Chronic Pain Makes School Difficult For Children

March 8, 2018 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Although the findings may not be all that surprising, new research shows that children with chronic pain are significantly more likely to deal with life events that can contribute to poorer school performance.

According to the research, 81.5 percent of children with a history of chronic pain reported dealing with at least one adverse life event that could have impacted their school performance. Children with chronic pain were more likely to report:

Missing school due to not feeling well.
Missing school for medical treatment.
Having a difficult time paying attention in class.
Finding it hard to keep up with school activities.

Chronic Pain In School Children

As you can see, it’s clearly important for children, their parents and the education staff to develop a comprehensive care plan for dealing with chronic illnesses and flareups. These kids probably feel ostracized enough without having to feel like they’re falling behind on homework or with the curriculum. Here’s a look at some ways all of these groups can come together to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Children need to be proactive about getting homework and lesson plans from the classes they’ve missed.
Parents need to stress the importance of getting homework and ensure children aren’t missing assignments from missed classes.
Parents need to talk with school staff about the child’s potential health issues so it’s on their radar.
School staff need to realize that children aren’t using their chronic condition as a crutch or an excuse.
Parents and children should ensure they get a doctor’s note for medical appointments during class.
If homework extensions are needed, let the teacher know as far in advance as possible.
Consider supplemental education resources, like tutoring or extra credit.
If any party has concerns, they should be brought up sooner rather than later so there aren’t any misunderstandings.
Once you find a routine that works, do what you can to stay in that routine.

Chronic pain can be tough to deal with, but it’s even more difficult if you’re a kid in school trying to learn and make friends. If your child needs help with any aspect of their chronic pain care plan, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today.

Chronic Pain In College Part 2 – Pain and Your Job

November 30, 2015 / Thomas Cohn, MD

(Below is Part 2 of a four-part series on chronic pain in high school and college. It was penned by a college student who has dealt with chronic pain throughout her academic career. The four-part series will cover four important aspects of college life – Academics, Dating, Employment and Social Life. Here’s Part 2 on how holding a job while in school can be difficult if you deal with chronic pain. Part 1 on Chronic Pain and Academics can be seen here.

How Chronic Pain Affects Your Job

If you struggle with chronic pain, I’m sure the thought about getting and keeping full-time employment will have crossed your mind at some point or another. From my experiences I can offer suggestions and a few pieces of advice.

As you search for a job, search for a company that is employee-focused and cares about everyone in their company. Many companies will have similar positions for people of a certain major, but one of the biggest differences in the job you have comes from the company and culture at your workplace. Companies that stress work flexibility and employee support are the places to seriously consider because they will be more likely to offer flexible work hours (allow for doctor appointments, leave early on a bad pain day and work late another, etc), flexible working location (home or in-office), ergonomic work stations (sit-to-stand desks, supportive chair, etc), and other services for employees such as a gym, nurse, or physical therapists on-site.

During an interview, it is perfectly appropriate to ask questions that relate to company culture, how employees are treated and any other specific questions you have to help give you an idea of whether or not that company goes out of their way to make sure employees can comfortably and effectively get their work done. Once you have the job offer, you can ask HR more specific questions, including any concerns you might have or if they can make any accommodations before you accept the offer. When you start working (whether it’s a summer job, part-time position, internship, or full-time role) speak to your boss and project manager about your health and how it can sometimes affect how you need to work. If you don’t share this information, you won’t be able to ask for working accommodations and they won’t be able to understand what’s going on and how to help you to be successful at work.

Personally, I have found being up-front and honest really helped me because my project manager was able to look into ergonomic work stations and was very understanding if I had to leave in the middle of a day for a physical therapy appointment, go home early or even work from home on a day that my pain was bad. If you put in the effort to research the places you want to work at on sites like Glassdoor, Business Insider, and the company’s website, and you speak to your HR representative about work accommodations, I have no doubt you will be able to work in the field of your choice even while dealing with chronic pain.

Part 3 on Chronic Pain and Social Life in College will be published on Wednesday.

Chronic Pain as a College Student

November 16, 2015May 10, 2016 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Having chronic pain problems as a college student sucks. There are multiple problems and too many compromises that need to be made. You can’t just live a normal life, and the ability to be spontaneous does not easily happen. Everything is affected, from the living situation, to study habits and working with groups and exam schedules can be a problem. Name the situation, and it may be a problem, especially if you just want to be normal.

Chronic Pain in College

No day is typical, and just starting the day may be a problem. Waking up in the morning is often very painful. First, one may not have slept very well because pain kept waking you up at night, or it was extremely restless. Then one is sore and you need to start stretching and doing some morning exercises just to get moving. There is no last minute rolling out of bed and running off to class, you just can’t move fast without the morning routine.

Once you are at class, most lecture rooms and other classrooms have bad stadium seats or very uncomfortable chairs without any back support. Sitting in these chairs worsens the back and neck pain, and trying to take notes and concentrate is an effort. If you are lucky, they may provide a special chair to sit in, but good luck at getting the right seating in every classroom. It is also weird when you need to get up for a minute, stand in the back of the room and stretch to help relieve the pain. Lastly, making to the professor’s office hours when you are in pain is an added burden. Then you may also need to explain the need for accommodations due to your situation, adding again more stress to the pain.

As the day goes on, your back and neck may start to hurt more. Standing, stretching or walking around may not help and the best option for your back may be to lie down. Well, there are not many places to rest and lay down on campus.

After you made it through your classes, then there is the homework, group projects, and social life. Studying may be a challenge at times due to back pain and fatigue. Concentration is reduced by pain and more breaks are needed. Planning ahead is essential and leaving stuff to the last minute does not work since you may be having a bad day with pain at the wrong time. Further stress will worsen the pain, lower the concentration ability, and it definitely increases as deadlines for tests and big projects near. The group projects for some classes also are often a problem, you have to ignore your pain needs often to match the schedules of everyone else in the group, and at the end of the day, you may be just about in tears since you hurt so much and you still have a ton of stuff to get done.

Chronic Pain and Your Social Life

A big part of college is developing oneself in a new social environment. One wants to be just like everyone else, carefree and happy. When you are sleep deprived from pain, stressed out, and uncomfortable sitting in most chairs or standing long times, participating in social activities is tough. Ignoring the pain works at times, but sometimes it comes back to bite you and you are down for the count for several days because you did too much. Normal kids do all those things without a problem, for you it can be a nightmare, and you are physically sick for a week afterward.

There is no secret solution for having success as a college student when having chronic pain. It is a constant effort to be your best, and keep moving forward. Those who do manage this tight rope act are some of the toughest, smartest and grittiest kids imaginable. It takes a huge amount of effort, often alone and without good medical guidance. There are very few doctors who understand the challenges and can adequately help find the additional resources to ease some of the problems. Furthermore, there are few resources and pain treatments that make a difference for many young adults. The struggle is very real, and the problems of living with chronic pain just sucks.