For a number of health conditions, the focus is mostly or solely on the physical condition. For example, if you break your arm or sprain your ankle, treatment will be focused on providing a healthy environment for these physical injuries to heal. The physical injury gets the brunt of our attention because it is typically the catalyst for our discomfort. If we address the underlying problem, everything can get back to normal sooner.
However, that’s not typically the case with chronic pain. Chronic pain can certainly have a physical trigger, but oftentimes there is also a significant mental burden as well that needs to be managed in order to successfully treat the chronic pain condition. Only focusing on the physical cause of pain or the brain’s interpretation of pain oftentimes leaves the problem only partially treated. That’s why it’s so important to have a dual approach when treating most chronic pain conditions. Below, we talk more about the physical and mental approaches to treating chronic pain.
The Physical Approach To Chronic Pain
The physical approach to treating chronic pain is typically easier for patient to comprehend. If a pinched nerve is causing pain or joint degeneration is making movement painful, we can come up with some specific treatments for these physical issues. Rest, medications, physical therapy, exercise, weight loss and stretching techniques can all serve to help alleviate physical issues causing chronic pain. These therapies can help to:
- Calm inflammation
- Strengthen supportive structures
- Stabilize an area that regularly handles stress
- Shift structures back in alignment
- Improve blood circulation
- Promote healthy muscular and tissue function
Treating the underlying physical cause of pain is very important, but sometimes it’s only part of the problem. Other times chronic pain is caused or exacerbated by your brain’s interpretation of pain signals. As you might imagine, changing how your brain interprets pain isn’t easy, but it can be done with the help of a pain management specialist like Dr. Cohn.
The Mental Approach To Treating Chronic Pain
Learning how to use your brain to overcome your chronic pain condition can be tough, but programs like cognitive behavioral therapy and similar techniques help patients better understand and interpret the signals they are receiving. Now, you’re not going to be able to learn how to turn off pain receptors in your brain, but you will learn how to better cope with a painful flareup or how to mentally approach your chronic pain condition so that you string together more good days than bad.
A pain management specialist or cognitive behavioral therapist can help you:
- Better understand your pain triggers and your underlying condition
- Coping techniques when a flareup develops (deep breathing, yoga, relaxation, etc.)
- The importance of healthy lifestyle choices in controlling physical pain (exercise, diet, sleep)
- Identifying sources of stress that could exacerbate pain sensations
At the end of the day, for chronic pain conditions it is very important that you connect with a specialist who can help you overcome both the physical and mental challenges brought on by chronic pain. Treating one without the other can cause symptoms to linger. Let Dr. Cohn and his team help treat the totality of your pain so that you can regain control over your chronic pain condition. For more information or for help with your condition, give his office a call today at (952) 738-4580.