8 Quick Tips For Keeping Chronic Pain At Bay This Thanksgiving

November 23, 2022 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Thanksgiving can be a wonderful holiday to spend with family and friends, but for many with a chronic pain condition, the holiday presents numerous challenges if they want to avoid a painful flareup. And while everyone celebrates Thanksgiving a little differently, we wanted to use today’s blog to share eight ways you can work to keep chronic pain at bay this Thanksgiving.

Below, we share some tips for managing your chronic pain condition over the Thanksgiving holiday.

8 Chronic Pain Tips For Thanksgiving

While enjoyable, Thanksgiving is oftentimes much more stressful than your average day, and stress is one of the most common chronic pain triggers. To help reduce your stress and keep other potential issues at bay, here’s a look at eight tips to keep in mind as you navigate the Thanksgiving holiday.

1. Give Yourself Plenty Of Time – While we know that sleep is important, you may find it easier to keep chronic pain at bay if you wake up a little earlier and give yourself plenty of time to get ready for the day. Starting the day stressed and behind schedule can increase your risk of a flare up.

2. Leave Early – If you have to travel a decent distance, leave a little early so that you can stop for a couple minutes to stretch if pain starts to develop. Leaving a little early can also help to reduce stress in the event that you run into traffic on your journey.

3. Mind Your Diet – The Thanksgiving meal can easily trigger a painful flareup, so be particularly mindful of what you put on your plate. Foods that are high in sugar and fat are pro-inflammatory, and inflammation can cause a chronic pain reaction.

4. Skip The Alcohol – Alcohol can also end up triggering a chronic pain response, so consider sticking to water, which will also aid in the digestive process.

5. Share Duties – If you’re hosting Thanksgiving, make sure you share duties so that you’re not trying to do everything by yourself. Have others bring a dish to pass, and seek out help cleaning up the kitchen after the big meal. Overloading yourself physically during Thanksgiving can cause problems for your chronic pain condition.

6. Keep The Conversation Light – Family members don’t always see eye to eye, and the stress levels can get ratcheted up if the conversation turns sour. You can’t always control what gets discussed at Thanksgiving, but consider removing yourself from stressful conversations if the topic turns to politics, sports or previous family issues.

7. Stay Active After The Meal – We know that it can be tempting to lay down on the couch after the Thanksgiving meal, but being sedentary will make it harder for your body to break down and digest the meal, and this can actually increase your risk of a chronic pain flareup. Make it easier on your body to digest your food by standing or walking for 15-20 minutes after the meal.

8. Good Night’s Sleep – It can be easy for our body’s sleep schedule to get a little thrown off by the Thanksgiving holiday, and healthy sleep is imperative for chronic pain patients. Work to maintain a normal sleep schedule over the next few days.

Keep these eight tips in mind over the next couple of days, and we hope that you’ll have a wonderful and pain-free holiday! For more information, or for help with a chronic pain issue, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today at (952) 738-4580.

Individualized Care Key To Treating Back Pain

November 17, 2022 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Back pain is incredibly common, as more than 90 percent of people will deal with acute or chronic back pain at some point in their life. So while back pain is common, it doesn’t mean that any old one-size-fits-all treatment will cut it. In fact, researchers actually found the opposite to be true. In today’s blog, we take a closer look at the importance of connecting with a pain management specialist if you want to put an end to your back pain.

Patient-Specific Care Key For Combating Back Pain

Although general back pain is common, the underlying condition that you are dealing with is highly unique. Nobody else is experiencing exactly the same type of back pain, so we shouldn’t just assume that a singular type of treatment will work for everyone.

That theory was at the heart of a recent meta-analysis published in the Journal of Pain. For the study, researchers looked at the data from 58 randomized trails involving over 10,000 individuals suffering from chronic low back pain throughout the world. When looking closer at the data, researchers scoured to learn more about treatment techniques and whether an individual was treated with a conventional form of treatment or a more individualized care plan. In this instance, individualized meant things like personal coaching, targeted physical therapy, and professionally-guided patient care techniques.

According to the study, patients who received individualized therapy for their chronic back pain were much more likely to experience successful treatment results. The success rate for pain alleviation was 38 percent greater in the individualized group compared to conventional treatment techniques. As you might imagine, individualized attention may require more professional resources and effort, but researchers say it’s worth it.

“The higher effort required for individual treatment is worthwhile because patients benefit to an extent that is clinically important,” said lead author Dr. Johannes Fleckenstein from the Institute of Sport Sciences at Goethe University Frankfurt.

Researchers took the study even one step further. They also compared treatment success when combining individualized techniques with a talk therapy technique known as cognitive behavioral therapy. By giving patients individualized attention and talking with them about personal ways to handle and cope with pain, researchers found that treatment was 84 percent more effective than conventional back pain treatment.

If you are dealing with back pain or a similar chronic pain condition, it’s imperative that you seek out a professional and get individualized advice instead of just trying some generic exercises that you find on the internet. We pride ourselves on giving each patient the time and attention they need to overcome their physical pain, and we know we can to the same for you, and the research backs up this individualized approach! For more information, or to connect with a specialist to have a conversation about your pain condition, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today at (952) 738-4580.

5 Ways To Treat Your Arthritis Today To Feel Better Tomorrow

November 11, 2022 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Arthritis is one of the most common medical issues, having been diagnosed in roughly 1 in every 4 adults. Because it’s so common, many people assume that arthritis-related symptoms are simply something that they have to get used to dealing with, but that simply isn’t true. And while you can’t turn back the clock and restore your joint health to how it felt decades ago, you can improve your symptoms and slow or stop the progression of joint degeneration.

Best of all, treatment is oftentimes pretty simple and only involves a few adjustments to your daily life. With that in mind, we highlight five things you can do to treat your arthritis today so that you’ll feel better tomorrow.

Daily Treatments For Arthritis

Arthritis is a degenerative condition that can be caused by natural factors like normal wear and tear and aging, or it can be exacerbated by injuries and illnesses. However, you can fight back against your arthritis by doing these five things regularly:

1. Exercise – Perhaps the best thing you can do to improve the health of your joints and help them become stronger for tomorrow is exercise. Exercise strengthens your joints and the soft tissues that help to keep them stable. Pressure on your joints has less of a degenerative impact on the joint when the supportive structures are stronger and better able to disperse this stress. Strive to get at least 30-45 minutes of exercise each day, or at least 3-4 times a week.

2. Eat Right – Your diet can also play a role in arthritis symptom prevalence. Foods that are high in sugar or fat tend to be pro-inflammatory, and this inflammation can cause problems for you joints. Avoid these pro-inflammatory foods and reach for more fruits and vegetables, and you may find that you are experiencing fewer arthritis symptoms.

3. Use Ice And Heat To Your Advantage – Ice and heat can help to improve your circulation or prevent swelling and inflammation, so use their powers wisely! Ice your arthritic joints after exercise or periods of extended activity to help keep swelling and inflammation at bay, or use a heating pad if your joints are feeling stiff or uncomfortable.

4. Physical Therapy – Physical therapy is very similar to exercise, but it can be even more beneficial at controlling symptoms because you can target specific areas. Your pain management specialist or a physical therapist can help set you up with some home-based therapy exercises to perform each day or when symptoms begin to help you get more control over your arthritis. Physical therapy can be both a treatment and prevention technique, so don’t underestimate the power of connecting with a physical therapist!

5. Mind Your Posture – Finally, it’s important to be mindful of your posture each and every day. When your body is out of alignment, you’re putting excessive stress on certain areas, including pivotal joints. Poor posture or body mechanics can cause problems for your facet joints in your spine, the joints in your wrists or put excess pressure on your knees. Improve your posture each day, and your joints will thank you for it!

If you do these things each day, and you connect with a pain management specialist like Dr. Cohn, we’re confident that you’ll notice an improvement in your arthritic symptoms! For more information, or for help with a different pain issue, give our office a call today at (952) 738-4580.

Walking Can Significantly Reduce Chronic Knee Pain Risk

October 20, 2022 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Joint issues are a common source of pain for millions of Americans, and oftentimes it’s the knee joints where this degeneration and discomfort is most obvious. Knee pain can make every step a burden, which is why preventing knee joint deterioration is key. According to a new study, you may be able to do just that by taking a few more steps each day.

According to a new study by researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine, walking may be a powerful way to prevent and treat osteoarthritis of the knee. For the study, researchers tracked more than 1,200 individuals aged 50 or older with knee osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis. Participants self-reported their walking habits and frequency, which helped researchers classify 73 percent of the group as walkers and 27 percent as non-walkers.

Walking And The Impact On Your Knees

After looking closer at the medical data between the two groups, researchers found that those who walked for exercise had a 40 percent decrease in the likelihood of experiencing frequent knee pain. X-rays were also used to assess for the progression and severity of osteoarthritis in the knees, and these images showed that walkers were less likely to experience medial joint space narrowing, which is one way to measure arthritis progression. Researchers concluded that going for regular walks could help to both control knee pain and slow to further osteoarthritis degeneration.

“These findings are particularly useful for people who have radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis but don’t have pain every day in their knees,” said first author of the paper Dr. Grace Hsiao-Wei Lo. “This study supports the possibility that walking for exercise can help to prevent the onset of daily knee pain. It might also slow down the worsening of damage inside the joint from osteoarthritis.”

Walking is such a simple act that can be performed almost anywhere, and it’s not overly stressful on the body. While it may not be able to cure you of your arthritis, it can help to maintain function in your knee, aid in pain control and slow continued arthritis progression, all of which are important for your quality of life.

So if you’re dealing with chronic knee pain, know that you don’t need to pursue an intense workout at the gym to help combat your symptoms and make your knee healthier for tomorrow. Simply lace up your walking shoes and walk for 30-45 minutes a day! And if you’re still looking for help overcoming a chronic pain issue, make sure you reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team. For more information, or for help with a different pain management issue, give our team a call today at (952) 738-4580.

Painkillers May Not Be Necessary After Some Knee And Shoulder Surgeries

October 14, 2022 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Medical researchers are always looking for more information about how they can help patients recover following a surgical procedure. The prevailing wisdom is that opioids and painkillers are needed to help patients manage discomfort following arthroscopic surgery, but new research found that these strong medications may not be necessary.

For the most recent study, researchers wanted to get a better understanding of how necessary opioid pain relievers were after arthroscopic knee or shoulder surgery compared to non-opioid pain relievers. To do this, they looked at 193 patients who underwent outpatient surgery on their shoulders or knees at three different participating hospitals. Roughly half of the patients received opioids for postoperative pain, while the other half received naproxen and acetaminophen for pain, as well as pantoprazole, a medication normally used to treat heartburn and acid reflux. Both groups had access to emergency opioids if needed to aid in pain relief.

Post-Op Pain Control

After six weeks, patients in the opioid group had used an average of 72.6 mg of opioids, compared to 8.4 mg in the opioid-sparing group. Two patients in the opioid-sparing group asked for opioid medication after their discharge. Researchers noted that there was no significant differences in patient satisfaction, pain levels or adverse events when comparing the two groups.

“This study clearly shows that many of these surgical patients can be treated safely without opioid medications in a select population,” said lead author Olufemi Ayeni, MD, a professor of surgery at McMaster and an orthopedic surgeon at Hamilton Health Sciences. “Furthermore, by reducing the number of opioids prescribed, we can collectively reduce the development of a reservoir of unused medications that can cause harm to many in society.”

More than one million arthroscopic surgeries are performed in the United States every year, and if it turns out that many of these patients can manage post-op discomfort without the need for potentially addictive and dangerous opioids, that’s a huge win. In fact, doctors have already started to make this shift. Data shows that since 2017, the number of opioid pills prescribed to patients undergoing minimally invasive surgeries has fallen by 50 percent, although that may be driven by a number of factors.

As we’ve always said on the blog, opioids can absolutely play a crucial role in a pain management program, but we have to be careful about becoming over-reliant on them. Opioids are never intended to be a long-term option, but they can certainly make it easier to participate in a rehab program after injury or surgery. Make sure that you take full advantage of the benefits of opioids when you need them most, and odds are you’ll find that you need them less and less.

For more information about appropriately managing pain after an injury or surgery, or for help overcoming a chronic condition, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today at (952) 738-4580.