Can You Fool Your Brain Into Chronic Pain Relief?

April 1, 2021 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Happy April Fool’s Day! We thought we’d try to keep on topic by talking about how you can “fool” your brain into helping you overcome your chronic pain condition. So even though we’re sharing this on a day reserved for tricks and pranks, know that this is actually a real idea with real science behind it!

Your brain helps dictate how pain is perceived in your body, but it also performs countless other tasks, so if we can take its attention off our pain, we may be able to help drown out some of those pain signals that are causing discomfort. That’s why we always preach on this blog that chronic pain is both a physical and mental task. Your brain needs to heal and help fuel recovery just like the area of your body that’s causing pain. And you can help do that by distracting it.

Now, that’s not to say that every time a flare up develops that you should just go for a run or work on a crossword puzzle to help distract your brain, but engaging your brain has been scientifically proven to help reduce pain sensations. Find outlets that really engage your mind, and odds are you may notice that you’re not noticing your pain as much. Bonus points if it’s an active activity, because exercise and movement can also help drive home physical recovery.

Setting Expectations

Your brain is also in control of setting expectations for things, including pain. If a nurse says a shot is going to hurt, all of a sudden your brain starts to anticipate this pain and it could actually lead to you being more perceptive to pain, which isn’t a good thing. Conversely, it’s why it may take a second longer to realize you’re in pain if you accidentally have the sink running too hot when you go to wash your hands. It’s still going to be painful, but the expectation wasn’t there, and that plays an interesting role in how you perceive pain.

Expectation setting is very important in how you manage your chronic pain condition. It’s why we always preach that you work towards a good head space and focus on the positives instead of the negatives. If you wake up every day expecting chronic pain to dictate your life, you may actually be more perceptive to this pain. It can be a self-defeating cycle, but if you’re aware of how your expectations affect your perception of pain, you can fool your brain into making chronic pain less of a problem.

This is easier said than done, and oftentimes it’s easier to do with a pain management specialist by your side. We can talk over your concerns, your goals and the biggest challenges chronic pain is causing in your life. Then, we’ll work on how to focus on the positives and your goals instead of the negatives and your shortcomings. This individualized assessment can help you get to a great mindset to tackle any challenges your chronic pain condition throws your way.

So if you are dealing with a chronic pain condition and you want help tackling either the mental or physical side of the problem, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office to see what we can do for you.

How Is Chronic Pain Diagnosed?

March 18, 2021 / Thomas Cohn, MD

If you head to the doctor with the suspicion that you broke your arm, it’s pretty easy to test your hypothesis with an imaging test. An X-ray will tell you all you need to know about your arm, and it will pave the way for a treatment plan. However, not all medical conditions can be so easily diagnosed with the assistance of an imaging test. Others, like chronic pain, often require a variety of different diagnostic efforts to come up with an accurate conclusion. In today’s blog, we take a closer look at the different methods used to diagnose chronic pain.

Diagnosing Chronic Pain

Every chronic pain situation is different, so there is no one-size-fits-all method for diagnosing the problem. Instead, a combination of methods are used and studied in connection with one another to form a diagnosis. Here’s a look at some of those diagnostic methods:

Imaging Tests – Imaging tests may not be as effective for chronic pain as they are for broken bones, but we can still learn a lot from them. They may not be able to always tell us what’s wrong, but they can help doctors rule out potential problems. A physician can use an imaging test to rule out fractures or disc herniation, and sometimes more detailed images can help determine if an inflammatory chronic pain condition is the likely culprit.

Patient Discussion – Talking with the patient is also a very helpful form of developing a diagnosis. We’ll want to know where pain resides, what makes it worse, what makes it better and what types of symptoms you’re experiencing. Be as detailed as possible, because all of this helps a physician make a comprehensive diagnosis.

Functional Testing – Sometimes your doctor will ask you to perform a few movement exercises to see if it triggers a flare up or brings relief. Seeing your body in motion and how it responds to action can tell a physician a great deal about the muscles and soft tissues in your body. Trust that they know what they’re doing when they ask you to perform a few stretches or exercises.

Psychological Exams – As we’ve discussed on the blog in the past, oftentimes there is a significant psychological component to physical pain. Your doctor isn’t trying to determine if you’re crazy by diving into your mental health, they are trying to understand the full scope of the condition and how psychological-based interventions could provide physical pain relief. Questionnaires or neurological exams are common for complex chronic pain conditions.

Bloodwork – Testing a blood sample is another way to determine what’s going on in your body. A blood test can look for the presence of an infection, overproduction of certain blood cells or other biomarkers tat could help pinpoint what’s causing discomfort in your body.

Used together with one another, a good pain management specialist can connect the findings collected through the above techniques and come up with an accurate diagnosis for your individual condition. To see this plan put into action, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today.

Why Chronic Pain Is A Family Affair

March 11, 2021 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Your family deserves you at your best, but sometimes chronic pain can make it difficult to be completely in the moment with your family. It’s important to realize the role your family plays in treating and overcoming your chronic pain condition, and they’ll benefit too from a mother or father who is living without chronic pain. In today’s blog, we take a closer look at the reciprocal relationship between your chronic pain condition and your family.

Why You Need Your Family If You Have Chronic Pain

One of the biggest problems that individuals with chronic pain face is the feeling of isolation caused by their condition. Chronic pain can be incredibly isolating for a number of reasons. You may feel like you’re the only person dealing with your specific condition, or that others can’t fully understand what you’re going through. A pain condition can also lead you to withdraw from your favorite activities or to grow apart form your social circle, which only serves to make isolation feel worse.

That’s why it’s so important to have a family that supports your quest for successful treatment. Find your number one supporter and lean on them when times get tough. Whether that’s a spouse, a boyfriend, a sister or a parent, you need to have someone who you can turn to when a flare up is making daily life difficult. Some of you already know who this person is, but others may not have someone they can easily lean on. Our advice is to sit down with a loved one, explain that you’ll have bad days and that you hope you can count on them for support, and that they’d be welcome to attend an appointment with you to help better understand your condition and what you’re going through.

Leaning on family for support throughout your chronic pain treatment is extremely important. Knowing you’re not alone can help relieve some of the burden of your pain condition, and having someone who understands what you’re going through helps to alleviate some of the guilt and mental anguish that can accompany your pain. You’d be amazed at the physical progress we can make treating chronic pain when we also address some of the mental stressors in our life.

Why Your Family Needs You

Conversely, your family will also reap the benefits of a spouse or a parent who is in control of their chronic pain condition. The most obvious reason behind this claim is that we function better when we’re not in constant or intense pain. We can think more clearly, react more appropriately and be in a better mood when we’re not dealing with a flareup, and your family will appropriate this. Even if you do a great job thinking clearly, reacting appropriately and controlling your mood when you’re in pain, you know how exhausting this can be. You’re simply not at your best when you’re dealing with chronic pain, and your family deserves to have you at your best.

Chronic pain can also provide you with a teaching moment for your family. While they may never truly understand your pain, your spouse and your children will certainly take note of how your handle and overcome chronic pain. Show them that you are a warrior and what true strength looks like. Overcoming your chronic pain doesn’t mean hiding your condition and living a life of silent pain, it means being open with those closest to you so you can give yourself the best chance of effectively treating the issue. Make them proud of what you’ve overcome by working to treat your chronic pain condition, and you’ll be a role model for your entire family.

Overcoming chronic pain isn’t easy, but it’s something both you and your family deserve. To connect with a physician who understands this and who wants to be part of your solution, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today.

Why The Pandemic Is Making Chronic Pain Worse For Most Patients

March 3, 2021 / Thomas Cohn, MD

There is little doubt that the pandemic has been hard on everyone. We’ve had to readjust to a new normal and find new ways to juggle our personal and professional lives. Everyone has been hit hard, but new research shows that it has been especially difficult for chronic pain patients. For many of them, their chronic pain condition has gotten worse during the pandemic.

Chronic Pain Worsening During The Pandemic

According to a new study, the majority of chronic pain patients have seen their chronic pain condition worsen throughout the course of the pandemic. For the study, researchers surveyed 502 chronic pain patients, with 88 percent of the group being females between 30 and 59 years old. More than 87 percent of patients had pain in more than one location, and the most common locations of pain were in the lower back, neck and abdomen. Participants were asked to complete online surveys about their condition and the pandemic to get an understanding of how their pain had changed since lockdowns began (This study took place in Spain, but the results likely mirror chronic pain here in the US).

According to the data, 70 percent of respondents said their chronic pain condition worsened in terms of severity, frequency of episodes or in how it interfered with their daily activities throughout the pandemic. Researchers also looked into why chronic pain frequency was on the rise during the pandemic. They surveyed respondents and came up with some of the most common stressors that could have a negative effect on a person’s chronic pain expression. Those factors include:

Job insecurity
Worries about the future
The number of people living in the same dwelling
Having someone close to them who died of COVID-19
Fear of becoming infected and its relation to their chronic pain condition

Additionally, the study found that some new pain triggers emerged from the pandemic. Prior to COVID-19, the most common new pain triggers were stress and weather changes. Now, patients cite an increase in triggers like sleep problems, negative thoughts, sadness, insufficient physical activity and fear of the contagion.

Finally, the study also shed light on how people are coping with chronic pain, and it’s not encouraging.

“The study has shown that since the state of emergency began, more than half of the patients have used rest to manage their pain, and a similar percentage have increased the consumption of medication. Both could have counterproductive effects,” explained Rubén Nieto, professor and researcher at the lab that conducted the study.

The pandemic has worsened chronic pain conditions for countless patients across the world, but it’s important that you don’t let the state of the world draw you into bad pain management habits. Now more than ever, it’s important that you get regular exercise, eat a healthy diet and pursue other active treatment methods instead of over-relying on passive techniques like rest and medication. This can be accomplished more easily with a pain physician by your side, so please don’t hesitate if you need assistance along the way. For more information or for help with your chronic pain condition, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today.

Four Things Chronic Pain Patients Wish They Knew Earlier

February 25, 2021 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Many people describe their chronic pain management as a journey to find relief, and like any journey, there are things we wish we would have known earlier in the process. In today’s blog, we highlight four things that we’ve heard from some of our patients and others in the pain community that they wish they would have known earlier during their pain journey.

What Patients Wish They Would Have Known Earlier

Here’s a look at four sentiments that many patients say they wish they would have know earlier in the chronic pain management process:

1. It’s Not Just Physical – Chronic pain manifests itself in the physical form, but the underlying cause or contributing factors are not all physical. Chronic pain has strong emotional and psychological roots, so you need to make sure that you’re caring for more than just your physical health. If you’re under a lot of stress or you’re suffering from another mental health issue, it could be playing a role in the onset of your physical pain. If you only focus on the physical contributors to chronic pain, you may be ignoring promising treatment options.

2. You’re Not Alone – Chronic pain can leave you feeling isolated from the outside world, but it’s important to remember that you’re not alone. There are a number of ways to connect with others about your condition to help treat it and fight back against feelings of isolation. You can:

Connect with a pain management specialist for professional help.
Reach out to friends and family members for help or to talk, or to just take your mind of your condition.
Connect with others who are going through a similar situation in an online support group.

Know that you’re not alone in this process and that you should be relying on other people for support.

3. Your Mindset Matters – It’s also important to know that how you approach your chronic pain treatment can have an impact on its success. When you improve your mindset, you improve your outcomes. It’s obviously easier said than done, but try to focus on everything you’re doing to help you conquer your chronic pain, instead of looking at all the ways your chronic pain is affecting your life. You can start to take back control over your condition by approaching treatment with a positive and determined mindset. Talk to your pain specialist if you want extra help improving your mindset when it comes to your pain condition.

4. It’s About The Small Wins, Not Absolutes – We can never say with absolute certainty that we’ll be able to completely cure all aspects of your chronic pain condition, and while that is our goal, that’s not how you should always view your end goal. If you’re only ever focused on the existence of pain and not the fact that it’s getting better or you’re having fewer flareups, you’re only going to be discouraged in the face of progress. This discouragement can negatively impact your treatment and your long-term success. Instead, focus on small wins and celebrate them, and you’ll find it easier to keep on working hard to treat your chronic pain condition.

For more information, or for help with any of the above tips, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today.