Living Your Best Life With Chronic Pain

Living Your Best Life With Chronic Pain

Chronic pain can adversely affect your quality of life and your ability to engage in daily activities. It also has repercussions on your family life, work environment, and social life. It is important to emphasize the need for a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to improve patient’s function.

Research shows that the ability to live a meaningful life with chronic pain depends on you taking a leading role in your life. 

With this in mind, here are some tips to get you started on making your life more meaningful despite living in chronic pain.

Managing Life with Chronic Pain

Developing Some Coping Mechanisms

You probably get a grim picture when you think of living life with chronic pain. However, the reality is that you can continue to enjoy a happy, healthy, and productive life. Consider:

  • Learning deep breathing mechanisms or meditation to help you relax
  • Reducing stressful situations in your life
  • Cutting back on alcohol and smoking, which can make the problem worse
  • Joining a support group
  • Learning biofeedback to decrease tension

Exercise

It’s not a good idea to allow yourself to get lost in chronic pain, but instead, use it to your benefit. When you are in pain, leading a sedentary life can make the pain worse. Talk to your healthcare provider or physical therapist about a safe exercise program that suits your condition.

The program should match your current fitness level and take into account your diagnosis.

Exercise doesn’t have to be in the gym. You can do it from home with streaming videos, or you can join a rehabilitative exercise program in your area. Exercise has a pain-reducing effect because the brain releases some chemicals to block pain signals.

Try Complementary Treatments

Together with getting the proper medications and procedures, you may also want to try other effective alternative treatments that can be powerful tools to help you cope with chronic pain. Common alternatives include:

It can be challenging to manage chronic pain all alone. If you would like more professional help managing chronic pain for a more meaningful life, fill this form to request an appointment with pain management specialists at SDOMG.

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5 Early Signs of Osteoarthritis

5 Early Signs of Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, affecting more than 27 million Americans.  It is a chronic inflammatory disease that slowly degenerates the protective cartilage in your joints.  The most commonly affected joints are the knee, hip, shoulder and thumb.  Symptoms of osteoarthritis vary by individual, progress over time and are easiest to treat when treated early.

Watch out for these early signs of osteoarthritis:

  1. Joint Pain:  This is often one of the first signs of osteoarthritis. Joint pain that worsens with activity and is relieved after a period of rest is suggestive of osteoarthritis.  Patients may experience mild joint tenderness or debilitating pain that limits activities.
  2. Swelling:  Natural joint fluid serves to cushion and lubricate your joints.  When the joint is irritated, extra fluid builds up and causes the joint to swell creating pain and stiffness.  Sometimes the swelling can be caused by soft tissue inflammation in the joint.
  3. Loss of Flexibility:  Inflammation, swelling and bone spurs can also limit joint motion. It may become difficult or impossible to fully bend or straighten a joint.  This can affect your ability to perform daily activities or engage in sports.
  4. Abnormal Sensations:  The cartilage between your bones acts as a shock absorber and allows smooth joint motion.  When this cartilage becomes damaged, abnormal sensations or sounds such as crackling, grating or clicking may be experienced.  Sometimes these sensations are associated with pain.
  5. Joint Stiffness: Joint stiffness is a common early sign of osteoarthritis and may occur after sitting or resting for prolonged periods of time. Stiffness in the morning is also a common early sign.  Many times, the stiffness will improve later in the day after you are warmed up.

If you experience any of these symptoms, talk with your doctor.  A clinical evaluation that includes a physical examination and diagnostic testing can accurately diagnose the cause of your pain.  Early detection will result in more effective treatment.

Several nonsurgical treatments are available to help reduce your pain, increase your activity and allow you to get back to doing the things you love.

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