Pain Management and Reduction
The physical causes of pain must always be investigated by your medical advisors.
However, we are whole people and physical, emotional and other kinds of pain are interlinked so it is always worth investigating all aspects of your pain, even if only to discover what it teaches us. Symptoms can also have symbolic meanings which can exaggerate the physical pain. Psychological methods also have a big part to play in managing pain with purely physical causes.
Here are some ways of dealing with your pain, especially if it persists and if other physical treatments have not been successful. Please let us know if you have found any of these helpful or if you have other methods that have worked well.
If there is a psychological reason for my pain, does this mean I am imagining it?
No, there is often a mix of physical and other causes. In fact, pain experts say that delusional pain cannot be helped with psychological treatments. Physical pain has many effects on well-being and emotions. It is these effects that can be helped with the following techniques.
What is pain?
Pain is the sensation in your body that indicates something is not right. The information is sent along nerve pathways to your brain which 'interprets' the signals so you know something needs fixing. If the cause of pain is known and it can be removed, the pain may stop but where this is not possible, more chronic pain may result which is harder to treat. There are also personal differences in what we can tolerate and how we interpret it. Even if pain cannot be stopped, there are medical, personal and social techniques for helping you to cope at home and work.
Coping With Pain
Specific techniques, which should always be used under medical guidance include the following:
Group A: Psycho-physiological techniques
Biofeedback/Relaxation Training: to control responses to chronic pain. Biofeedback and relaxation training teach you how to release the tension and anxiety that often make painful physical conditions worse.
Behavioral Techniques: Keeping a diary of your pain, observing how pain levels increase or decrease over time. You become your own researcher into your pain and what helps or makes it worse.
Cognitive Techniques: Self-Hypnosis and Visual Imagery: These techniques help you control pain and increase your concentration when performing activities and work tasks.
Clinical hypnotherapy by properly trained medical practitioners
Emotional Management: Having persistent or intense pain naturally leads to debilitating emotions. Learning techniques to express and mange these reactions can help reduce the chance of developing conditions such as depression and anxiety.
Relaxation videos and CDs: Professionally produced materials can enhance your own self-help ideas.
Massage, guided return to exercise, hydrotherapy: Under medical guidance such methods can soothe or help keep your body mobile, preventing other aches and pains developing in parts having to do extra work to compensate for injuries. Do be careful - using practitioners who mean well but do not understand the mechanics of your injury may create more problems if used for more than a pleasant, soothing experience.
Physical aids such as specially designed chairs, mattresses and pillows: insurers may pay for these if recommended by medical practitioners and if they will help speed your recovery and return to work. .
Group B: Medication & medical procedures
Pain killers may be used for treating acute pain; anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce swelling; anti-depressants to help cope with the pain and improve sleep. Other treatments include procedures that block the transmission of pain messages from the brain
Other procedures: These include physiotherapy, osteopathy, electro-nerve stimulation methods (TENS & MENS), chiropractic, acupuncture which should be used by qualified practitioners and under medical guidance.
If you want to know more:
- ask for information from your GP surgery or hospital
- look up pain control on the internet
- look for self-help books in your library.