used to hurt every time I squatted. Now squats are pain-free, even though I occasionally feel some discomfort.”Can I do more than I used to?
This might be the most important question. Even if pain still pops up from time to time, you may find you’re able to do much more now than when you first started.
Keep in mind: healing is rarely a straight line. Setbacks are normal, and pain can ebb and flow — especially during times of stress, poor sleep, or other challenges. That’s why it’s often more helpful to shift your focus from achieving “no pain” to building a solid toolkit that helps you manage pain and return to the activities you love.
Recognizing these subtle signs of progress is what keeps you going, even when pain feels unpredictable. It fuels the motivation to stick with habits — like daily movement — that help keep your pain in check and move you closer to your goals.
Pain comes with many boundaries. If you are not sure that we are a good fit, or if you’re not in NYC or CO, no worries! We encourage you to follow us on Instagram and YouTube, or consider a virtual consultation. We have been able to help hundreds of people all over the country (and world) better understand, cope, and live the lives they want to live.