The Pain Isn’t Always Where the Problem Is: Understanding How the Body Works as a System
- Unity
- Nov 4
- 3 min read
When someone comes in with knee pain on long walks, a hip that aches at night, or a shoulder that pinches when reaching overhead, the most common question is:
“Can you treat this spot?” It’s a completely valid question — after all, that’s where the pain is. But what we often see in clinical practice is that the painful area is not the origin of the problem. Instead, the pain is often the result of compensation elsewhere in the body.
What Is Regional Interdependence?
The concept of regional interdependence refers to how seemingly unrelated areas of the body can influence one another. Your body doesn’t work in isolated parts — it works as a connected system. Muscles, joints, fascia, and your nervous system all share the job of:
Moving efficiently
Managing load
Absorbing impact
Providing stability
When one part of the system stops doing its job well — maybe due to stiffness, weakness, old injury, or poor control — another part will try to compensate. Over time, this can cause irritation, overload, and pain. Often not in the area that’s actually struggling, but in the one doing all the extra work.
Examples from Practice
Take knee pain, for example. Yes, the discomfort is felt in the knee, but in many cases, the contributing factor is elsewhere:
Weak hips or glutes – causing the knee to collapse inward when walking or squatting
Stiff ankles – reducing your ability to move well during walking, shifting strain upwards
Pelvic or foot mechanics – altering how your leg moves, which adds pressure on the knee
The same principle applies in other areas:
Shoulder pain might be due to restricted movement in the upper back or poor control of the shoulder blade
Lower back pain may stem from instability in the hips or limited movement through the ribcage
Neck tension can be caused by deep core weakness or long-term postural adaptations
In these examples, the painful area is the output, not the origin.
Why Treating Only the Painful Area Often Falls Short
Short-term treatments like massage, stretching, or rest might feel good temporarily — but if they don’t address the underlying movement problem, the issue usually returns.
This leads to the familiar cycle of:
Pain
Rest or hands-on treatment
Temporary relief
Return to activity
Flare-up again
Breaking that cycle means looking deeper than just the area that hurts.
What a Full-Body Assessment Can Reveal
When pain keeps returning or isn’t fully resolving, the next step is often not more treatment to the sore area, but a better understanding of how the body is moving as a whole. A full assessment might look at:
Joint range of motion — both where pain is and elsewhere in the chain
Balance between strength on your left and right sides
How you shift weight, control posture, or load specific joints
Breathing, core control, and how your body absorbs force during movement
This helps build a clear picture of what’s really going on — and gives direction for targeted intervention.
Why This Matters for Recovery
Long-term change comes from improving how your body moves and handles stress — not just making the pain go away. That means:
Strengthening underactive muscles
Restoring mobility in restricted areas
Improving coordination and joint control
Helping the nervous system feel safer during movement
This kind of approach helps reduce pain and improves how the body functions overall — so you can move more freely, with less risk of recurrence.
Key Takeaways
Pain is often the result of compensation, not the root issue
The body works as a connected system — what affects one area can influence another
Treating only the sore area may offer short-term relief but not long-term resolution
Hands on therapy, like Sports Massage Therapy is useful during the acute flare-ups to reduce pain, allowing for progression to a long term solution
A full-body assessment can uncover the true driver of symptoms
Long-term improvement comes from restoring strength, control, and balanced movement
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