Five Lifestyle Changes To Help Alleviate Chronic Back Pain

February 24, 2022 / Thomas Cohn, MD

For a number of patients with chronic back pain, some of their everyday actions end up making their pain worse, even if they don’t realize it in the moment. It’s easy to overlook some of the contributing factors to chronic back pain, but once you’ve identified them, you’d be amazed at how much help a few lifestyle tweaks can do for your pain. In today’s blog, we take a closer look at five lifestyle changes that can help alleviate chronic back pain.

Lifestyle Adjustments To Prevent And Treat Chronic Back Pain

Here are five little adjustments you can make throughout the day or add to your daily routine that can make a world of difference in helping you overcome your condition.

1. Move More – Sitting puts a lot of stress on your lower spine, which is the most common location for chronic back pain. Do less sitting and more moving. Limit your time on the couch in front of the television, and consider standing more or investing in a sit-to-stand workstation at the office. Excess standing can be just as harmful to your spine as too much sitting, so try to switch it up throughout the day, especially if soreness is starting to creep in.

2. Regular Posture Checks – Our heads are heavy, and if they aren’t in alignment with our shoulders, you can end up putting a lot of strain on your cervical spine. If you’re slouching on the couch or hunched forward looking at your computer screen, you might develop a case of “tech neck.” Perform regular posture checks throughout the day and make adjustments as needed.

3. Let Your Diet Work For You Instead Of Against You – A bad diet can oftentimes serve to make back pain worse, whereas a healthy diet can act as its own kind of medication. Carbohydrate-dense foods and sugary snacks can contribute to inflammation in the spine, which can compress key nerves and structures and make back pain worse. Conversely, a healthy diet full of vegetables, fish, nuts and fruit can help prevent inflammation and ensure your body gets nutrients that are necessary for healthy tissue growth and function. Rework your diet, and your back may start feeling better.

4. Stress Relief – Whenever we tell patients to de-stress, it always sounds easier in words than it is in practice. It would be great if we could remove stress from our lives, but if you’re juggling work, family and a social life, stress in inevitable. If you can’t find ways to minimize stress, find ways to manage it when it develops. Healthy outlets for stress can have physical benefits for your body. Whether it’s reading, yoga or meditation, find a healthy outlet for your stress.

5. Rethink Exercise – Finally, we challenge you to rethink your exercise routine if you have chronic back pain. You don’t need to go through a grueling gym routine in order to reap the benefits of exercise, so start small and build up to a sustainable exercise routine. Go for a walk around your block, swim some laps at the local swimming pool or do a yoga class with a friend. Over time, build up your distance or duration, as this will help to slowly strengthen key muscles groups that support your spine. Don’t be intimated by exercise because you think you need to lift heavy weights or run a certain number of miles. Set small, attainable goals and work up from there.

If you do these five things, we’re confident you’ll have more control over your chronic back pain condition. And for professional assistance to your chronic pain issue, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today.

Tips For Treating Post-Traumatic Pain

September 23, 2021 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Post-traumatic pain is any type of pain that persists longer than it should or pain that is greater than expected given the nature of the injury. For example, if you sprain your ankle and you’re still dealing with pain and discomfort weeks later, you may be dealing with post-traumatic pain. Similarly, if you’ve gone through 2-3 months of rehabilitation after spine surgery and you’re still battling lingering pain, it could be a case of post-traumatic pain. Below, we explain why post-traumatic pain exists and how a pain management specialist can help you treat it.

Why Does Post-Traumatic Pain Develop?

Post-traumatic pain can develop for a few different reasons. Obviously there will be pain associated with your original injury, but if it persists after your body has returned to normal function, there could be more going on behind the scenes. Oftentimes post-traumatic pain is caused by damaged or misfiring sensory nerves or a disproportionate inflammatory reaction by the body’s immune system.

Nerve damage or a disproportionate inflammatory response can occur after any type of traumatic experience, but they tend to be most common after trauma associated with:

Car accidents
Athletic injuries
Falls from a height

Pain tends to develop in and around the area of the initial injury, but it doesn’t always follow this pattern. Depending on which nerve is damaged, pain sensations could be expressed in other areas of you body, like your arms or legs. As you might imagine, this can make it difficult to pinpoint the cause of the problem, much less treat it.

Treating Post-Traumatic Pain

Because pain is so unique to the individual, there is no one-size-fits-all plan for successfully treating post-traumatic pain. With that in mind, there are some steps that you can take that can help reduce your likelihood of developing post-traumatic pain or eliminating it once it sets in. Those steps include:

Do Some Active Conservative Treatments On The Initial Injury – Don’t just let time run its course and hope that your initial injury will heal. Participate in physical therapy, do some gentle exercises and regularly stretch the area to retain flexibility and function in the area. This will help your body recover from the initial injury and strengthen structures that support and stabilize the area.

Pair Active Options With Rest And Anti-Inflammatory Medications – Rest and anti-inflammatory medications can help to calm inflammation that could be contributing to post-traumatic pain, but these passive options should not be your only form of treatment. You need to pair them with the active treatments above to preserve healthy tissue and joint function, which can help stave off post-op pain.

Connect With A Pain Management Specialist – Finally, sync up with a pain management specialist in your area like Dr. Cohn. He’ll be able to look at your initial injury and any lingering effects and determine exactly what’s going on in your body. From there, he’ll be able to develop a treatment plan that targets the specific nerve or regions that are contributing to your post-traumatic pain. Let a professional assist you on your pain recovery process if you’re finding it difficult to overcome discomfort.

If you need help managing or treating your post-traumatic pain, reach out to Dr. Cohn’s office for assistance. Give his team at call today at (952) 738-4580.

Addressing Racial Inequality In Pain Care

August 19, 2021 / Thomas Cohn, MD

Pain care should be readily accessible for all patients, but a recent look into the landscape of pain management across the US found that race oftentimes affects the level of care a patient receives.

According to a new study out of Dartmouth College, the US medical system provides less pain relief to black patients than white patients, and this trend has been in place for some time now. Perhaps the most notable finding in the study is that while black and white patients receive the same number of pain relief prescriptions, doctors routinely prescribe significantly lower doses for black patients.

“Our findings likely reflect systematic racial bias throughout the course of care leading to pain medicine receipt,” said the study’s lead author, Nancy Morden. “We hope our system-level reporting will prompt dialogue and commitment to deep exploration of this inequity — its causes, consequences, and tireless testing of potential remedies.”

Pain Care Differences By Race

For their study, researchers analyzed data from 310 health systems that provide primary care to black and white patients. Overall, black and white patients were equally likely to be given prescriptions for pain relief, but there was a big discrepancy when it came to the dosage. In 90 percent of healthcare systems monitored for the study, white patients received higher doses on an annual basis than black patients. In most of those systems, the difference in prescription strength was around 15 percent or greater.

So what is driving this divide? According to researchers and other medical experts, a number of different factors could influence this disparity. Some of those believed factors include:

Racial bias
Belief in untrue stereotypes
Decentralized health system that fails to address racial inequality
Lowered patient expectations

On the last point of lowered expectations, some medical experts theorize that black and white individuals approach medical treatment differently. They believe that white patients may be more demanding when it comes to access to stronger opioids because they feel like they have a right to those medications, whereas black patients may not rate their health as being as bad as it actually is when compared to others they know.

While these results are concerning, they can help start a conversation to bring about change. At our clinic, we do everything in our power to help every patient on an individual level, no matter their age, race or sexual orientation. We’re singularly focused on helping you achieve pain relief. At the same time, we also want to acknowledge these racial inequalities in pain management, because they certainly exist. We will continue to not only provide the best care we can, but also keep our team aware of how the potential for overlooked racial biases can negatively affect a patient’s level of care.

Hopefully the pain community as a whole learns from these findings and makes necessary changes to ensure every patient gets the care they deserve. If you feel like you are not getting the highest level of care from your pain provider, we urge you to reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today.

Why Chronic Pain Management Is A Lot Like Dieting

August 11, 2021 / Thomas Cohn, MD

dieting Chronic pain is a common health condition that affects millions of Americans each and every day. Similarly, millions of Americans have attempted to lose weight through a diet program at some point in their life. When you think about it, a chronic pain management plan and a successful diet are a lot alike in a number of ways. In today’s blog, we explain why chronic pain care is a lot like a diet program.

Chronic Pain Care Is Like A Diet

If you have chronic pain and you’ve ever tried to go on a diet in the past, you probably realize that they share a number of key points, which are:

1. There’s No Magic Pill – Whether it be chronic pain or losing weight, there is no quick fix to the problem. You’re not going to find a magic pill that will cure your pain or have you shed 15 pounds overnight. Stop looking for the easy fix, because that’s only going to distract you from the helpful treatments.

2. It’s Going To Take Work – Piggybacking off the above point, dieting and pain management are going to require a significant commitment on your end if you want to see the best results. The more work you put in, the better results you’ll see. We’ve never had a patient say “I wish I would have tried less to manage my chronic pain,” but we’ve definitely heard people say they wish they would have worked harder. In pain management or dieting, you get out what you put in.

3. String Together More Good Days Than Bad – While this is sometimes easier sad than done, it’s important to realize that every single thing you do doesn’t have to be perfect when it comes to dieting or chronic pain care. It’s fine to reward yourself with a snack after an intense workout, and it’s not the end of the world if you have to cancel plans because of your chronic pain. Not everything needs to be perfect so long as you’re working to have more good days than bad. Doing your physical therapy exercises each day and making healthier food choices more often than not can help you string together more days where you feel like you helped yourself get healthier, and that’s what’s most important.

4. Celebrate Your Progress – Don’t just focus on your end goals and measure your success off of that. We understand that you often have specific weight goals or want to be completely free from chronic pain, but make sure you also celebrate the progress you’re making towards that goal. If activities are less painful or you’re losing weight (even if it’s not as much as you originally hoped), celebrate these wins instead of only viewing success as the final result. It will make it easier to continue working towards your goals if you celebrate the progress you’ve made so far.

5. A Specialist Can Compliment Your Approach – Finally, a chronic pain specialist or a dietitian can help provide individualized advice and give you that extra assistance you need to reach your goals. Never be afraid to ask for help or reach out to a professional for assistance, because that’s what we’re here for. So if you want a little extra help managing or overcoming your chronic pain condition, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today.

More Americans Are In Pain Than Ever Before

May 12, 2021 / Thomas Cohn, MD

New research published in the journal Demography found that more Americans are dealing with chronic pain on a regular basis than ever before, suggesting that not enough is being done to treat individuals with underlying pain conditions.

According to the new data, there have been blanket increases across multiple pain reporting measures, with pain rising in every adult group, every demographic group and at every site of pain for which data exists.

“We looked at the data from every available perspective including age, gender, race, ethnicity, education, and income, but the results were always the same: There was an increase in pain no matter how we classified the population,” said Hanna Grol-Prokopczyk, associate professor of sociology in the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences, and co-author of the paper. “You might think that with medical advances we’d be getting healthier and experiencing less pain, but the data strongly suggest the exact opposite.”

An Increase In Chronic Pain

For the study, researchers took a closer look at how chronic pain is affecting a large group of individuals. Most studies only focus on how chronic pain affects people over the age of 50, but this study looked at people between the ages of 25-84. They drew their data from responses to the National Health Interview Study, which involved more than 440,000 participants from 2002-2018.

Here’s a look at some of their findings:

In the US, chronic pain affects more people and has a greater economic cost than heart disease, diabetes and cancer combined.
In older adults, body mass index, hypertension diabetes and kidney conditions are associated conditions that correlate most with increases in chronic pain.
In younger adults, BMI, stress and alcohol use have strong associations with chronic pain trends.

“What we’re seeing in the younger age groups demonstrates how pain in some ways functions as much as a mental health problem as it does a physical health problem,” says Grol-Prokopczyk. “Pain can be exacerbated by stress, and stress can bring about alcohol use.”

The idea that chronic pain isn’t just a physical issue is something we’ve been preaching for a while now, so we’re happy that psychological factors are starting to get more attention as an underlying issue associated with chronic pain development. However, it’s clear that still not enough is being done about treating chronic pain conditions, and we fear that the pandemic has only worsened chronic pain conditions for many individuals around the globe. Hopefully policymakers take note and commit more funding to helping find solutions for individuals with chronic pain.

So while chronic pain may leave you feeling isolated, based on this data, it’s clear you’re not alone when it comes to pain conditions. If you want to take tangible steps towards getting your condition under control, reach out to a pain management specialist like Dr. Cohn who will take the time to conduct an accurate diagnosis and develop a solution that suits your needs. For more information, contact his office today.