3/23/22, 8:24 PM
Tips for Managing Chronic Pain - Dr Lachlan Soper
Tips for Managing Chronic Pain Chronic pain can disrupt lives and change them forever. Living with chronic pain isn’t easy for those suffering from it or for their loved ones. Injuries and illnesses as well as prolonged physical, emotional, or social stress can be the causes of chronic pain, and everyone experiences that pain differently. Depression, anxiety, stress, anger, fear, intrusive thoughts, isolation, and overdoing things can create more pain signals in the body and make the pain feel even worse. But there are ways to manage chronic pain so that it doesn’t overtake your life.
Breathing or Meditation To help ease chronic pain, deep breathing and meditation can help your body to relax. There are many ways that you can meditate in order to relax. As long as the soothing power of repetition is at the heart, then you are meditating. When meditating, try to only focus on your breathing, and ignore intrusive thoughts. If you’re having trouble with meditating on your own, a class can be a great help.
Stay Active Staying active may seem like the last thing you want to do when dealing with chronic pain, but it’s a great way to alleviate some of that pain. When we exercise, our brain releases endorphins which help improve our mood while also blocking pain signals. Exercise also strengthens muscles, which is another painreducing effect that helps prevent re-injury or further pain. When staying active with chronic pain, it’s essential to find the right exercise or activity for you. Some sports put you in positions that make pain worse (depending on your specific pain). Walking is generally a good activity for most pains – the subtle movements and lack of impact help lubricate the joints. Talk to your doctor beforehand to discuss what is right for you.
Start Tracking Your Pain Levels and Activity Effectively treating your pain requires tracking your pain levels and activity every day. This will provide your doctor with the information they need to treat your pain. An easy way to track this is by keeping a log or journal of your daily “pain score”. Write down your pain level on a scale of 1 to 10 at the end of each day as well as the activities you did that day. Sharing this with your doctor will give them an understanding of your chronic pain. While this is helpful, there is another train of thought, which is that you need to re-frame / distract yourself from pain. For example the recent winner of Australian Survivor was a pain researcher, when doing a difficult challenge and asked about the pain, she deflected the question. Rather than acknowledging that she felt pain, she would say things like “I’m fine”, or “I can keep doing this”. https://lachlansoper.com.au/tips-for-managing-chronic-pain/
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