Why 'Just Rest It' Is Sometimes the Worst Advice

Movement isn't the enemy of healing. In most cases, it's the mechanism of it.

One of the most common mistakes I see in recovery — from injured workers and weekend athletes alike — isn't doing too much. It's doing too little, for too long.

The Panadol problem

Here's an analogy I use constantly with patients: imagine taking one paracetamol tablet, having it not work, and then blaming the doctor — when the instructions clearly said two tablets, twice a day. Skipping half of a rehab program and then concluding "exercise doesn't work for my injury" is the same mistake. A treatment plan that's followed at 50% isn't really being tested.

Why avoidance builds its own problems

When someone stops moving a joint or limb out of fear of re-injury, the body doesn't stay neutral — it stiffens, weakens, and becomes more fragile, not less. Meanwhile the original problem often hasn't actually resolved; it's just been avoided. That combination is what turns a manageable injury into a long-term one.

The school holidays effect

There's a pattern I've seen play out over and over with return-to-work reluctance, and I explain it with an analogy almost everyone recognises: the dread of going back to school after a long holiday. The longer you're away from a routine, the harder that first day back feels — even if nothing about the task itself has changed. Time away from work compounds the anxiety of returning, and the workplace relationships and sense of normalcy fade the longer that gap stretches out.

Building in a buffer, not just hitting the minimum

When assessing safe lifting capacity, for example, I'll often aim well above the bare minimum a role requires — if someone can safely manage 40kg, they can comfortably handle a 20kg requirement with room to spare. That buffer matters both physically and psychologically; confidence in a movement is part of what prevents the next injury.

None of this means "push through pain regardless." It means recovery, in most cases, is a guided return to movement — not an open-ended pause from it.