Exercise Combats Carrolltown Chronic Pain and Related Distress
Do you have 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 found that the greater the pain acceptance, the lower the pain intensity they had. (1) Accepting pain is a challenge though! Luckily, study after study shows that a little optimism and physical activity improves pain and optimism. For these and more reasons, Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation incorporates exercise into our chronic back pain patients’ Carrolltown chiropractic treatment plans!
EXERCISE: GOOD FOR BODY AND MIND
Exercise benefits go beyond the physical body improvements. Exercise also enhances the mind and outlook of a person in pain, especially 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 fell significantly more. In both groups, reduced pain scores correlated with higher self-efficacy scores (feelings of independence). Chronic low back pain exercisers’ improved 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 decrease of pain intensity. They summarized that helping chronic pain patients tweak 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 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 aggravate their pain and exacerbate pain which leads them to move less and have 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) Understanding this, we encourage our Carrolltown pain patients to be active and not avoid living life! Improvement is coming!
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 heighten it! What’s the solution? Physical exercise, of course. Researchers pointed out in a new study that exercise programs that combine several types of exercise – flexibility, balance, aerobic, strengthening – tend to be better. Such combinations are also more adaptable to an individual patient’s issues. Light-to-moderate intensity exercise done two to three times a week for a month were demonstrated 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) Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation works with each Carrolltown chiropractic patient to make a plan just for him/her.
CONTACT Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Kelly Brinkman on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as she shares the effective gentle protocols of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in treating chronic back pain.
Make your Carrolltown chiropractic appointment today. Whether you are a retired NFL player or NFL fan or neither of these, bring your chronic pain and worried mind to Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation. We’ll work together to reduce pain and fear of pain and improve your sense of independence and joy of life with chiropractic and exercise!
