Pain Doesn’t Tell You What’s Wrong—Just That Something Is

By Luc Mahler, Chiropractor

Someone came in last week with pain in their shoulder. He thought he’d torn something—stopped lifting, stopped sleeping well, started Googling symptoms. But when we went through how he moved, it wasn’t his shoulder that was the problem. It was how he’d been avoiding using his mid-back for months.

Pain is a messenger. But it doesn’t speak clearly. It points, but it doesn’t explain.

A lot of people think pain is always about the spot that hurts. But what I see all the time in the clinic is: pain shows up where the body’s been overworking to cover for something else.

Think of it like a team. If one player checks out, another has to hustle harder. That player might be strong—but if they’re compensating long enough, they’ll get worn out. That’s when the pain kicks in.

Here’s what’s really going on:

• The painful area is often doing too much.
  
  

• Somewhere upstream or downstream, something’s not doing enough.
  
  

• The nervous system senses threat, so it sounds the alarm.
  
  

So shoulder pain? It might be a lack of thoracic rotation.
Knee pain? Could be stiff ankles or underused glutes.
Low back pain? Often about how the ribs and pelvis are stacked—or not.

Pain isn’t the fire. It’s the smoke alarm.

That doesn’t mean ignore it. But it does mean zoom out. Instead of asking, “What’s wrong with my shoulder?” ask, “What might be missing in the way I move?”

Try this:
Pick one joint above and one below the painful area, and move them gently through their full range—no weights, no pushing. Just test the system.

For example, if your knee hurts:

• Move your ankle in slow circles.
  
  

• Try a hip hinge or some controlled leg swings.
  
  

• Notice if one side moves differently.
  
  

Often, the stuck joint isn’t the one that hurts—it’s the one that’s been quietly underperforming.

That simple scan tells you more than stretching the sore spot ever will.

Pain tells you something needs attention. But it takes a bit of curiosity—and the right lens—to figure out what.

That’s where progress starts.