chronic pain in minnesota

Minnesota Expands Medical Cannabis To Chronic Pain Sufferers

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

Medical Marijuana Minnesota Chronic Pain IntracableThis past Monday, Minnesota expanded its medical cannabis program to include individuals who are suffering from severe, chronic and intractable pain. Opening the doors to these patients could bring relief to thousands of people whose pain has not been quelled by traditional treatment techniques.

Before the program opened up to intractable pain, the Office of Medical Cannabis announced that they had 1,827 active patients receiving medical marijuana. Although the numbers haven’t been released yet, likely because it will take some time to sift through all the applications and medical material, state planners project that the number of participants may jump to 5,000 or more.

Proponents hope that the influx of patients will ensure those in pain will get the treatment they need, while current members hope their presence will help lower what some feel are extremely high prices.

Watching Closely

While it’s certainly exciting that people with chronic conditions will have another potential treatment avenue, many doctors are hesitant to fully embrace medicinal marijuana for chronic pain. Many champion marijuana as safer than opioids, which cause more than 300 overdose deaths in Minnesota each year, but we really don’t understand all the compounds in marijuana. It may not lead to overdose deaths, but until we know more about all the compounds in cannabis, we’re not going to be able to treat any patients with pain with any degree of certainty.

Minnesota is one of 25 states that have legalized medicinal marijuana, and the vast majority of those states list chronic pain as a qualifying condition. Studies have also shown that overdoses have fallen in those states with medicinal marijuana, and doctors in those states are writing fewer prescriptions for potentially dangerous opioids.

Hopefully those who truly need relief will be approved and find help through the state’s medical marijuana program. I hope the state reinvests some of the profits into future studies to ensure we are doing everything in our power to keep our patients safe, and so we can better understand how cannabis and pain are related.

For more information about the program, including a list of eligible conditions or how to apply, click here.

Pacing Yourself With Chronic Pain

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

Pacing Yourself with chronic painIf one has chronic pain issues, sometimes life requires compromise. Our bodies change as we age. Just like a car, when we are young, not much maintenance needs to be done. As we get older, the parts become worn and it takes more work to keep us running. We can no longer just add fuel and go, we have to do routine maintenance and do special work to keep the body moving. Going full speed ahead may not be the wisest move, and slowing down might be helpful.

3 Aspects of Health and Wellness

In order to keep going, one of the most important aspects of care is to exercise. There are three components to a good program; stretching, strengthening and aerobic conditioning. Like a three legged stool, all of these components are necessary to prevent one from collapsing. When one is young, doing only one aspect may be okay, but if you have chronic pain, without all three it may not work.

Stretching – Muscle tightness and “spasms” often cause pain, so stretching of these areas significantly reduces muscle tightness and pain. Stretching often needs to be done several times a day, once should be fairly extensive, but short 30-60 seconds of isolated stretches may be extremely helpful throughout the day.

Strengthening – Strengthening is essential to maintain the body’s power and ability to perform activity. To be able perform an activity, one needs to have the muscle strength. Performing strengthening of the muscles by using exercises that push the body against gravity, or using machines, weights or bands are simple ways. Simple exercise routines can be found easily in apps for your smart phone or by searching the internet especially for the neck and low back region.

Aerobic Conditioning – The last leg of the stool is aerobic conditioning. Aerobic exercise ranges from walking, to pool exercises, to workouts on treadmills, ellipticals, or bicycles. Conditioning should be for about 30 minutes and be 4-5 times a week.

If one has chronic pain, the intensity and speed that one went at life prior to injury often needs to be decreased. Going all out at any activity often will cause more problems. Despite doing the appropriate exercise, once injured the body is often not perfect thereafter. Expecting to be able to do everything the same as what one did 20 years ago is unrealistic. Spring cleanup or housework that was once done in a single day may now require splitting up the routine over several days and paced out. It may take just a bit longer, but the job will still get done. It often does not matter what route one takes, as long as one gets to the same endpoint.

Once a new car leaves the dealer, it is always deteriorating unless it is never used. Once we reach adulthood, the body is always slowly growing older. It will never be quite the same as it once was in the past. Maintenance is always needed. Pacing ourselves through life will give us longevity. Getting to the endpoint is what is important. Speeding will garnish a ticket; more pain and will not make the journey especially enjoyable.