daily chronic pain Archives - Minnesota Physical Medicine Blog

Life With Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is so much more than physical pain. Here’s a look at the struggle of trying to get through your day with chronic pain.

1. You Don’t Look In Pain – A cold can take the color from your face and a broken arm will require a noticeable sling, but for many patients battling chronic pain, there are few outward symptoms. They may put on a brave face, but their neural network inside their body may be telling a different story. Because they may not look like they are in pain, many people without chronic pain can’t relate to the pain you’re dealing with on the inside. They may think you’re faking it or playing up your pain because you “look fine,” but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Chronic pain patients are often stuck between a rock and a hard place. They either have to pretend like everything is alright when it’s not or be accused of faking or embellishing their pain.

2. Treatment Isn’t Always Straightforward – For a lot of medical conditions, we have a standard care plan in place. If you sprain your ankle, you RICE (Rest, Ice, Compress and Elevate), or you take antibiotics for certain infections. However, chronic pain is so unique to the individual that there’s no one-size-fits-all care plan. Patients often have to see multiple doctors and try a range of treatments before they find something that works for them. This process can be very exhausting and even compound the problem.

3. Social Effects – Chronic pain can also wreck havoc on your social life. Pain can keep you from wanting to head to the movies or play Frisbee in the park with some friends, but pain doesn’t even have to exist to cause these concerns. The possibility of a painful flareup is enough for some people to play it safe and stay home, which can lead to further feelings of isolation. Oftentimes patients with chronic pain want to participate, but their pain or its potential hinders their ability.

4. Pain Is So Inconsistent – It would be a lot easier to plan your life if you knew when a flareup was going to occur and when your good or bad days were going to be. Unfortunately, chronic pain doesn’t work like this. The inconsistency of chronic pain can really affect your mental and emotional state, furthering the problem.

These are just a few of the ways chronic pain can impact a person’s daily life. If you or someone you know is struggling with chronic pain, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office to see how we can help.

As someone who has suffered from chronic back pain for more than a decade, I know just how hard it can be to manage a chronic condition on a daily basis. You have good days where you feel like you can conquer the world, and you have bad days where you don’t even want to get out of bed. No matter what kind of day you’re having, it’s important that you push through any discomfort and find time to exercise, because that’s likely your best bet at stringing together more good days than bad.

Daily exercise isn’t something that comes easy. Most of us can find some spare time throughout the week, but we can’t always carve out time every single day, and when we do get spare time, oftentimes we’d rather use it on anything other than exercise. However, it’s this consistency that might be just what you need to put your chronic pain in the past.

The Benefits Of Daily Exercise

A recent study decided to take a closer look at the benefits of moderate versus daily exercise when it comes to helping control problems associated with chronic pain. For the study, researchers conducted a small, weeklong study of 40 healthy women on their sensitivity to pain before and after exercise. The individuals were asked to walk briskly on a treadmill for their exercise, and patients were separated into three different groups. One group walked three times per week, another group walked five times a week, and the final group walked 10 times a week.

After reviewing the data, researchers found no differences in pain perception following exercise for those who exercised three times a week, but the findings were significantly different for those who exercised at least five times a week.

“We asked them to rate that pain,” said neuroscientist Benedict Kolber, lead researcher on the study. “And at the end of the study, they rated the same pressure — the exact same pressure — as 60% less painful than they rated it at the beginning of the study.”

In other words, a small dose of exercise did nothing for helping manage chronic pain, but a bigger dose worked wonders. A good motto to live by is to “Strive For Five” in terms of striving to exercise at least five times a week. However, it’s also worth remembering that you need to start slow. If you haven’t been a frequent exerciser, don’t go straight to exercising for an hour each day. Ramping up your activity too quickly can lead to overstress injuries and exacerbate inflammation. Start slow, be it 5-10 minutes a day, and work your way up from there. Focus on doing small amounts daily instead of a longer session 1-2 times a week, and work your way to longer durations.

There have been days where the last thing that I wanted to do was get up before work and work out, but I knew I needed to do it if I wanted to function at my best throughout the day. I try my best to work out every day, and my back pain has been much more controlled than in years past, even though I’m years older. Controlled exercise can be your best friend when it comes to caring for your pain condition. If you need help developing a safe exercise routine, or you want some tips on what types of activity might be best considering your condition, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today.