First, you need to know if the pain you’re experiencing is long term or short term. Why? Because the treatment for each type of pain is different.
Many people aren’t sure which type of pain they have. So, they continue with the same medication and treatment.
Long term, or persistent, pain has usually been there been there on most days for over three months.
After three months healing in the body has usually taken place. So, if you still have pain after that time, it’s often a problem of the pain system, rather than damaged tissue.
Pain is a normal part of life; it’s there to protect us from injury and helps keep us safe.
Sometimes though, your pain system can become overly sensitive and overprotective. This is what happens with persistent pain. It might be helpful to think of your pain system as a computer that has developed a fault. This fault is over-riding the whole system and leading to your ongoing pain.
When you think about managing pain some common treatments will probably come to mind. The first is medication, from over-the-counter products to stronger prescribed painkillers. These are generally good for short-term pain. Pain that you have had for less than three months, when healing is still taking place following an injury.
With persistent pain, when the pain has lasted over three months, medication isn’t your best option. That’s because medication tackles the symptom rather than the cause. It might provide short-term relief but will often become less effective over time.
There are some other treatments for pain.
These include massage, manual and manipulative therapies, like chiropractic or osteopathic. Rest, electrotherapy, heat, and ice are also options, as well as acupuncture or dry needling. These are often quite passive treatments which are unlikely to provide a long-term solution for persistent pain. What they can do is provide short-term relief by relaxing the muscles, which then allow movement to take place in what was a painful area.
If these passive treatments are combined with exercise, it can be more beneficial for persistent pain. This is because movement and exercises can address muscle strength and loading of the joints. But if you are experiencing persistent pain, your pain system can be sensitive and overly protective, which can make exercise very difficult.
Science shows us that learning about how pain works is the most effective way to go about treating it.
Lots of things can contribute to your feelings of pain. If you are experiencing persistent pain, you’ll know how unpredictable it can be. Often, it simply doesn’t make sense. For example, the weather or the time of day might seem to trigger it. Even your mood and stress levels can affect it. Learning and understanding more about pain, and how it fluctuates, can be life changing.
So, are you ready to think differently about persistent pain? Are you ready to discover how and why you experience it? Are you ready to learn and take on board knowledge backed by the latest scientific evidence? Think how empowering this would be: once you’re able to make informed decisions about your treatments you are in control.
When choosing a treatment approach that best suits you, consider the following:
Will this treatment provide me with short-term relief, or will it be addressing the long-term problem? Remember that passive treatments and medication only provide short-term relief.
Does this treatment address the underlying cause of my persistent pain?
This involves learning about your pain system and not just having treatments ‘done to you’.
It’s also worth considering the prospect of becoming independent from those helping you to manage your pain. Having a knowledge base will free you to make independent, informed choices about your own treatment. Learning about pain is complex, but it’s also fascinating, and anyone can do it!
Once you understand more about pain, and how it works, you can begin moving in a way that’s safe.
Moving is so important, but it’s necessary to start gently at a time and pace that suits you.
As The Mind and Body Guide, my aim is to explore these connections to help you gain insight into yourself. This could be looking at present problems or those that are more deeply seated: things you’ve been told or events you’ve experienced which have shaped who you are now.
I have decades of experience in health care. Years spent working as a senior physiotherapist in the NHS. I’ve taught Pilates to hundreds of people. And I’m a qualified psychotherapist with a suite of therapy skills to draw on.
My approach to therapy is to help you to understand yourself mentally and physically. Then, working together, we can plot your pathway to a healthier, happier life.
The Mind and Body Body Guide.
Therapy for the whole of you.
