Do you experience chronic pain? You’re not alone! Chronic pain can work on
the mind and the body. Over 80% of retired NFL football players experience
pain daily. A recent questionnaire study of them revealed that
the greater the pain acceptance, the lower the pain intensity they had.
(1) Accepting pain is hard though! Fortunately,
so many studies show that a little
optimism and physical activity improves pain and optimism. For these and more
reasons, Layden Chiropractic incorporates exercise into our chronic back pain
patients’ Plainville chiropractic treatment plans!
EXERCISE: GOOD FOR BODY AND MIND
Exercise benefits go beyond the physical body
improvements. Exercise also improves the mind and outlook of a
person in pain, especially one who has
chronic low back pain. At the conclusion of a 3-month study of
chronic low back pain patients who either exercised or didn’t,
researchers found that pain disability scores in the exercisers
dropped significantly more. In both groups, lowered
pain scores connected to higher self-efficacy scores
(feelings of independence). Chronic low back pain exercisers’ increased
disability reflected a beneficial influence
on increased self-efficacy and pain relief. (2) Another study of 72 patients
before treatment for their chronic pain and after 3 months of treatment documented
that improved self-efficacy was linked to decreased
disability whether they felt any reduction
of pain intensity. They concluded that helping chronic
pain patients raise their sense of self-efficacy could be a
good way to help chronic pain patients cope with pain in addition to just
relieving their pain. (3)
OPTIMISM FOR A BETTER, LESS PAINFUL DAY
And an optimistic point of view toward
pain can be a positive! Fear-avoidance is a
not-too-unusual a problem for patients with pain. They do not
want to do anything to worsen their condition
and exacerbate pain which leads to
less movement and less optimism for a life without
pain. Research indicated that patients with longer periods with pain who stated greater self-efficacy and
patients with higher pain disability and depression had lower self-efficacy. (4)
Knowing this, we support our
Plainville pain patients to be physical and not avoid
living life! ’Better’ is just around the corner!
EXERCISE: Time to Move!
And we all know it: physical inactivity and sedentary
lifestyle are not beneficial for us. Researchers go so
far as to write that they are associated with chronic
musculoskeletal pain and can even exacerbate it! What
is the solution? Physical exercise, of course.
Researchers noted in a recent study that exercise
programs combining a variety of forms
of exercise – flexibility, balance, aerobic, strengthening – tend to be more
effective. Such combinations are also more flexible
to a particular patient’s issues. Light-to-moderate
intensity exercise done two to three times a week for a month were shown to be of greatest benefit
for chronic pain patients particularly for those with spine pain conditions like chronic
low back pain, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and fibromyalgia. (5) Layden Chiropractic
works with each Plainville
chiropractic patient to make a strategy just
for him/her.
CONTACT Layden Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Kelly Brinkman on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as she
details the effectiveness of the gentle
protocols of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in treating
chronic back pain.
Schedule your Plainville chiropractic
appointment now. Whether you are a retired NFL
player or NFL fan or neither of these, bring your chronic pain and worried mind
to Layden Chiropractic. Let’s work together to decrease
pain and fear of pain and improve your sense of
independence and joy of life with chiropractic and exercise!