20 Nov Tips For Living With Chronic Pain
Chronic pain lasts longer than 3 – 6 months, and your team at Integrated Pain Consultants prioritize safe medication management to avoid opioid addiction. Chronic, long-term pain can be debilitating and lead to lost wages, loss of life enjoyment, and can even keep you from taking care of the basic activities of daily living. Fortunately, there are a number of ways to address chronic pain to make it livable. Start conservatively in terms of medication management and treatments, and always have a skilled medical team in your corner. We also invite you to learn more about Dr. Nikesh Seth and other providers including Dr. Anne-Marie Cosijns, Dr. Lisa Sparks, Dr. Michael Givens, and our team of Nurse Practitioners.
Are you living with chronic pain? Here are a few tips for better management and control:
• Go holistic. Approach pain management from all sides, knowing that your primary doctor wants to help you work with a variety of reputable professionals to craft an evolving plan for you. This might involve medications, physical therapy, acupuncture, seeing a chiropractor, massage therapy and more.
• Focus on your posture. Westerners are unfortunately notorious for poor posture thanks to a society based on seating and hunching over screens. Yoga and physical therapy are great ways to work on posture as a means of functional fitness to address chronic pain.
• Hot and cold. Both ice and heat treatments can help relieve pain, depending on where the pain is coming from. Ask your doctor if ice/heat might benefit you and the proper way to go about it.
• Practice good sleep hygiene. Sleep hygiene entails best practices that ensure you get a solid night’s sleep—whatever that means to you. Eight hours is just an average. However, you should avoid caffeine after 3 p.m., screens for at least two hours before bed, and establish a sleep routine that’s comforting and cues your body that it’s almost time to sleep. Remove all electronics from the bedroom and keep it cool and dark.
• Explore various treatments. From transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and epidural steroid injections, there are a variety of treatments available. Ask your doctor about trying something new if your chronic pain isn’t improving, and be open to the rich possibilities. Many are relatively non-invasive.
• Meditation and imagery. Your imagination is incredibly powerful, which is why star athletes are trained to imagine victories as part of their regimen. Imagining the pain leaving your body or subsiding, perhaps in conjunction with guided meditation, can help manage pain from the inside out.
Everyone needs a little help when it comes to pain and medication management. Call Integrated Pain Consultants today at 480-626-2552 to schedule an appointment and start your journey towards pain management.