Tips For Starting An Exercise Program When Everything Hurts

December 28, 2023 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Exercising and chronic pain can be like oil and water. It can be hard to start exercising if you have chronic pain, but there’s a good chance that your chronic pain condition will improve by pursuing an exercise program. But how can you overcome a chronic pain condition and begin a beneficial exercise regimen? In today’s blog, we share some tips for starting an exercise program when your body hurts as a result of a chronic pain condition.

Starting An Exercise Program In Spite Of Chronic Pain

Starting and sticking to an exercise routine that will see you become a healthier version of yourself is never easy, and that’s especially true if you have a chronic pain condition. That said, there are some ways to make it a little easier to exercise despite your chronic pain condition. Here’s how:

Get Creative – When people think of traditional exercise, they oftentimes think of a running program. Running is a great way to build your muscles and challenge your body, but it certainly isn’t the only way to exercise. Get creative when it comes to exercise and pursue an activity that you find enjoyable (or at least bearable). Consider doing some yoga, riding your bike around the city or swimming laps at the local pool.

Develop A Routine – We know that developing a standard routine isn’t always easy when you have to adapt to the challenges of chronic pain, but begin to carve out some regular time for exercise. Perhaps that means waking up a half hour earlier on Mondays and Thursdays, or stopping at the gym on your way home from work a couple days a week. Your body and your brain will slowly start to get used to this routine, which will make it easier to regularly pursue exercise.

Pay Attention To Your Recovery Period – Even if you don’t have a chronic pain condition, odds are you’ll have some soreness and discomfort after exercising. It’s important that you help your body recover after exercise so that this discomfort doesn’t linger. Eat a healthy diet, get up and move, do some light stretching and stay hydrated to make it easier for your body to recover from the rigors of exercise.

Set Attainable Exercise Goals – We’re more likely to keep coming back for more exercise if we set realistic and attainable goals. Don’t plan to exercise 4-5 times a week if you are starting a new program. Slowly begin a new exercise program and gradually push yourself to take on bigger challenges. If you bite off more than you can chew or your goals are too lofty, you can end up sabotaging your own exercise routine. Set challenging but realistic goals.

Work With A Pain Management Specialist – Finally, know that you don’t have to develop and pursue an exercise program while dealing with chronic pain on your own. Dr. Cohn and his team can help you develop an exercise routine tailored to your strengths and current limitations so that it’s easier for you to reach your goals. Chronic pain can be isolating, but you have resources that you can lean on when your pain condition makes daily activities like exercise difficult. Let us help you make is easier to pursue regular exercise in spite of your pain condition.

Exercise has countless benefits for your body, and oftentimes it can really help to lessen symptoms of a chronic pain condition. It won’t be easy to start an exercise program when everything hurts, but we know it will be worth it. For more information, or for help with a different chronic pain issue, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today at (952) 738-4580.

Why Exercise Is So Helpful In The Fight Against Chronic Pain

August 16, 2023 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Exercise is beneficial for your whole body, but it can also be extremely helpful if you are working to overcome a chronic pain condition. That’s not to say that you’ll be able to cure your chronic pain condition simply by going for a run, but exercise offers a number of specific benefits that can help you manage your pain issue and gain more control over symptoms.

In today’s blog, we explain why you should consider exercising more if you are trying to overcome a chronic pain condition.

Exercise Benefits For Chronic Pain

As we say on the blog all the time, chronic pain is highly unique to the individual, so you may not experience all of the benefits of exercise as significantly as others. That said, exercise is almost always recommended as part of a comprehensive treatment plan because of all the ways it can work to control your chronic pain issue. Here’s how exercise can help.

Muscle Conditioning – Sometimes our chronic pain issue is caused by muscle weakness, especially if muscles can no longer adequately support certain areas that are under stress. For example, a weak core can contribute to inflammation in the spine, leading to irregular or chronic back discomfort. Exercise helps to strengthen muscles so that they can handle the stress you throw at them and continue to provide the necessary support to nearby structures.

Pain Sensitivity Reduction – Studies have found that exercise can alter how the brain responds to pain by promoting the release of analgesics, which are natural painkillers made by the body. This naturally helps to reduce our sensitivity to pain.

Sleep Improvements – When you are active and burning energy during the day, it’s easier to fall asleep and stay asleep at night. Getting quality sleep can aid in pain sensitivity and ensure that we wake up ready to attack the day with more exercise and activity.

Inflammation Reduction – The stress of activity can lead to short-term inflammation as your body handles the physical stress of exercise, but exercise can also lead to an increase in anti-inflammatory cytokines produced by your immune system that calm inflammation and promote tissue repair. This helps to reduce inflammation in the long-term.

Mood/Anxiety/Depression Improvements – Exercise can trigger the release of feel good hormones in your brain called endorphins, which can improve your mood and decrease your risk of mental health issues like anxiety and depression. Since chronic pain treatment involves more than just treating physical pain, it’s important that we understand how exercise can help to alleviate chronic pain by improving our mental and emotional well-being.

Weight Management – Finally, regular exercise also make it easier for a person to maintain or work towards an ideal weight. When you’re heavier, your body has to handle more stress with each step you take, and that added pressure can lead to joint deterioration or increased inflammation, both of which can exacerbate a chronic pain condition. Managing your weight can certainly have a positive effect on your chronic pain treatment, and exercise can be the catalyst for that weight loss.

For more information on how exercise can help you overcome a chronic pain condition, or to talk to a specialist about setting up an exercise routine that works for you, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today at (952) 738-4580.

Tips For Exercising If You Have Chronic Pain

November 11, 2021 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Exercise isn’t always something we look forward to, and that sentiment is especially true if you are dealing with a chronic pain condition. That being said, exercise is typically one of the best things you can do to control and alleviate symptoms associated with your chronic pain condition, so it’s imperative that you make time for exercise on a regular basis. We know this isn’t easy to do if you’re bothered by a chronic pain condition, which is why we wanted to put some tips together to make it less of a battle. Below, we share some tips for getting regular exercise if you have a chronic pain condition.

Exercising With Chronic Pain

There are a number of tips on this list that can make it a little easier to get regular exercise if you have chronic pain, but we understand that they may sometimes come off as something that is easier said than done. With that in mind, we’re also going to share some tips for making these tips easier to follow! Here’s how you can strive to get regular exercise in the face of chronic pain.

Carve Out Time – One of the obstacles that everyone faces when trying to exercise is when to fit it into their daily schedule. Time doesn’t typically just magically appear, you have to make time for exercise. Recognize when symptoms are typically at their mildest and make it a point to dedicate some of that time to exercise. If that means waking up a little earlier or doing your exercise before you sit down for dinner, evaluate your schedule, figure out what time works best for you, and stick to that schedule.

Work It Into Your Daily Routine – If carving out 45 minutes to exercise regularly is proving difficult, look for other ways to incorporate exercise into your daily routine. Take the stairs at work, bike to the office, take your dog for a second walk or schedule a weekly walk with a friend or family member. Activity is great for the body, even if it’s not in the form of concentrated exercise.

Find Exercises You Enjoy – Find an exercise routine you enjoy, or at minimum, find one you don’t dread. If running isn’t your thing, find another way to exercise. Swimming or cycling are two lower-impact forms of exercise that can provide you with numerous aerobic benefits. Everyone is different, so strive to find an exercise routine that speaks to you.

Low Impact Non-Traditional Exercises – Similarly, you can pursue non-traditional exercises as a way of staying active, especially if you’re dealing with joint pain that could be affected by higher-impact workouts. Activities like yoga or Tai Chi work on improving flexibility and cardiovascular health, which is very important if you’re dealing with a chronic pain condition.

Partner Up – Finally, exercise can seem less taxing if you do it alongside a friend or family member. Ask a friend if they would be interested in doing hot yoga with you on a weekly basis, or walk with a co-worker during your lunch break. Having a buddy to hold you accountable and carry a conversation during exercise can help you follow through and make it seem like less of a chore.

For more tips on exercising if you have chronic pain, or for help with your pain condition, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today.

Why It’s Important To Plan Your Exercise

November 12, 2020November 12, 2020 / Thomas Cohn, MD

plan Exercise has always been tough to perform on a regular schedule, and COVID-19 has made this especially difficult. In the time before this, one had a variety of choices including multiple fitness facilities and specialty gyms to exercise in. Many of these have re-opened, but it can be very uncomfortable to go some place where others are exercising, breathing hard, sweating, and possibly not socially distant.

During the summer it may be somewhat easier to exercise, but as the weather changes, having a plan will be necessary. For those with chronic pain, exercise becomes as important as any medication to control symptoms. Starting a program that can be done anywhere becomes essential.

Planning Your Exercise

Chronic pain affects 30 percent of the population in the United States as well as throughout the world. Controlling pain takes work, and one of the best ways to help control certain types of pain is with exercise. Exercise allows one to maintain function, as it helps to keep joints moving smoothly, strengthens muscles and maintains cardiovascular health and endurance. Exercising the body is necessary to keep it healthy. Unfortunately during COVID, many of us had to rethink how we do many aspects of our lives including eating, sleeping, working and whatever we do for recreation. Many young adults have been displaced from school or work back to parent’s homes. Social circles have shrunk as well as the list of activities available. Work has changed, but for many the office has simply transitioned to a home office, which still leads to long periods of inactivity. These sedentary lifestyles become hard on the body and painful.

The hardest part of exercise is being consistent and comprehensive in a program. Having a person who helps you and guides you through the process is useful. Exercise is just like a medication; one has to perform a full program often daily to be effective. So, if you just exercise whenever its convenient, it is unlikely that a benefit will be perceived.

A good program will probably include stretching, strengthening and aerobic conditioning. Each part addresses a different aspect of keeping the body healthy and to be effective all three things need to be done.

Stretching – Stretching maintains joint range of motion and diminishes muscle and joint tightness and pain.

Strengthening – Strengthening gives the body the power to withstand and perform activities.

Aerobic Conditioning – Aerobic conditioning generates the endurance during the day and increases endogenous endorphins that decrease pain sensitivity.

A lot of people perform two out of the three parts of exercise and wonder why things do not work, and that is just like taking half of your medicine.

Finding Exercise Space And A New Routine

During this pandemic, routine exercise can be especially challenging. It always seems that there are other things that have priority. However, if you are not healthy and active, you often will not have the energy and ability to function fully. Further, stress has been markedly increased, which can diminish the desire to exercise. And even if you want to exercise, many gyms are closed or not an ideal spot to work out, presenting an another hurdle to finding a way to get your exercise in.

The pandemic is also making is harder to exercise if you’re used to doing your workout in a group. Even if you’re used to exercising with others, everyone needs to develop an exercise program that they can do individually in their homes since it is likely that pandemic will force us away from in-person group activities for a little while longer. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be costly to develop a home gym. Stretching requires no special equipment, sometimes foam rollers and straps are useful aides, and a yoga or Tai Chi program can be adapted for anyone. Strengthening can be done using body positioning and gravity, like doing planks, or by using rubber exercise bands or tubing (that can be found online or even at Target). Aerobic conditioning can be done with just walking indoors or outside, and upgraded with a variety of home equipment from treadmills to ellipticals and exercise bicycles.

Exercise is essential medicine to take care of oneself at any time and especially during a pandemic. Old routines may not work if they depend on you being at a fitness center. Develop a plan such that you can exercise at home and do stretching, strengthening and general aerobic conditioning. There are a significant number of online exercise resources including many tied to different equipment like the Peloton bike, Fitbit, or Apple watches. Many of the services can be quite affordable at just a couple of dollars a month. Investing in your exercise system is an excellent way to improve and maintain your physical and mental health. Exercise daily as your medication for your health and to control your pain. Consistent exercising makes a huge difference in how well you feel and function.

Exercise Your Way To A Better Memory

January 3, 2020 / Thomas Cohn, MD

If you’re trying to exercise more in the new year, you may need to remind yourself to make time to exercise in the first few weeks before it becomes a habit, but according to new research, exercise may also help you remember daily tasks later in life.

According to research out of Norway, experts say that exercise and being physically fit may help sharpen our memory and reduce our dementia risk, even if we don’t really start exercising until later in life. There have been numerous studies on the link between being physically fit and staving off dementia risk, but no study has tackled the topic of when the participant begins their exercise regimen. For this study, researchers focused on whether getting physically fit at midlife or retirement age was too late to see any improvements.

Researchers used medical records of more than 30,000 individuals and tracked how their health changed over a 10-year period. They grouped individuals into three separate groups:

Those who remained in the lowest 20 percent of aerobic fitness for the entire study.
Those who moved into or out of that bottom 20 percent at any point during the 10-year period.
Those who remained outside of the bottom 20 percent for the entire 10-year period.

Memory and Exercise Results

After analyzing medical records, nursing home data and specialized memory clinics to determine which participants developed dementia during a 20-year follow up, researchers came to some interesting conclusions. They found that people who were fit throughout the entire study were almost 50 percent less likely to develop dementia than the least-fit men and women. Possibly more of note, those men and women who entered middle age out of shape but gained fitness showed a similar substantial reduction in their subsequent risk for dementia.

Researchers said that the study didn’t examine which types of exercise were being performed by those who gained fitness, so it appears that any physical exercise that helps to remain fit could be beneficial for your memory, even later in life. Another study on the topic found that individuals saw similar gains when they participated in exercise that raised their heart rate and boosted fitness, so while walking may be an okay form of exercise, walking with some interval training may provide more benefits.

“I tell people to add in some hills when they go for a walk,” said Jennifer Heisz, an associate professor at McMaster University who oversaw the second study, “or pick up the pace between streetlamps.”

So if you want to increase your chance of having a strong memory later in life, find some daily exercises that boost your physical fitness! And for help with any aspect of fitness or your health, don’t hesitate to reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office today.