Pain & Performance

What if everything you know about pain is wrong? For starters, pain is not synonymous with being “injured.” It’s also not evidence that your biomechanics are “flawed” or your body is “imbalanced.” And most important, pain doesn’t always mean you have to see a doctor. In Pain & Performance, Ryan Whited and Matt Fitzgerald present a radically new way for athletes to understand and manage pain that exposes the shocking lack of evidence for modern medicine’s approach to pain and injury management. Based on many years of research and a greater appreciation of the complexity of pain as a lived experience, Whited’s revolutionary “Training as Treatment” method puts you in control of your pain experience as you build mental and physical resilience. Learning this simple, three-step process will start you on a path to better performance and a more fulfilling athletic journey with less downtime, fewer visits to clinicians, less anxiety about pain and injury, and less time and money wasted on treatments that don’t work. An elite boulderer and son of a chronically injured professional horse jockey, Whited brings a pragmatic approach to a complex process. As a trainer, he has spent decades guiding athletes from breakdowns to breakthroughs at Paragon Athletics, a magnet for pain-affected runners, climbers, and recreational athletes who’ve grown frustrated with the medical system. Pain & Performance makes Whited’s unparalleled knowledge of pain science and physiology available to anyone seeking to stay out of the doctor’s office and on track toward their goals. "Training as Treatment is a fresh and innovative approach to understanding and working with pain rather than against it. By helping athletes face fear and reframe pain, Ryan Whited facilitates a shift in mindset that fosters a healthy, lifelong relationship to sport and performance. ”—Rob Krar, coach and ultrarunning champion This audiobook contains a supplemental PDF with a Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire and a link to video demonstrations of exercises to get started on a Training as Treatment plan.