Chronic Pain Awareness

By Daniel Sauer

Many chronic pain sufferers live without ongoing chronic pain solutions and, as a result, their quality of life diminishes progressively over time, including their physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

The medical definition of chronic pain is any pain lasting longer than 12 consecutive weeks. Unlike acute pain, which comes on suddenly for a clear reason and heals quickly, chronic pain is a long-term condition, often persisting for months. Chronic pain, also known as chronic pain syndrome, can become a “tolerable pain”, whereby the person experiencing the pain can ignore it or live with it long-term.

For people suffering from chronic pain syndrome, identifying the underlying cause can be a frustrating process as the reasons for chronic, non-specific pain isn’t always obvious. But uncovering the underlying cause contributing to your pain can help you implement necessary solutions for managing chronic pain.

Chronic pain conditions can seriously affect daily activities and quality of life. Such as:

• Carry groceries.
• Climb stairs.
• Stand up straight.
• Maintain energy by the end of the day.
• Continue activities or continue without rest breaks.
• Uphold schedules.
• Sustain sociability.

Some types of chronic pain conditions include:

• Arthritis
• Fibromyalgia
• Spinal Stenosis

When an individual suffers from chronic pain, the natural response is doing anything to reduce it. For many, that instinct is to rest and relax. This response can initiate a vicious cycle of self-limiting activity. Too much rest can be detrimental and result in atrophy (or wasting) of the muscles, leading to further health problems, including poor posture, less joint stability, and other structural problems.

Physical activity is known to reduce pain intensity and disability as well as provide a range of other benefits including improvements in strength, flexibility, and endurance, a decrease in cardiovascular and metabolic syndrome risk, improved bone health, and improved cognition and mood.

Recent research recommends that because physical movement is so important in improving chronic pain, doctors should prescribe it to patients, similar to how they prescribe medications.

The benefits of exercise on Chronic Pain outweigh any cons you may think. Examples are:

• Builds muscle strength and helps prevent muscular atrophy.
• Reduces fatigue. 
• Increase one’s Range of Motion and Flexibility.
• Improves sleep. 
• Reduces pain sensitivity. 
• Reduces inflammation. 
• Reduces depression and anxiety and improves mood. 

So don’t just accept the pain and discomfort, contact us today and see how we can assist you with a personalised exercise programme. This programme caters to your individual needs and activities.