Exercise Combats Minster 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 reported having 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 hard though! Fortunately, study after study shows that some optimism and physical activity improves pain and optimism. For these and more reasons, Minster Chiropractic Center incorporates exercise into our chronic back pain patients’ Minster 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 who has chronic low back pain. At the end of a 3-month study of chronic low back pain patients who either exercised or did not, researchers documented that pain disability scores in the exercisers dropped significantly more. In both groups, reduced pain scores connected to higher self-efficacy scores (feelings of independence). Chronic low back pain exercisers’ increased disability reflected a positive 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 associated with lowered disability regardless of any reduction in 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 attitude 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 exacerbate pain which leads to less movement and less optimism for ever being without pain. Research indicated that patients with longer periods with pain who expressed greater self-efficacy and patients with higher pain disability and depression had lower self-efficacy. (4) Understanding this, we support our Minster pain patients to be active 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 even write that they are associated with chronic musculoskeletal pain and can even aggravate it! What’s 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 better. Such combinations are also more adaptable to a particular 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) Minster Chiropractic Center formulates a strategy specially for each Minster chiropractic patient.
CONTACT Minster Chiropractic Center
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 Minster chiropractic appointment soon. Whether you’re a retired NFL player or NFL fan or neither of these, bring your chronic pain and worried mind to Minster Chiropractic Center. 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!
