Do you experience chronic pain? You aren’t alone! Chronic pain can distress
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 experienced.
(1) Accepting pain is hard though! Fortunately,
so many studies show that some
optimism and physical activity improves pain and optimism. For these and more
reasons, Back And Neck Care Center incorporates exercise into our chronic back pain
patients’ Severna Park 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, particularly one dealing with
chronic low back pain. At the end of a 3-month study of
chronic low back pain patients who either exercised or didn’t,
researchers documented that pain disability scores in the exercisers
decreased significantly more. In both groups, lowered
pain scores connected to higher self-efficacy scores
(feelings of independence). Chronic low back pain exercisers’ increased
disability showed a positive effect
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 found
that improved self-efficacy was associated with lowered
disability regardless of any reduction
in pain intensity. They summarized that helping chronic
pain patients raise their sense of self-efficacy could be an effective addition to the treatment of chronic pain patients
beyond just pain relief. (3)
OPTIMISM FOR A BETTER, LESS PAINFUL DAY
And an optimistic outlook toward
pain can be a positive! Fear-avoidance is a common problem for patients with pain. They don’t
want to do anything to aggravate their pain
and cause pain which leads them to move less and have less optimism for ever being without pain. Research showed that patients with longer episodes
of pain who stated greater self-efficacy and
patients with higher pain disability and depression had lower self-efficacy. (4)
Knowing this, we support our
Severna Park pain patients to be physical and not avoid
living life! ’Better’ is coming!
EXERCISE: Time to Move!
And we all know it: physical inactivity and sedentary
lifestyle are not beneficial for us. Researchers even write that they are associated with chronic
musculoskeletal pain and can even heighten it! What
is the answer? Physical exercise, of course.
Researchers pointed out in a recent study that exercise
programs that combine a variety of types
of exercise – flexibility, balance, aerobic, strengthening – tend to be better. Such arrangements are also more adaptable
to an individual patient’s issues. Light-to-moderate
intensity exercise performed two to three times a week for just 4
weeks 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) Back And Neck Care Center
works with each Severna Park
chiropractic patient to make a plan just
for him/her.
CONTACT Back And Neck Care Center
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Kelly Brinkman on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as she
describes the effectiveness of the gentle
protocols of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in treating
chronic back pain.
Schedule your Severna Park chiropractic
appointment today. Whether you’re a retired NFL
player or NFL fan or neither of these, bring your chronic pain and worried mind
to Back And Neck Care Center. Let’s work together to decrease
pain and fear of pain and raise your sense of
independence and joy of life with chiropractic and exercise!