When you are given advice to relieve or manage your constant pain the ideas tend to be a bit repetitive, with many programmes offering similar services. Consequently, I've come up with five self-management of pain ideas that I hope are new.
Try out one or more to find out which suit you the most and hopefully enjoy! Alternatively, if you are a practitioner reading this blog it might be something you can share with your patients.
The following ideas I've shared with many clients over 20 years of treating chronic pain.
1. Do something you love.
2. Cuddle a pillow.
3. Smile – Yep, I'm serious here!
4. Be compassionate with yourself.
5. Do all of the above or just one but do it with commitment and belief.
Below I'll explain give you more details. Why I believe they're a good idea as they are readily available, and they are also free.
1.Do Something You Love
Now this may be a vexed point, as some of you may, through injury or pain lost the activity that you love doing. No longer able to do a lifelong sport or activity, or do your scrapbooking, cooking, or sewing due to your constant pain.
This is extremely sad. Consequently, to change your pain you may have to change your life, even future plans for your hobbies or pastimes.
Here's a question I want you to answer. Then I to give you two options.
Firstly, can you get satisfaction becoming a coach, an advisor, or an educator. Perhaps you’d enjoy recording or writing about that sport or hobby that you love?
For example: A client decided to express herself, her feelings and emotions using her hobby scrapbooking as a healing journey.
Alternatively, if that would be too emotional and remind you of what you've lost it's time for another turn in your life. Find, search, and investigate new opportunities.
What Did you Love to Do as a Child?
The career options given to me at school, many years ago were to become a teacher or a nurse. That was it! However nowadays many more careers, work or study options are open to women of all ages.
My reasons for bringing this up is perhaps you may have to think back to high school or even younger.
What gave you joy?
We make decisions and choices throughout our lives how about revisiting the many you made, revisit those ideas that you possibly left behind.
Why do Something you Love?
Firstly, the reason to do something you love. It creates those feel-good chemicals, such as dopamine that act on your brain.
Secondly, another reason for finding a new focus it will distract you from your pain. Just like you distract a curious 2-year-old from something dangerous to a safe more interesting prospect.
2.Cuddle a Pillow - Relaxes Muscles
I accidentally discovered this idea when I was working with a client who had a very stiff back that produced constant pain. Following our consultation I dived into scientific research that confirmed there are many benefits from cuddling a pillow or a soft toy for your dog.
The client I was working with was a young woman who had a very striking posture. As she was sitting in the chair talking to me the expression “ram rod straight” came to mind. She was sitting forward on the chair with an extremely upright posture throughout her spine including her head.
Observing this, and even as I reflect on it now, it just looked uncomfortable and painful. The origin of this posture came from a strict education system that insisted young children sat up straight at all times. Although this young woman was in her late 20’s she maintained her upright posture together with emotional connections with school, that had been a stressful place for her.
In my practice clients generally laid down on massage table while they were having treatment. Consequently, I always had a number of pillows to use for supporting areas of the body during their treatment. However, for some reason I suggested that she might be more comfortable lying down while we were disgusting her pain issues.
Infrequently, but by necessity I do have lying down consultations as some clients find it painful to sit down for long periods of time.
I always had a number of pillows to use for supporting areas of the body during their treatment. Therefore, when she had to lie on her side so she could see and talk to me. I gave her a pillow to put her arms around to make her more comfortable lying on her side. I continued to take her history and discuss her pain issues.
Within a short period of time, I observed a change in her body posture I can only describe it as more relaxed or softer, the stiffness was gone.
Therefore, I started to ask her what it felt like to cuddle the pillow. The pillow had created a lot of relaxation in the muscles of her back which had a gentle relaxed bend and at the same time a complete absence of her back pain as she was lying there. Consequently, this was her home study to find a pillow and to learn to relax. At the same time include some meditative breathing.
As I mentioned above research has shown that hugging and cuddling releases oxytocin in our bodies.
Therefore, this new method number two managing pain works in a variety of ways: -
It makes you stop take your time out.
It gives muscles of your body the chance just let go and.
Muscles release in a very supportive posture (you're free to add more pillows to make yourself comfortable just to ensure you are doing the cuddle),
You will be generating oxytocin that will also be working on your brain and your emotions too.
I call this cuddle therapy - a beautiful way to be kind to yourself, an opportunity to give yourself a great big hug!
3. Smile - A Gift to Yourself and Others
Now I hope my third way of managing pain has not stopped you from reading this article as I'm sure many of you are saying it's positively the last thing you feel like doing. Especially when in severe chronic pain. One of the reasons to search to go search on Google is to find ways to manage your ongoing pain – and your read smile!
Let me explain that we can smile even when we are not in a smiling mood. I'm sure many of you have come across or being told to put a pencil, lengthways across your mouth which creates effectively a false smile.
But there is some evidence, or I've heard it said, that the brain can't really differentiate the movements of the muscles by putting a pencil in your mouth from the movement of your muscles when you smile.
There was an interesting meditation that I lead recently and on this particular meeting I decided while everyone was doing their relaxed breathing. They were calming themselves with their eyes closed. I decided to ask them to smile.
As I was leading this meditation, I could observe their facial expressions, unlike the pencil experiment there was a lot more involment of their face than just their lips.
When I do my meditation groups and online classes I am generally doing the movements, the thoughts, the actions as I describe them. Therefore I smiled with the group I was with.
Feeling the Loss of a Smile
Something surprised me. When I asked the group to finish smiling and to let it go and to release and relax their face and I did this too. When I stopped smiling, still with eyes closed, there was an emotion change. I felt a negative emotion change, a sad shift by changing from smiling to taking the smile away.
4. Be Compassionate to Yourself - Be Kind to Your Pain
Are you someone who says to themselves: -
I didn't do that well enough.
I need to do that again, it's useless.
I recently suggested to a chronic pain client that she needs to be compassionate to herself she said.
"Not me Jean - I'm busy being compassionate to everyone else, they are more important"
Question One
How can we keep giving, always taking care of others, never ourselves?
Question Two
Why put all your effort into pleasing others, making sure it's good enough for other people?
You know it makes me feel exhausted just writing these words. Stressful too. Stress can make pain worse. Obviously, I'm not advocating not caring for others. In fact when we care for others it makes us feel good. However you must have and give energy, support and compassion to yourself. Then you have more to share.
Another client quote.
"I'm feeling so much better and I think it helps me by listening to my colleague at work. He’s having a hard time, I'm trying to help him as much as I can."
I must qualify that this client had been working with me and in a good place from doing his own self-care for several weeks.
Putting Compassion into Action
Now let's put my new treatment idea number four for chronic pain, be compassionate to yourself, into action. I'd like you to put yourself in the place being the receiver, the person you are always thinking of and taking care of. Therefore this means, a bit, some, or a lot of positive self talk.
We can spend so much about day saying negative messages to ourselves. Some of us may even be experts.
Here is the new idea to put into action, today!
First, Notice negative words and messages you send to yourself.
"Awareness is the key to change"
If you are not aware of the negative way you think and talk to yourself there is not a hope of changing them. If you really want to know how bad you are write them down or perhaps record them on your phone.
Although this is not my favourite idea, as I generally don't believe in giving such negativity a voice it may be necessary for you to gain awareness. Be sure to destroy what you write down or record when you've finished.
Second, Quiet the negativity.
Here's an idea you might appreciate
I'm not good enough
becomes
I'm great!
Overwrite the negative with it's positive opposite.
Repetition is needed here, but be assured you will be able to shut up or shut out the negative thoughts and negatives self-talk. But see idea number five - it will take time and it will take effort.
Third, Share the positivity
After doing the above you will be so used to using positive phrases, positive words and positive self-talk you can scatter it to friends, colleagues and even opponents. Share the positivity.
P.S. You will be so focused on this new positive messaging that pain messages from your brain well not get a look in.
5. Do All of the Above or Just One - But with Commitment, Belief, and Continuity.
Often when we want to change the hardest part is the doing.
When using natural solutions to chronic pain many of us become impatient. We want change within a short time if not immediately!
Because of this take a pill mentality where we have been used to a quick fix we have forgotten how the body heals. With a cut or bruise the repair to “good as new” can take weeks.
A cut needs the immune system to send macrophages neutrophils and other molecules to repair damaged tissue: -
Stop the bleeding.
Bring in protection.
Rebuild tissue.
Restore normal blood flow to the site.
Clean up the debris needed after the repair work.
Imagine repairing a hole in your living room wall-you cannot just paint over it or cover it with cardboard. Think of this hole in the wall when you want to see changes in your pain or anxiety. Natural changes in pain relief can take time and commitment. Remember to give yourself care and compassion – see number 4.
Remember medication often is not a solution it's like the cardboard over a hole in the wall!
Medication mostly doesn't fix or repair it alters the way your body functions often achieving relief of symptoms. Often this is done by blocking the normal body homeostasis your body has to adjust, having to find another way of working. This explains the amounts of possible side effects when you take medicines. Your body wants to return to normal body function.
Problems with these side effects is one of the reasons natural pain solutions is about education, information and understanding more about your persistent pain and ways it can be managed.
Jean Jordan is a naturopath who puts together information from her own expereince in practice. She does not diagnose and this site is for educational purposes only.
ALWAYS check with your medical clinician if you have pain.
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