What To Do When Pain Becomes Chronic

April 1, 2022 / Thomas Cohn, MD

As we get older, we start to notice that our bodies simply don’t feel the same as they did when we were younger. Instead of jumping out of bed like a spry chicken, we may be a little stiff, have a few dull aches or even notice some pain in new places. This discomfort may fade as we start to move more throughout the day, but what if that dull pain never goes away, or it becomes more intense? When pain becomes more regular, it’s known as chronic pain, and treating it is one of Dr. Cohn’s specialties.

When Pain Becomes Chronic

If you’ve noticed that aches and pains are becoming more frequent, there are a few things you’ll want to do to get back to a pain-free way of living. Here are some things you should do if you are dealing with constant or chronic pain.

1. Acknowledge It – Don’t try to keep pushing through each day as if this chronic condition is normal. Even though you’re getting older, it’s important to remember that chronic pain is never normal and is not just a part of the aging process. If you continue to do the same actions that led to its onset in the first place, symptoms are only going to get worse, which can also make treatment much harder.

2. Assess Your Daily Activities – Take a step back and consider how your lifestyle may be contributing to or working to relieve the pain. A healthy diet and regular exercise can oftentimes help to fight back against chronic pain, whereas a sedentary lifestyle and poor posture could be the direct cause of your chronic low back pain. Conduct a self-assessment of your daily activities and work to make some positive changes to see if that helps.

3. Talk To A Doctor – Whether it is your primary care physician or a pain management specialist like Dr. Cohn, you need to talk to a professional about your pain. When pain becomes chronic, you owe it to yourself to connect with a specialist who can provide you with a comprehensive diagnosis and set you up with an individualized treatment plan. Oftentimes treatment is simpler than expected once you connect with someone with decades of experience helping others overcome similar conditions.

4. Get Regular Sleep – Sleep is essential for your body and your mind. A number of bodily functions reset and rest while you’re asleep, and it also helps you destress from the day. All of this is imperative for pain control. If you’re not getting good sleep, don’t be surprised if you pain worsens. Make your bedroom an environment that is conducive to restful and uninterrupted sleep.

5. Increase Your Activity – A final thing to do if you have chronic pain is to increase your daily activity. That may seem counter-intuitive, but activity will drive muscle development and stability in areas that may be causing your pain. You don’t need to run a marathon, but go for a 30-minute walk or find simple ways to move more each day. Your body thrives with movement, whereas muscles can atrophy if we don’t work to develop them. It won’t always be easy if you have chronic pain, but movement is typically very helpful for a variety of pain conditions.

Don’t let chronic pain become your new normal. For help overcoming your chronic pain condition, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today.

How Adverse Events Affect Children With Chronic Pain

March 17, 2022 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Children with chronic pain who experience adverse childhood events (ACEs) are more likely to suffer an increase in symptom severity, according to new research. This suggests that chronic pain should be monitored even more closely if a child is subjected to difficult or stressful events.

For the study, researchers grouped children with chronic pain conditions or rheumatic diseases into one of three groups:

Pain with zero adverse childhood events
Pain with one adverse childhood event
Pain with two or more adverse childhood events

Although the researchers didn’t spell out exactly what type of adverse events were tracked for the study, they did mention that a wide array of adverse events were used as data points. They said traumatic experiences included a range of physical, mental and sexual abuse, and things like divorce or family mental illness.

“The results indicate that children with chronic pain and/or rheumatologic diseases who are exposed to ACEs are at increased risk of worse functional disability, greater pain-related symptomatology, and a higher burden of co-morbid mental health conditions,” researchers wrote. Patients who had experienced two or more adverse childhood events had “more somatic symptoms, worse functional disability, and a higher proportion of mental health conditions.”

Mental Health And Chronic Pain Symptoms

As we’ve talked about at length on the blog in the past, chronic pain and your mental health are closely connected, so it should come as no surprise that children with chronic pain who experience traumatic life events would be at risk for more severe pain symptoms. Chronic pain is not just a physical condition, and mental factors like stress or anxiety can absolutely make physical symptoms worse.

While the study only focused on children, the results should likely be applied to all populations that are dealing with a chronic pain condition. If you experience an adverse event in your life, don’t be surprised if your pain or your symptoms worsen. It’s not ideal, but it’s a direct result of this new mental stress and fatigue.

The only bright spot about this news is that it helps us understand that we need to be aware of the physical issues that may come along with a psychologically traumatic event. If we’re aware of how these events can impact our physical health, we can help patients get the care they need sooner or develop some coping skills to lessen the effects of the event. Patients should also be up front with their pain care providers about what’s going on in their life so that providers can help them appropriately manage your pain. You don’t need to go into great detail about your divorce or family loss, but let your pain care specialist know that you’re going through some stressful life events and that you’re aware stress and worsening symptoms can go hand in hand.

We want to help you find pain relief, and that involves treating the physical, mental and emotional aspects of your condition. To connect with a provider who will help treat all these aspects and more, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today.

Four Ways Your Lifestyle May Be Driving Your Chronic Neck Pain

March 4, 2022 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Major traumas get all the headlines, but for a large percent of Americans, their underlying pain condition is actually brought on by subtle stress or microtrauma experienced over months and years instead of a single instance. Because of this, many people don’t realize how their actions or their lifestyle choices are actually contributing to their pain condition. With that in mind, we wanted to use today’s blog to look at four ways your lifestyle may be fueling your chronic neck pain.

How Lifestyle Choices Are Causing Your Chronic Neck Pain

Here’s a look at four ways your lifestyle or daily actions may be contributing to your chronic neck pain.

1. Your Posture At Work Or While Driving – A lot of people spend time sitting in a car each day as they commute to a job where they’ll sit at a desk for eight hours, and if their head isn’t in the right position while they are sitting, their cervical spine will have to take on more stress. If you’re leaning back in your car seat or hunched forward at your work desk, your neck is tasked with handling the weight of your head, and it’s heavier than you may realize! The average human head weighs about 11 pounds, and that stress on your neck is amplified when your head isn’t positioned directly above your shoulders.

2. Your Sleeping Habits – If your pillow or mattress are too firm or too soft, it can push your neck and spine out of proper alignment. Consider how many hours the average person sleeps each day, it’s easy to see how an extended period in an undesirable position can be hard on your neck. Find a firm, supportive mattress and rest your head on a single pillow to make it easier for your spine to be in alignment when you sleep.

3. Your Smartphone Habits – Smartphones allow us to connect with others or look up information at the push of a button, but if we use the device for hours each day, there’s a good chance that our necks are suffering because of it. When you’re looking down at your smartphone, your neck is likely leaning forward, which as we talked about in the posture section, puts a lot of strain on your cervical spine and the muscles that help support it. Strive to have your cell phone out in front of you instead of in your lap when you’re texting or scrolling, and really make it a point to limit how much you’re on your device to help give your neck a break.

4. Your Exercise Habits – Finally, your exercise habits play a big role in the health of your neck. Aerobic exercise helps to push healthy blood to vital structures in your neck that need them to function properly, whereas inactivity contributes to muscle stiffness and atrophy. Low-impact exercises like walking or swimming are great for your neck, while living a sedentary lifestyle can lead to pain and other symptoms in your cervical spine. Just another reason to get your exercise each day!

If you’re dealing with pain or other symptoms in your neck and you want a specialist to help you get to the bottom of your discomfort, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today.

The Importance Of Overcoming The Fear Of Your Chronic Pain Condition

October 28, 2021 / Thomas Cohn, MD

An aversion to pain is natural, and it’s not uncommon for a person to be afraid of pain, which can be both good and bad. Fearing pain can lead us to make smart decisions to avoid potentially painful activities, but it can also work against us if we’re so afraid of pain that it leads us to make choices that end up compounding pain. It may sound a bit confusing, but let us explain.

If you wake up and are afraid of your pain condition, you may opt to stay in bed and avoid physical activity that could help you break out of your cycle of pain. It can lead you to want to stay in bed, order unhealthy take-out and do nothing positive for your health the whole day. When you let the fear of your chronic pain condition dictate your day, it makes it harder and harder to develop healthy habits that can actually help you overcome your condition. You can work towards improving your condition, or you can make it worse, but you can’t let fear lead you down the wrong path.

Let Fear Fuel You

Instead of letting fear keep you inactive, let it fuel you to make positive changes in your life. Know that if you don’t do anything to help yourself get better, there’s a very good chance that your condition will get worse, so let that knowledge motivate you to make positive changes in your life.

These changes don’t need to take place overnight, either. Strive for a few “wins” each day, and build on them. Go for a one mile walk in the afternoon, have some vegetables for a snack, and do an extra round of your physical therapy exercises. Write down some of the positive things you did for your health each day, and challenge yourself to build on those goals as time goes on. Small steps can lead to big changes over time, you just need to be patient and challenge yourself to do right by your body.

You don’t need to live in fear of your chronic pain, but it pays to be knowledgeable about how your chronic pain can continue to worsen if you do nothing about it. Other than making some simple changes in your life to be more active and eat healthier, it’s also imperative that you sync up with a pain management specialist like Dr. Cohn. He’ll be able to get to the bottom of your condition, explain what’s going on, and provide you with some direction to keep working towards your ultimate goal of helping you rid yourself of your pain condition.

So while fear of pain can motivate you, don’t let it force you into bad habits that increase your likelihood of future pain. To break out of the cycle and overcome your pain, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today.

Five Red Flags That You Should See A Neck Pain Specialist

October 13, 2021 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Neck pain can be, well, a real pain in the neck! But how do you know if your neck pain is serious or something that will go away on its own with a little rest? In today’s blog, we take a closer look at five red flags that suggest you should see a neck pain specialist for your neck discomfort.

Neck Pain Red Flags

If you’re experiencing any of the following sensations, or any of the following statements are true, it’s time that you connect with a neck pain specialist like Dr. Cohn to get to the bottom of your pain and start a treatment regimen.

1. Severe Pain – The most obvious sign that you need to seek professional help for your neck pain is if it is severe in nature. If movements bring crippling pain, or you’re in constant pain throughout the day because of your neck, don’t delay. Set up an appointment with a pain management specialist right away.

2. Limited Range Of Motion – You may not have severe pain, but if your neck discomfort is limiting your ability to turn your neck in different directions, you’re avoiding certain movements because you know they will hurt, or you’ve lost your normal range of motion because of your pain, it’s a sign that you need medical intervention. Contact a back and neck specialist to help restore this lost flexibility.

3. Inhibited Gait Or Balance – You might be amazed to learn how much your neck affects your ability to walk normally and maintain your balance. If a shifted cervical disc is pinching a spinal nerve, you may find it hard to walk normally or keep your balance. If you’re walking differently because of neck pain, or you’re finding it harder to keep your balance, sync up with a pain management specialist.

4. Extremity Discomfort or Numbness – Your spinal nerves travel down your body and to your arms and legs, so if a nerve is damaged in the neck region, it can lead to symptoms in your arms and legs. If your hands are going numb when you’re seated or there is a shooting pain down your leg when you walk, have a pain specialist find the source of the nerve impingement and work to correct it.

5. Your Quality Of Life/Independence Is Decreasing – Finally, if you find that you’re not doing all the activities that you once loved because of your neck pain, or your discomfort is restricting your independence, it’s a clear sign that you need medical assistance. Don’t let neck pain dictate your life. Treat the problem head on, regain your independence and achieve that higher quality of life that you deserve.

For more information, or for help with your neck pain, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today.