Stop Living With Pain – Try These 10 Best Pain Management Tips

Under our daily activities remains the intense chronic illness which is a reality. Along with it comes the frustration of working for professional and personal goals while living with chronic pain.

We all have been in this situation at some point in our lives.

Moreover, consider our daily routines. We sit all day in the office and at home or many people work by standing all day. By remaining stationary, we induce several types of pains in our bodies, such as persistent neck pain or pain in the lower back and so on.

We live a stressful life and amid all this, we do not realize that we are mistreating our bodies.

A good idea is to create a health improvement plan and work under the guidance of experts from back and neck pain center.

Understand that chronic pain has a significant impact on our lives.

So, we have composed a list of 10 effective tips that you can follow alongside your treatment plan to accelerate its effect.

1. Stay hydrated

We have always heard a lot about the benefits of drinking water. Also, there have been a lot of suggestions regarding the daily intake of water.

Similarly, even our spine requires an ample amount of water.

Surprisingly, when we are born, each our individual spinal discs are approximately 80 percent water and the ratio decreases as we age.

On avoiding the hydration required, spinal discs may get degenerated which leads to an array of diseases. Whereas, maintaining strong hydration habits can help in the prevention of degeneration of cervical discs.

Moreover, the discs rest between the vertebrae in the spine, which needs water for spine alignment and maintaining its posture.

Below are some tips that may help you on your way to stay hydrated –

• Start your day with drinking a glass of water on an empty stomach. Form a habit of drinking water at regular intervals.
• Carry a bottle of 1-liter water wherever you go and sip it frequently.

Now, this is important-

For every 30 minutes of physical activity, it is recommended to drink an additional 10 ounces of water. To ensure that you follow, carry a water bottle during workout.

2. Meditate

To ease the pain, meditation and deep breathing could be your mantra to go. The tightness and tension in the muscles ease down as you take a few deep breaths and relax.

Meditation is a non-pharmaceutical method that can help ease the pain as well as boosts mind focus. People who meditate experience less distress and are able to effectively deal with stress.

It is also believed that your perception about pain can start in the mind and meditation is helpful in reducing this perception of pain in the brain.

There are several techniques of meditation and fortunately, many of them could be practiced anywhere. For example, deep breathing technique requires only a quiet location for you to sit comfortably.

3. Kill stress

Constant experience of stress could worsen the condition of chronic pain. Negative states like depression and anxiety can elevate the body’s sensitivity to pain. On the positive side, if you learn to deal with stress, you may find relief in chronic pain.

Some of the activities that can reduce stress are listening to calming music, dancing, playing with a pet, gardening and so on. Make them your go-to techniques.

Besides, listen to relaxation tapes to promote calmness. And lastly, learn progressive muscle relaxation.

As the name goes, progressive muscle relaxation is a technique for deep muscle relaxation. This technique can effectively reduce stress, anxiety-provoking thoughts and reduce the symptoms of chronic pain. It shows a gradual effect by a daily practice of 10-20 minutes.

Prolonged stress can affect your thoughts, your feelings, and even your behavior. So, the best way to practice these techniques and stay away from the stress that deteriorates health and increases pain.

4. Exercise

Exercise is also an antidepressant medication. It serves as a distraction to break the chain of negative thoughts.

The activity releases endorphins, that are considered as happy emotions. As the brain and the body are closely related, a happy mind leads to a better body.

Exercise prevents the developing of pain signals. Now, this is good news as exercise will help you manage your weight, control blood sugar levels while also preventing the pain signals.

Considering it the other way, exercise strengthens the muscles, prevents injury and pain.

So, adopt an exercise routine that is surely going to benefit you.

In case you are suffering from a health condition, be careful about the regimen you adopt. Consult a doctor, and seek to advise about the kinds of activities you should practice.

5. Keep an activity log

Gradually, as you learn about the things that are problematic to your pain, start maintaining a log to track your habits.

Eliminate habits like alcohol consumption. Drinking alcohol can increase the pain level and worsen sleep problems. Hence, to maintain a good lifestyle, it is important to limit the consumption of alcohol or avoid it completely.

Similarly, smoking is even harmful to health. It hampers blood circulation and increases pain problems. Smoking can increase the risk of serious diseases like heart disease and cancer.

List down the activities of the day and calculate your pain score. Highlight the activities that helped in pain relief and meditate on them.

6. Eat healthy food

Let food be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy food.

The saying by Hippocrates is true for people with chronic pain. A well-balanced diet has an array of benefits. It improves blood circulation, keeps weight in control and prevents various diseases.

Try including all sorts of fruits and vegetables in your diet. The deficiency of certain vitamins increases the level of chronic pain. For example neck pain can be caused due to muscle strain and magnesium is the mineral that aids in the contraction of muscles.

Food thought – Commonly found in fruits and vegetables, magnesium is essential for the relaxation of muscles. So, consume it as much as you can. You can also receive magnesium by applying magnesium oil or diving into hot water induced with Epsom salt.

7. Use ice therapy

Many backs and neck pain center suggest ice therapy for pain relief, which is actually an effective technique for chronic pain.

Could you recall a neck pain that caused uneasiness even in the surrounding areas?

Severe pain in the neck could cause nagging headaches, numbness in the back, and shoulders.

Placing ice packs on painful areas result in temporary relief from pain.

8. Opt for a therapy

There are various types of activities that help in improving chronic situations. For example, acupuncture is an effective therapy for the treatment of various physical and mental conditions. It involves inserting needles in specific areas of the body for treating diseases.

However, the effectiveness of the treatment largely depends on the expertise of the practitioner.

Even a massage can reduce the muscle tension and stress from the body and relaxes people suffering from all sorts of chronic pain.

Talk to your physical therapist to suggest you therapies that will be most beneficial to you. He/She might also suggest you exercises to strengthen the pain areas after identifying the root cause of pain.

9. Watch your phone usage

Using the phone in the wrong manner can worsen your pain. People cause unnecessary strain on the neck is by cradling it between the ear and neck. This causes strain in the cervical spine which increases the pain level.

People often have a habit of cranking down their neck while texting or browsing their phone. The position is harmful to the alignment and placement of the spine and may bring some serious health risks.

10. Always maintain a good posture

Maintaining a proper posture while you sit, stand or sleep is extremely important. Especially, sitting in a good posture is a good way to stay away from back and neck pain. Always sit in a neutral position while sitting on a chair. If you are suffering from chronic pain and seek to give some rest to your neck, choose a neck supporting chair. Make it a point to use a headrest wherever you sit, be it a car or a chair.

We, at Physical Healthcare of Jacksonville, are a group of expert doctors in the field of orthopedy, physical therapy, regenerative therapy and so on.

Our back and neck pain center introduces patients with natural techniques like music therapy, deep breathing, and meditation to ease the pain.

We believe that patients must not only cope up with pain problems but heal from it permanently. If you are suffering from chronic pain, book your appointment now.