How understanding your pain and correcting your unhelpful beliefs makes you win
Reena, a 43-year-old mother, found her cervical pain getting worse with each passing year. As work at home increased with growing needs of the children, she found that her pain became worse to the point that she had to limit a lot of everyday activities. What Reena didn’t realise was that she didn’t have a very good understanding of her pain. Very few of us do, in fact.
Understanding pain is a key ingredient to conquering it. That’s why education, along with exercise therapy and behavioral health, is among the 3 pillars of best practice of chronic pain care.
Here we take it upon ourselves to bust few common myths that you may be harboring while dealing with chronic pain:
Myth #1: Activity causes me pain - therefore, it’s harmful to my body
Truth: Pain is a protector, not a damage detector
If you were to hold your hand above a burning candle and slowly move your hand closer to the flame, you would experience pain far before your hand was actually burned. The pain encourages you to move your hand to avoid being burned. You may recall from our first blog post in this series about exercise therapy that we call this the buffer zone.
The buffer zone generally works as it should. But sometimes it becomes and stays so big that you experience pain with movements that are not dangerous or likely to result in injury.
This maladjustment is actually what a lot of people with persistent pain experience. The very real pain that you feel with activity is not indicative of more damage being done.
Supporting this, a Systematic Review led by Ben Smith and published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2017 demonstrated that painful exercise had no negative long term effects compared to non-painful exercise and even demonstrated positive short term effects over non-painful exercise.
Myth #2: I can’t do activities I used to because my joints are too damaged
Truth: You are almost always safe to move
The fear avoidance model of pain has demonstrated when a patients or clinicians belief that pain or physical activity would cause tissue damage, the resulting inactivity can compound negatively.
While you may experience pain and injury from time to time, your body is strong and resilient.
When it comes to pain, it’s important to rule out rare but more serious conditions (like a fracture, for instance). Once we do that, we can feel confident that you are safe to move. Your body can handle movement, even if it hurts. And more importantly, movement will help to decrease your pain.
It’s important to remember that your pain is always real. But it’s also important to trust that you are safe to move. And learning about the healing nature of movement helps retrain your brain to distinguish safe from dangerous movement so that you are able to get back to the activities you love without being burdened by your pain.
Myth #3: Rest will make my pain go away
Truth: Movement can retrain your pain system to conquer pain
If you have persistent pain, you’ve probably said something like, “I was too sore to do yard work over the weekend” or, “I’ve started taking the elevator because the stairs cause me pain” at some point.
These types of statements are normal. Pain naturally encourages rest. But as it turns out, movement (not rest) is the key to overcoming persistent pain, and advice and education that promote return to activity is necessary and important to overcome fear of pain and tissue damage.
Understanding the protective nature of your pain allows you to change your perspective. It empowers you to move. And that movement not only assures the brain that there is no threat of injury present, but it also has a positive impact on strength, sleep, mood, and helps you return to your normal social life and hobbies, etc.
Conclusion
Reena became a Zanskar Health customer, which provided her with a care program based on the 3 pillars of best-practice care: education, behavioral health, and exercise therapy.
As she started learning about her pain, she worked with her coach to implement important changes. She developed an exercise routine. Becoming knowledgeable about her years old chronic pain reassured her and empowered her to work towards a long term goal and not just manage daily pain episodes.
And she adjusted her activities of daily life (ADL) so that her chores don’t even cause her pain anymore and keep her in better spirit, focused towards sustained pain relief.
Learn More About Zanskar Health for Chronic Pain
If you have joint or muscle pain that makes it hard to move, Zanskar offers the most advanced full stack pain relief solutions for you.
Now available to purchase, Zanskar® Advanced Pain Healing Cream has a unique formulation of natural ingredients like Arnica, Vitamin B6, MSM and Capsaicin, which is trusted by over 20L+ pain sufferers globally. It provides lasting relief from muscle and joint discomfort that you can feel good about. Get your fix before stocks run out - buy now.
You can also gain access to therapeutic exercises and stretches for your condition by downloading the Zanskar Health physiotherapy mobile app. Additionally, you’ll have a personal care team to guide, support, and tailor our program to you, including behavioral and nutritional coaching.
Download our mobile app here 👉 download and track your exercise streak.
Medical Review: This article is written by Dr Nishtha Mittal (Senior Health Content Editor at Zanskar Health) and has been medically reviewed by Dr Rashi Goel (Senior Physiotherapist at Zanskar Health). This article and its contents are provided for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute medical advice or professional services specific to you or your medical condition.
