What is Chronic Pain?
About 25% of adults in the U.S. experience chronic pain. This adds up to enormous human and economic costs, including increases in depression, anxiety, loss of sleep, loss of income, impacts on family and social life, and much more.
Chronic pain is defined as any pain that lasts longer than about 3 to 6 months, or longer than the normal healing process from an accident, injury or surgery. Although it is thought of as a physical event, chronic pain can also result in psychological and emotional distress, which can compound the problem and even make the pain worse.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month and an ideal time to delve into the effects of chronic pain on physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.
If you experience chronic pain, putting a pain management program in place can have profound benefits for your overall health and help you get back to the things you love doing. Physical therapy can be a central part of that plan.
Chronic Pain 101
Pain serves an important biological purpose. It alerts you to injury or illness that could threaten your health or even your life. However, chronic pain that lasts for extended periods of time is a more complex matter. Chronic pain is different from acute pain, which happens when you get hurt and is a normal part of the body’s response to injury.
There are different ways that chronic pain can arise. It may happen as a result of an injury such as a broken bone or infection that leaves you more pain-sensitive. Psychological factors such as stress, anxiety, or depression can also lead to chronic pain. It’s possible to have both physical and psychological causes in play at the same time, making the problem more complicated.
Here are some of the basics of recognizing and understanding chronic pain.
- Chronic pain can take many forms including migraines, back pain, neck pain, pain from scar tissue, fibromyalgia, and neurogenic pain from nerve damage. Pain can also occur in the area of a cancerous tumor.
- Sensations of chronic pain can run the gamut. People variously describe their symptoms as squeezing, shooting, aching, burning, stinging, throbbing, and stiffness.
- Pain can result from psychological factors. This is called psychosomatic or psychogenic pain. However, chronic pain can also cause emotional and mental distress, with conditions such as anxiety, depression, mood swings, and difficulty sleeping which often accompanies the physical symptoms of chronic pain.
- Risk factors that can influence whether you may be susceptible to chronic pain include genetics, obesity, tobacco or alcohol use, age, previous injury, and having a labor-intensive job.
Support for Managing Chronic Pain
The first step in addressing chronic pain is tofind what is causing it. Diagnostic tests such as balance and reflex tests, blood and/or urine tests, x-rays, spinal fluid tests, and nerve conduction studies may be recommended by your healthcare provider to determine the cause of the pain.
Next, making lifestyle modifications and seeking out appropriate therapies for your condition can help you manage your pain and support your overall well-being. These include:
- Taking medications (including muscle relaxers, corticosteroids, medical marijuana, anticonvulsants, herbal medicines, and sedatives) to help if you decide to go this route. If going the herbal medicine route, consult an expert to learn if there are any potentially dangerous interactions with any prescription or over the counter medicines you are taking. Opioids, while also a choice, should be approached with care as they carry the potential for addiction. Your healthcare provider may also suggest medical treatments such as nerve blocks and epidural steroid injections.
- Pursuing alternative and complementary approaches such as massage, yoga, chiropractic, acupuncture, and other modalities. Be sure that you choose a licensed practitioner who is in good standing with their professional licensing board, and find out if they have experience treating people with your type of pain.
- Seeing a therapist or psychologist who is versed in pain management. These professionals can help you with stress reduction techniques such as meditation, progressive relaxation, breathing exercises, and biofeedback.
- Avoiding or cutting back on smoking and the number of alcoholic drinks you consume. Both can make chronic pain worse.
- Doing low-intensity exercise.
- Eating a healthy, anti-inflammatory diet.
- Getting at least eight hours per night of good quality sleep.
- Managing stress. In addition to the suggestions mentioned above, deep breath, journaling, participating in activities or hobbies you enjoy, and maintaining a healthy social life help to reduce stress levels.
- Participating in physical therapy.
Physical Therapy and Chronic Pain
Physical therapy has great potential to help manage chronic pain by addressing the root causes of movement limitations. If you’re experiencing pain from an accident or injury, this is a route you may want to consider.
Physical therapy can provide relief for back pain, hip or knee osteoarthritis, and fibromyalgia, and may help with a wide range of other conditions as well.
Why choose physical therapy (PT) for chronic pain? Here are a few reasons.
- Physical therapy can decrease the use of opioids by providing interventions early in the pain cycle, reducing the likelihood that a patient will resort to opioids for pain control.
- Physical therapy has a wide range of applications including fall prevention, post-surgical recovery, stroke recovery, chronic fatigue syndrome, pelvic pain, and rotator cuff injury. And that’s just a tiny sample!
- Physical therapy does more than treat symptoms. It addresses the mental and emotional roots of chronic pain by increasing exercise and activity, both of which improve overall wellness and reduce mortality rates.
- Physical therapy helps people overcome health issues that prevent them from being more active, and can assist in creating a foundation for a healthy and balanced lifestyle.
Fyzical is here to help you break the chronic pain cycle
If you’re ready to take steps to manage your chronic pain, Fyzical Therapy and Balance Center of Lanham is here to help. We look forward to helping you get back to feeling better and back to the things you love doing. Get in touch today.