Exercise Combats Juneau Chronic Pain and Related Distress
Do you experience chronic pain? You’re not alone! Chronic pain can work on the mind and the body. Over 80% of retired NFL football players experience pain daily. A recent questionnaire study of them noted that the greater the pain acceptance, the lower the pain intensity they experienced. (1) Accepting pain is hard though! Luckily, so many studies show that some optimism and physical activity improves pain and optimism. For these and more reasons, Aurora Chiropractic Center incorporates exercise into our chronic back pain patients’ Juneau chiropractic treatment plans!
EXERCISE: GOOD FOR BODY AND MIND
Exercise benefits extend beyond the physical body improvements. Exercise also enhances 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 documented 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’ increased disability reflected a beneficial influence 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 found that improved self-efficacy was linked to lowered disability regardless of any decrease of pain intensity. They summarized that helping chronic pain patients tweak their sense of self-efficacy could be an effective addition to the treatment of chronic pain patients beyond just pain relief. (3)
OPTIMISM FOR A BETTER, LESS PAINFUL DAY
And an optimistic outlook toward pain can be a plus! Fear-avoidance is a common problem for patients with pain. They do not want to do anything to worsen their condition and cause pain which leads them to move less and have less optimism for ever being without pain. Research showed that patients with longer episodes of pain who stated greater self-efficacy and patients with higher pain disability and depression had lower self-efficacy. (4) Knowing this, we encourage our Juneau pain patients to be active 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 even write that they are associated with chronic musculoskeletal pain and can even aggravate it! What’s the answer? Physical exercise, of course. Researchers explained in a new study that exercise programs that combine a variety of forms of exercise – flexibility, balance, aerobic, strengthening – tend to be more effective. Such arrangements are also more adaptable to an individual patient’s issues. Light-to-moderate intensity exercise done two to three times a week for a month were demonstrated 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) Aurora Chiropractic Center formulates a strategy specially for each Juneau chiropractic patient.
CONTACT Aurora Chiropractic Center
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.
Schedule your Juneau chiropractic appointment soon. Whether you’re a retired NFL player or NFL fan or neither of these, bring your chronic pain and worried mind to Aurora Chiropractic Center. We’ll work together to decrease pain and fear of pain and raise your sense of independence and joy of life with chiropractic and exercise!
