What is Chronic Pain and How Does it Effect You?

How many of you have an injury that comes up repeatedly? Probably most of you.

If this describes you, you might be experiencing chronic pain and it’s likely effecting your exercise routine.

Maybe it’s an old shoulder injury that rears its ugly head whenever you lift a lot. Or foot pain that returns whenever you try running.

For me it’s back pain.

Since I began my career in physical therapy, I’ve struggled with back pain. Likely it’s due to ignoring the teaching of my professors and not watching my body mechanics as I work with patients. All the standing and lifting I do in the clinic certainly contributes as well. Thankfully I know how to take care of my back when it hurts (more on this in my next post).

But let’s talk more about chronic pain and how it may be effecting you and your ability to exercise.

What is chronic pain?

The National Library of Medicine defines chronic pain as pain lasting more than 3 months. Mine has lasted much longer although it isn’t always present.

Whether you have an old injury that comes up occasionally or more significant and constant pain that affects your daily life, if it has lasted more than 3 months you are experiencing chronic pain.

How does chronic pain effect you?

Maybe you’re the person in my first example. You have an old shoulder injury that keeps you from bench pressing during your workouts. Or maybe you’re the person in my second example who’s foot pain returns when you try to run. Any time you experience chronic pain it is frustrating.

But it is especially frustrating when it keeps you from doing the things you are trying to do to take care of your health, like lifting weights or running. Thankfully there are many things you can to to reduce and even eliminate pain, even when it’s been around for a long time.

Perhaps you are someone with more constant, chronic pain and you struggle to do any form of exercise. Even when this type of pain effects you, there are still things you can do to reduce your pain and get your body moving.

What to do about chronic pain?

The basics.

If you haven’t yet, please see your doctor. They can assess your symptoms and rule out anything sinister. They can also help determine if more testing is needed to check for an injury that needs specific intervention.

Second, please go see a physical therapist! They are experts when it comes to bones, muscles, and movement patterns (shameless plug for my profession). They don’t just look at the pain, but at the root cause of the pain.

But sometimes there is nothing “wrong,” no injury that can be labeled. There may be some strengthening and stretching work to do to improve your movement patterns, but there is nothing specific that seems to be causing the chronic pain. Even in this situation, there are several things you can do to reduce the chronic pain that is effecting you.

Reducing chronic pain.

Adriaan Louw in his book, Why Do I Hurt? describes several things you can use to reduce chronic pain. We will focus on 4 of them over the next several weeks.

• Knowledge
• Aerobic Exercise
• Sleep Hygiene and
• Goal Setting and Pacing

What I love about these strategies for reducing chronic pain is that they focus on habit change for long-term progress. (See my post on habits here.)

What if I’m not effected by chronic pain?

You’re either lying or superman. We all have sore areas that appear from time to time. But if chronic pain isn’t effecting you, focusing on these 4 things will help you live a healthy lifestyle and keep chronic pain away.

In my upcoming posts I’ll be talking through each of the 4 steps above: knowledge, aerobic exercise, sleep hygiene, and goal setting.

What I love most about these 4 things is that they focus on taking small steps to a healthier, pain free life.

Whether you’re tired of chronic pain effecting your exercise routine or keeping you from exercising at all, these treatment techniques are key to reducing pain and getting you moving. Exercising with chronic pain is hard, but not exercising at all will hurt you more in the long run. Don’t let chronic pain ruin your health!

Stay tuned for my next post where I’ll tackle knowledge of pain.

Have questions? Comment below or message me on Instagram. @allieisracing

Disclaimer: You should always consult your doctor before making changes to your health strategy especially if you have a chronic condition. If any of these strategies sound especially helpful for you, be sure to discuss with your doctor the best way to implement them into your health plan.

Reference:

Adriaan Louw, PT, PhD. Why Do I Hurt? (Adriaan Louw, 2013), pg 36-47