Manage your Chronic Pain with these 6 Tools
The following tools are from my free pain guide book. Download now!
Before talking about the 6 tools, I thought I’d talk about some of the fundamental information about pain.
Defining pain can be very confusing and there is a lot of factors to consider, that can make it even more confusing.
The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) proposes the following definition for pain: “An aversive sensory and emotional experience typically caused by, or resembling that caused by, actual or potential tissue injury.”
Pain occurs when the brain perceives damage or there is the threat of damage to the body and it wants to take action. This doesn’t mean that pain is made up in the head because as many of you know it is indeed a physical sensation you feel. In addition to this pain is also a subjective experience; hence everyone’s perception is different.
When you experience pain, your brain listens to signals from your body and evaluates what those signals might mean. In this sense, you could consider pain in two parts- the primary physical sensation and the psychological aspect (which is what we add to the brain i.e. self-criticism or avoidance behaviours).
A key message to take away and also often a confusing message is that pain is not a damage indicator. Pain instead tells you whether there is either a REAL or PERCEIVED threat to the body.
The reason pain is NOT a damage indictor is because we can have NO PAIN and have LOTS OF DAMAGE at the same time. Pain CAN also happen WITHOUT damage. Furthermore, with CHRONIC pain (pain lasting longer than 12 weeks) the link between damage and pain becomes even weaker.
Ultimately, although it may not feel like it, pain is a PROTECTIVE response. This is because pain motivates the brain/body to help protect us from perceived threat/harm or actual harm.
A common example of this is when you touch something hot by accident (i.e. cooking pan) and you feel pain. Although no damage may have occurred, the pain tells you to move your hand away to protect it.
As you can see there are many factors to consider when it comes to pain and hence it is MULTIFACOTRIAL. This means pain can be influenced by many factors. These factors include:
- The Sensory system
- Beliefs and Cognition
- Emotions
- Stress responses
- History of Pain
- Fear and/or Anxiety
- Lifestyle factors and work-life balance
Taking all these factors into considerations, you can imagine how complicated pain can be, however, there are a few tools that have proven to work with people to manage their pain. You do not have to use all of them but by trialing different methods out, you will be able to find the tools that work for YOU.
- Touch (i.e. through massage)
Touching (i.e. through massage), and being touched, activates particular areas of our brain which can influence our thought processes, reactions, and even physiological responses.
Touch can trigger oxytocin, the “love hormone”. It also lowers cortisol levels, reducing anxiety and stress. Through touch, you can help to stimulate the part of the nervous system that calms the body and mind. In this case, touch can be reassuring and calming for a person in distress, since it could communicate an offer of support and empathy.
There is no strong evidence that touch will cure your pain or that it will even help at all. However, it is worth trying to see if it works for you and if it does then can be a useful tool to use for pain management for yourself.
- Exercise/Movement
This often sounds counterintuitive but there is plenty of evidence to show that movement is vital in managing chronic pain. This doesn’t mean you have to go for 1-mile run or lift some heavyweights at the gym. Instead, focus on small controlled movements that are tolerable. So for example, if your current pain is 10/10 when you bend down to reach something, then you could do more gentle movements that only cause you 4/10 pain.
This is important because the less you move, the more likely your body will become comfortable and hence will signal to the brain that this is the new safe zone and any movement outside this zone will cause pain. Instead, focus on small movements and gradually increasing the movements as the pain allows. This will allow you to become stronger and slowly help you to manage your pain better
Exercise/movement can also help manage your body weight and prevent obesity. This is important as obesity could make your pain feel worse both physically as you are forced to carry more load (i.e. extra weight can make your back pain feel worse), and psychologically as you feel less good about yourself and feel more anxious when overweight. Exercise can also boost your self-esteem as it helps release signals (i.e. endorphins) in your body that trigger you to feel good feelings.
Of course, you’re probably thinking pain is pain and you’d rather not do any movement. This is where it is often useful to work with a physiotherapist who can help guide you and help you to do movements within a tolerable range. They can also build an exercise program that is individualised to you and one that allows you to get stronger, fitter, and manage your pain at the same time.
Mindfulness has been found to be equally as effective as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for relieving chronic pain and its associated distress. A study reported CBT can be effective and has none of the side-effects of traditional painkillers, such as lethargy and addiction
Through mindfulness you can take a step back and realize that anxiety is just an emotional state, which will eventually go away. Additionally, through this process of acknowledging all mental states as changeable, the anxiety will become less frightening and less overwhelming. This will help you endure and maybe even end the inner suffering caused by pain.
Using mindfulness you’re trying to change your perception and relationship to pain. You’re learning to relate to the original emotion that the pain evokes in a different manner. You’re not trying to fix it but instead explore the possibility to relate to it in a different way. Mindfulness will allow you to attend to your emotions and regulate them better. Additionally, mindfulness helps improve your adaptive coping skills, and hence you don’t become triggered by your past habits and experiences.
- Keep a pain diary to help beware of triggers
This may seem a tedious task but can be very beneficial. You may notice when you’ve attended a GP or Physio they will ask you about your pain and when it occurs. The initial response by patients is they are “not sure” and give vague answers. This is why a pain diary can be useful as it helps you understand your pain better. It allows you to become aware of when your pain occurs but also when and what makes your pain better. This will allow you to manage your pain and not do unnecessary activities that could make your pain worse.
- Gratitude journal
The idea of a gratitude journal is now becoming more mainstream in the context of health and wellbeing. The reasons for this are that it allows you to focus on the positive in your life and allows you to feel good. You may think, “How is this going to help my pain” but being positive and focusing on the good things in your life will allow you to stay motivated and persist in moving forward. This is especially important if you experience periods of increased pain (i.e. flare-ups).
- Sleep hygiene- getting enough good quality sleep
Sleep quality and duration are key indicators of overall health. In regards to pain, sleep deprivation has been linked with increased pain. This is because when we are not well rest our bodies can become more sensitive to pain and reduced our abilities to tolerate pain.
A good example of the relationship between pain and sleep is Fibromyalgia which is a musculoskeletal pain disorder associated with mood disorders. Although the exact mechanism is unknown, research in Fibromyalgia patients shows that improving sleep helps decrease pain.
‘Sleep hygiene’ is a term used to describe good sleep habits. Below are just a few tips I would advise to help improve sleep hygiene.
- Get regular sleep= train your body to sleep well is to go to bed and get up at more or less the same time every day. The regular rhythm will make you feel better.
- No TV, Computer or mobilise phone prior to sleep as bright light will tell your brain that it is time to wake up. Alternatively, you could use the blue light filter on your screen.
- Avoid caffeine & nicotine= It is best to avoid consuming any caffeine (in coffee, tea, cola drinks, chocolate, and some medications) or nicotine (cigarettes) for at least 4-6 hours before going to bed. These substances act as stimulants and interfere with the ability to fall asleep.
- Avoid alcohol= It is also best to avoid alcohol for at least 4-6 hours before going to bed. Many people believe that alcohol is relaxing and helps them to get to sleep at first, but it actually interrupts the quality of sleep.
The above tools are from my FREE pain guide book. Download now!
