The Pain Was Gone, but That Did Not Mean I Was Healed
- Admin
- Jul 17
- 3 min read
It has been more than ten days since I wrote an article called “Tango Made My Knee Pain Disappear.”
It was true that the pain in my left knee had disappeared.
I could bend it deeply without pain.
The pain did not return the following day.
I remember thinking that such things really do happen.
And then I became a little overconfident.
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The Tuesday after I published the article, I invited a friend to go dancing again.
I thought my knee was fine.
While dancing, I noticed a slight discomfort in my lower back.
But I did not pay much attention to it.
My knee did not hurt.
My body could move.
So I kept dancing.
In fact, I danced too much again.
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The next morning, my lower back had stiffened.
Moving caused considerable pain.
The muscles on the lower right side of my back were especially tight.
My sense was that I had not injured my back itself.
I had simply overused the muscles around it.
Perhaps my body was unconsciously avoiding putting weight on my left leg because I was still protecting the knee.
As a result, I kept using my right leg.
I supported myself on the right side.
I pushed against the floor with the right side.
More strain than necessary may have gathered around my right lower back.
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I began gently stretching my body using methods I had developed for myself.
Rather than forcing the tight area, I tried to restore movement around it.
I let my breath pass through.
I twisted a little.
Then I rested.
As I repeated this, the pain gradually began to ease.
My range of motion has also been returning.
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Looking back, however, I suspect there may have been a more distant cause.
About two months earlier, I had started strength training.
My lower body was already being trained through tango, so I used generative AI to research ways of strengthening my upper body.
That was how I learned about negative pull-ups and negative dips.
With a negative pull-up, you begin at the top of the movement.
You then lower your body slowly, taking about five seconds while maintaining control.
Negative dips work in a similar way.
You begin with your arms extended and gradually lower your body.
Instead of relying on momentum, you control the movement while resisting gravity.
Apparently, these are efficient exercises for strengthening the latissimus dorsi and pectoral muscles.
They certainly worked.
They worked too well.
The day after I first tried them, I was convinced that I had died.
Of course, I was still alive.
But my entire upper body had become rigid.
It was more than ordinary muscle soreness.
It felt as though excessive tension remained throughout my body.
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After continuing for about two months, my body gradually became accustomed to the exercises.
I thought everything was fine.
But looking back now, there may have been more tension remaining in my upper body and back than I realized.
Then the pain in my left knee appeared.
Using both sides of my body naturally became more difficult.
I avoided the left.
I escaped toward the right.
Once the knee pain disappeared, I simply continued dancing.
Another part of my body eventually became rigid.
Perhaps the strain had merely moved somewhere else.
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For a while, I decided to stop both strength training and tango.
Every day, I gently stretch my body.
I do not immediately restore the load simply because the pain has eased.
I do not immediately move too much simply because I can move.
This time, I have become a little more cautious.
It took me long enough.
But better late than never.
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The human body is almost frighteningly well designed.
The center of gravity shifts slightly.
One leg is avoided.
The muscles on one side do more of the work.
That alone can have a significant effect somewhere else.
We cannot always move in perfect symmetry.
Tango requires us to place our weight on one leg.
But when we continue protecting one side, another part of the body must keep working in its place.
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I am 192 centimeters tall and weigh around 85 kilograms.
I am reasonably large.
Supporting that body on one leg and moving it with the music is not a simple task.
Strength alone is not enough.
Flexibility alone is not enough.
Exerting force and releasing it.
Moving and resting.
The body needs both.
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When the pain in my knee disappeared, I thought I had healed.
But the disappearance of pain was not the same as my whole body returning to its natural state.
Perhaps my body had simply found another way to keep moving by using a different part of itself.
Once again, my body taught me something that I thought I already understood.
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