The Benefits And Drawbacks Of Online Chronic Pain Support Groups

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

online support groupThe advent of the internet has made it easier for people to connect with one another from all over the world. This is especially helpful in the pain management community. Many people may not know anyone else in their immediate circle dealing with a specific type of chronic pain condition, but they can connect with hundreds or thousands of individuals who are going through the same issue they are dealing with when they find a support group dedicated to that condition.

At the same time, support groups aren’t a perfect solution for your chronic pain issue either, and they can actually make it harder to overcome your pain if you’re not careful. In today’s blog, we take a closer look at some of the benefits and drawbacks of online support groups for chronic pain.

Benefits Of Online Pain Support Groups

We’ve recommended online support groups to patients in the past, and they have the potential to be a perfect complement to your comprehensive treatment plan. For starters, there is a huge psychological weight that can be lifted off your shoulders when you know that you’re not going through your issue alone. There are so many others out there dealing with similar issues, and you can share ideas and stories with one another to feel less isolated by your chronic pain condition.

In fact, in a study about chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, the most frequently mentioned benefit of an online support group was illness legitimization (67.8%). Two other benefits that were frequently mentioned were finding out new information (66.4%) and feeling understood by others (62.2%). Clearly sharing ideas and connecting with others was helpful for those dealing with an isolating condition.

Drawbacks For Online Support Groups

The same study also looked at some potential drawbacks associated with these pain groups, and they found some interesting results. Most notably, active members of the pain care group reported greater symptom severity and less illness improvement than inactive members or dropouts. Now, there’s many possible reasons for this result. Inactive individuals or dropouts may not lean on the group as much because their pain wasn’t as severe, so they may be more likely to find a solution that leads them to no longer need the group.

However, there’s also the hypothesis that over-dependence and heavy involvement in an online support group can negatively affect how you approach your pain condition. One of the most frequently reported reasons for dropping out of the group was too much negative talk or complaining (33.3%). If all you read about your condition is how horrible it is, how doctors are working against you and how there’s no hope for the future, those thoughts can make it harder for you to find the right treatment plan. You may be more likely to avoid the solutions you need simply because of misinformation and pain catastrophizing that can take place in these groups.

A number of these groups can connect you with wonderful people who truly want to help you find a solution to your pain, but like any online group, they can also be full of people who are angry at the world and use the group to spread their misery to others. Whether intentional or not, it’s important that you don’t allow yourself to focus on these negative comments and know that it will do nothing to actually help you overcome your condition.

We’d be happy to point you in the direction of some in-person or online groups where you can connect with others in the midst of their own personal pain battle. You don’t have to go through it alone, and you can also fight your battle with a pain management specialist by your side. For help with your pain condition, or for answers to your questions, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today.

Caring For Chronic Low Back Pain

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

low back pain lifestyleThe following is a guest blog from Natalia Madden at The Healthy Place, a vitamin and supplement company that originated in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, and now has additional storefronts in the greater Madison area. The Healthy Place hopes to provide customers with the highest quality products and the education needed for customers to stride forward confidently on their journey to find wellness. You can learn more about them on their website, FindYourHealthyPlace.com

Your back is in pain and you feel at odds. Why? Well, this frustrating pain can leave us feeling helpless due to its central location, interfering with everything we try to do. Maybe your back hurts from bad posture or daily wear and tear, or you injured yourself exercising or doing yard work. Whatever is causing your low back pain, you want relief — and you want it fast.

Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to relieve lower back pain without the use of conventional pain medications. Check out the best low back pain relief methods below, where we mention everything from stretches and supplements to the best healthcare specialist you should seek for this pain.

How to Relieve Low Back Pain

  • Maintain good posture: This relaxes tension from your lower back that causes pain.
  • Stay active, even when your body wants otherwise: This prevents the weakening of back muscles and spinal support.
  • Stretch in the morning and throughout the day: Exercises like yoga and Pilates strengthen your core to keep back and hip muscles strong and supportive.
  • See a chiropractor or pain management specialist.
  • Supply your body with natural, relieving nutrients: Eat a nutritious diet and take dietary supplements to keep your nerves, muscles, and bones nourished for less pain and discomfort.

Low back pain is an unfortunately common health issue. In fact, it’s a leading cause of disability and over 25% of Americans struggle with it regularly. While pain relievers and other conventional methods are a normal go-to for low back pain, there are a variety of natural methods to relieve this uncomfortable and frustrating concern.

Stand tall, stay active, stretch regularly, and see a chiropractor or pain management specialist to maintain a pain-free back. And when the pain is in your way of daily life, nourish your body with a natural pain relief supplement. You can learn more about these options by talking to your pain management specialist or by connecting with a vitamin and supplement provider like Find Your Healthy Place!

Could The Arts Helps Drown Out Chronic Pain?

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

art therapyDoctors and patients are always looking for new ways to take the sting out of a chronic pain condition, and while exercise and opioids are two of the most common treatments, other complimentary activities may also help a person drown out pain signals. According to new research, turning to the arts may help some people get a better handle over their chronic pain condition.

Art As Pain Treatment

There are a number of theories as to why turning to the creative arts may help someone manage their chronic pain condition, and the prevailing wisdom is that it helps to pull your attention away from your pain. Chronic pain can be an intrusive experience that seizes your attention and thoughts, but throwing yourself into a creative arts experience can help pull your thoughts away from your pain.

Others believe that art therapy can be helpful because it gives patients a sense of control. Chronic pain can be overwhelming and leave you feeling like you no longer have control over your physical health, but channeling your focus towards something that you create can help you regain a sense of control. If you learn that you can control some aspects of your life, your chronic pain condition doesn’t seem as unmanageable.

A number of studies have helped back up these theories, although they have only proved correlation, not causation. For example, we’ve seen how an art lesson can help cancer patients experience less pain, and how the creative arts like music, dance, even just looking at a painting can improve a person’s ability to cope with pain.

In fact, a 2020 report by the National Endowment for the Arts concluded that “arts-based interventions should be considered among potential complementary approaches for managing pain.”

So while Dr. Cohn and his team aren’t likely to prescribe some crayons and a coloring book at your next appointment, there does appear to be a clear connection between creative expression, art appreciation and the ability to better manage uncontrolled pain. Art therapy will not be able to replace your exercise program, but it can be a perfect compliment to your current treatment to help yield even better results.

Stick to your normal pain care routine, but this summer, consider creating something in a sketchbook once a week or visiting the local art fair once a month to gain a greater appreciation for the arts, and your pain condition may also become more manageable! For more information, or for more traditional treatments to help overcome a chronic pain condition, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today.

Five Additional Issues Caused By Unmanaged Chronic Pain

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

head painChronic pain isn’t an easy condition to control, and sometimes that can lead patients to become frusterated with how treatment is progressing. It can even lead them to give up on treating their condition entirely if they resolve to just grit their teeth and bear it during the bad days.

This isn’t ideal, because unaddressed chronic pain can cause a number of different issues for your health outside of pain. In today’s blog, we take a closer look at five additional health issues that can be caused by unmanaged chronic pain.

Health Issues Related To Chronic Pain

Here’s a look at a number of new health issues you may find yourself dealing with if you don’t work to actively manage your chronic pain condition.

1. High Blood Pressure – Unmanaged chronic pain places a heavy burden on your body, including your heart and your cardiovascular system. During a pain flare up, your body releases substances that increase your blood pressure and heart rate. Prolonged elevated blood pressure can put you at a higher risk for stroke or a heart attack.

2. Decreased Sleep Quality – Chronic pain can make it harder for a person to fall asleep and stay asleep, which can lead to shorter periods of extended restful sleep. This prolonged sleep is necessary for your whole body health, wheras poor sleep quality can leave your feeling tired and groggy throughout the day.

3. Depression and Anxiety – Chronic pain can also take a signfiicant toll on your mental health. Pain is a heavy burden to bear, and it can also affect the same pathways in the brain that regulate your mood. This can increase your risk of anxiety, depression, mood swings and similar mental health conditions.

4. Weight Gain – When you’re in pain, oftentimes all you want to do is curl up in bed and wait for the discomfort to dissapate. While that can be helpful once in a while, regularly avoiding activity and becoming more sedentary can lead to weight gain, which stresses other areas of the body like your joints. Not getting exercise because you’re in pain can lead you to become more inactive, leading to an increased risk of weight gain and making it harder for you to break out of the cycle you’re now caught in.

5. Decreased Quality of Life – While not exactly a health condition, untreated chronic pain can also negatively affect your total quality of life. You may find yourself shying away from activities you once loved or avoiding social situations out of fear of a flare up. That’s no way to go through life, but it’s a reality for many people who deal with pain on a daily basis.

Chronic pain is enough of a hassle without all the other issues that can develop as a result of untreated chronic pain, so it’s imperative that you really work to find a solution to your pain issue. That’s what Dr. Cohn and his team are here for. We won’t stop until we find a solution that works for you and has you back on the path to a fuller and more enjoyable life. For more information, or to take the first step in overcoming your pain condition, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today at (952) 738-4580.

New Research Dividing Physicians Over NSAIDs For Chronic Pain

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

NSAIDsWhen you suffer an injury, it causes an inflammatory reaction inside the body, and if the problem isn’t treated correctly, this inflammation can linger. The prevailing understanding when it comes to chronic pain is that it is caused by chronic inflammation, which is why many specialists try to prevent the problem by working to control inflammation. Anti-inflammatory medication like Ibuprofen has been a common recommendation for decades as a way to effectively manage inflammation and work to reduce the risk of it becoming chronic.

However, new research seems to suggest that attempting to drown out this inflammation with anti-inflammatory medications before it gets out of control may not be providing the benefits we assume it does. In fact, they believe short-term use of these Non Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) may actually increase your risk of chronic pain in the long term, and that claim is dividing the medical world.

Ibuprofen And Chronic Pain

The new research suggests that the initial inflammation that develops after an injury may be necessary for the body to make a full recovery. If this suggestion is true, it could shatter the decades-old standard of treating pain with aspirin, ibuprofen or IV steroids at the hospital. By drowning out this necessary initial inflammation, researchers suggest NSAIDs may actually be putting patients at a greater risk for developing chronic pain.

“For many decades it’s been standard medical practice to treat pain with anti-inflammatory drugs. But we found that this short-term fix could lead to longer-term problems,” says Jeffrey Mogil, a Professor in the Department of Psychology at McGill University and E. P. Taylor Chair in Pain Studies. “Neutrophils dominate the early stages of inflammation and set the stage for repair of tissue damage. Inflammation occurs for a reason, and it looks like it’s dangerous to interfere with it.”

Now, it’s worth noting that not everyone agrees with the research, at least not without additional evidence. The paper was rejected from the New England Journal of Medicine after one reviewer wrote that he would not “overturn decades of medical practice,” until additional convincing evidence was presented.

Even if the findings are true, as we’ve said countless times on our blog in the past, it may only hold true for a subset of patients because chronic pain is so unique to the individual, and what works for one patient may not work for others. For example, the shock and inflammatory response of an ankle sprain and a surgery vary greatly, and assuming this research applies unilaterally to both of these groups could lead people down the wrong treatment path.

So while the jury is still out on whether or not NSAIDs may be having some unintended consequences for our ability to help pain resolve, the good news is more research is being poured into how to best handle chronic pain, and that’s a great thing. The more we learn, the better we can help each patient.

If you need help with a chronic pain issue, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today at (952) 738-4580.