Last week we discussed how consulting experts and listeting to their advise can help you manage your pain effectively. However, considering that chronic pain is often a result of our physical schedule, here are some tips that you can follow at home to live an easier life.
Reduce Work Load
You may not believe in the concept of retirement, however, your body does, so make sure your take timely breaks between your work. Joint pain is directly affected by pressure from physical activities. That means joints can’t heal if they’re repeatedly subject to the same pressures that caused the injury in the first place. If you have upper back pain and continue to sit at your computer in the same position you always did, your arthritic joints can’t recover, much less heal.
Get an ergonomic consultation and make sure your desk, computer, and work area are set up properly so as not to strain your wrists, shoulders, and neck. It can also be helpful to figure out new positions to work. You might try sitting on an exercise ball or stool, or standing while using a laptop set on a high counter.
Joint pain in the knees, hips, and shoulders can benefit greatly from being stabilized either with an elastic brace or bandage or by wrapping the offending joint with inflexible sports tape. A physical or sports therapist can teach you how to wrap a painful area so the joint is stabilized and doesn’t cause pain with movement.
Keep an Eye on your Diet
Many chronic ills, such as arthritis, are inflammatory diseases, and a number of lifestyle factors — especially diet — contribute to inflammation. The reason so many health gurus advocate cutting out sugar, white flour, and processed foods such as chips is that they’re high on the glycemic index. Eating them floods your bloodstream with sugar, fueling the inflammatory process.
Eat a diet high in antioxidants to build up resistance to oxidative stress, which causes inflammation at the cellular level. Foods high in antioxidants include most fruits and vegetables and some spices — the richer the colors, the higher the density of protective phytochemicals. (Other clues include a strong smell, such as in garlic or onions, or strong flavors, such as in chili peppers and broccoli.)
Listen to your body
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to continue with “business as usual,” not realizing that every ache, pain, and twinge is trying to tell you something. Just don’t stop moving. It might seem intuitive to avoid exercise when you’re in pain. But exercise, done right, eases stiff joints, increases blood flow to affected areas, strengthens the muscles that support the joints, and can even curb pain flare-ups. Exercise also helps you sleep more deeply, lifts your mood, and helps you lose weight, which in the long run will reduce pressure and pain.
If exercise or activity routinely leaves you sore, talk to a physical therapist about how best to treat it. Many experts recommend elevating the affected area and applying ice to prevent inflammation immediately after exercise.
Other say that although ice is usually the best therapy immediately after injury, it’s helpful to use heat therapy for chronic pain — before exercising or after ice treatment — to ease stiffness, relax muscles, and increase blood flow to the area. Hope this tips help you to stay away from chronic pains. Pour in your thoughts.
Chronic pain, as the name implies, is a condition that is bound to stay with you. You can take medication, you can exercise and you can do a lot more things, but at the end of the day, it will test your will power and move you out of your comfort zone. The techniques we have shared, can be helpful in managing your condition, but they do not guarantee a solution. At the end of the day it is best to listen to your expert and your body.
Do share your ideas with us and any special method you use to avoid chronic pain.
