Does Movement Help or Hurt?

Have you ever noticed that your pain shows up only when you move — or, on the other hand, that it creeps in when you’re sitting still for too long? Movement (or the lack of it) tells a powerful story about what’s really going on beneath the surface. Pain isn’t random — it’s a message from your body, and how and when it appears gives us important clues about what your body needs. In physical therapy, we often find that pain patterns fall into two broad categories: rigidity and instability.

• When pain arises during movement, it’s often a sign that your body is fighting against rigidity -- meaning certain joints or muscles are too tight, or one region of your body is compensating for another that’s not moving enough. This creates a tug-of-war effect across your system, and the body’s natural flow of movement becomes restricted.

• When pain shows up during stillness -- like during long car rides, at your desk, or while sleeping -- it often points to instability. In this case, your muscles aren’t coordinating effectively to stabilize your joints. Without that “co-contraction” and support, your body feels unsafe even in rest, leading to deep, dull, or lingering discomfort.

  
  

Understanding this relationship between movement and pain allows us to decode what your body is really asking for -- whether it’s more mobility, more stability, or a combination of both.

Rigidity: When Your Body Is Holding On Too Tight

Rigidity (or excessive joint or muscular tightness) is your body’s way of creating protection. When your muscles sense threat — from overuse, poor posture, stress, or a previous injury — they tighten to stabilize a joint and prevent further strain.

This kind of tightness isn’t always bad in the short term, but over time it limits blood flow, joint mobility, and normal muscle firing. It also changes how your nervous system communicates with your muscles, creating protective tension that can eventually cause pain when you move.

In PT terms, this is often linked to altered motor control and reciprocal inhibition - when one muscle group stays “on” too long, it prevents its opposite muscle from activating properly. For example, tight hip flexors can inhibit the glutes, which can force your lower back or knees to take on extra stress.

If your pain appears while you’re moving, working out, or performing daily tasks, it’s often your body saying: “I’m too restricted to move the way I’m supposed to.”

What helps? Restoring normal mobility through soft tissue work, stretching, joint mobilization, and then retraining your movement patterns. When you re-establish healthy mobility, your body can move without feeling threatened - and pain begins to fade.

Instability: When Your Body Needs More Support

Contrarily, instability is what happens when your muscles and joints don’t have enough coordinated control to keep you supported - even at rest.

Your body is a system of “dynamic stabilizers” -- small, deep muscle groups that act like a built-in back brace. They work constantly to keep you supported, even when you’re sitting or lying down. Think of your core, hip stabilizers, and deep spinal muscles as your body’s internal scaffolding.

When these stabilizers aren’t firing together (what we call poor co-contraction or neuromuscular coordination), the larger, outer muscles take over. This leads to tension, fatigue, and eventually pain — especially in static positions like long car rides, sitting at a desk, or sleeping.

If you feel pain mainly when you’re not moving, your body may be telling you it needs better foundational stability.

PT interventions for this focus on motor control retraining, isometric strengthening, and improving proprioception (your body’s sense of position and movement). Learning how to engage your deep stabilizers gently and consistently can reduce postural stress and allow your larger muscles to relax.

Movement As Medicine

So, does movement help or hurt?

The answer depends on what your body is trying to tell you.

If movement triggers pain, it may be signaling the need to free up restriction and restore mobility & balance across your system. If stillness brings pain, it may be your body’s way of asking for stability and stronger muscular coordination. The beauty of physical therapy is that we can use movement both as an assessment tool and as treatment — refining how your body moves so you can get back to doing what you love without pain dictating the terms.

Discover What Your Body is Telling You

• Rigidity = you most likely need improved joint mobility and movement patterns to reduce muscle tension and stiffness

• Instability = you most likely need improved co-contraction and coordination of muscle groups to support you throughout your day

  
  

If you’re unsure which category your pain falls into - rigidity or instability - that’s exactly what a skilled physical therapist can help you uncover. Through movement assessment and guided retraining, we can identify the “why” behind your discomfort and build a plan to restore confidence in your body again.