Exercise Combats Williamson Chronic Pain and Related Distress
Do you experience chronic pain? You are not alone! Chronic pain can distress the mind and the body. Over 80% of retired NFL football players experience 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! Luckily, study after study shows that some optimism and physical activity improves pain and optimism. For these and more reasons, Apple Country Chiropractic incorporates exercise into our chronic back pain patients’ Williamson chiropractic treatment plans!
EXERCISE: GOOD FOR BODY AND MIND
Exercise benefits extend 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 didn’t, researchers found that pain disability scores in the exercisers dropped significantly more. In both groups, lowered pain scores correlated with higher self-efficacy scores (feelings of independence). Chronic low back pain exercisers’ improved disability reflected a beneficial effect 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 reported that improved self-efficacy was associated with decreased disability regardless of any decrease in pain intensity. They summarized that helping chronic pain patients tweak their sense of self-efficacy could be a good way to help chronic pain patients cope with pain in addition to just relieving their pain. (3)
OPTIMISM FOR A BETTER, LESS PAINFUL DAY
And an optimistic point of view toward pain can be a plus! Fear-avoidance is a common problem for patients with pain. They do not want to do anything to provoke their condition and cause pain which leads to less movement and less optimism for ever being without pain. Research indicated that patients with longer periods with pain who stated greater self-efficacy and patients with higher pain disability and depression had lower self-efficacy. (4) Understanding this, we support our Williamson pain patients to be physical 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 go so far as to write that they are associated with chronic musculoskeletal pain and can even heighten it! What’s the solution? Physical exercise, of course. Researchers noted in a new study that exercise programs that combine several types 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 found 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) Apple Country Chiropractic works with each Williamson chiropractic patient to make a plan just for him/her.
CONTACT Apple Country Chiropractic
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 Williamson chiropractic appointment now. Whether you are a retired NFL player or NFL fan or neither of these, bring your chronic pain and worried mind to Apple Country Chiropractic. We’ll work together to decrease pain and fear of pain and increase your sense of independence and joy of life with chiropractic and exercise!
