Chronic Pain – The Secret to Achieving Your Goals

We are in our fourth post on chronic pain. Ready for some practical tips on how to make your “impossible” goals achievable?

So far we have learned what chronic pain is and how knowledge, aerobic exercise, and sleep help manage chronic pain. Today we’ll look at the “secret” to achieving your goals as you manage chronic pain, especially as you get back to exercise.

Chronic pain and goal setting.

There is no doubt that dealing with chronic pain is challenging. No matter what level of pain you are experiencing, having pain keep you from doing the things you want and need to do is hard. Oftentimes those who are experiencing chronic pain also experience feelings of hopelessness. This is especially true if chronic pain is keeping you from doing activities you love, or activities you used to do to stay healthy. Like exercise.

In my previous post I explained that Adriaan Louw describes chronic pain as going from being able to do a lot of activity to only a little activity because of your pain. What does this look like?

Let’s say you struggle with back pain. It started small but got progressively worse. It used to hurt with running, so you started jogging slowly. As it got worse you had to give up jogging for walking, but that also became painful. Despite your attempts to keep exercising, you can’t even walk around the block without your back pain screaming at you. Goal setting can help you get back to walking, maybe even running. We’ll talk about how.

The secret.

When you set a goal to get back to exercise, the secret to setting and achieving your goal isn’t really a secret but it is imperative. Here it is: break it down.

No, I don’t mean dance (although that is a form of aerobic exercise). I mean break down your large goal into a smaller goal. And then break that smaller goal down into an even smaller goal. Here’s how it works.

Getting practical.

In our example of back pain affecting running and walking, here is how breaking down the goal could look. The ultimate goal: be able to run 1 mile in a year. The smaller goal: be able to walk 1 mile in 6 months. The goal a size smaller: be able to walk around the block in 1 month. What I will do this week to work towards that goal: walk 1 side of my block every morning after I brush my teeth.

Do you see how breaking this goal down helps create a path to the goal? For a person who can’t even walk around the block without pain, running a mile can seem overwhelming and impossible. But walking 1 side of your block tomorrow seems doable. But you can’t find the smallest, doable goal without starting at the main goal and breaking it down.

The same “secret” can be applied to every other goal. Trying to get back into weight lifting? Maybe you want to be able to do a 30 minute strength video in 6 months. Break it down to doing 15 minutes of the video in 3 months. Start by doing 1 of the exercises every morning for 5 minutes after you get dressed.

Bonus Tip

You must schedule in your day when you will work towards your goal. Unless something is put into your schedule at a specific time, it likely won’t get done. In the example above, we broke down the first goal into walking 1 side of the block each morning after brushing your teeth. And we broke down the second goal into doing 1 exercise for 5 minutes after getting dressed. The time to work towards the goal was scheduled.

In her blog here, Linda OBrien talks about the importance of scheduling your “small step.” This shows that goals need to be both broken down and scheduled. So break down your goal, and add it to your schedule.

The secret to achieving your goals really isn’t a secret, but it’s necessary. Breaking down your goals into small, practical, and schedulable steps allows you to create habits that will help you achieve your goals.

Looking for more practical tips to know how to mange pain and get back to exercise? You won’t want to miss my next post on how to read the “traffic lights” of pain. Be sure to subscribe!

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 5.