Exercise Combats St Peters Chronic Pain and Related Distress
Do you experience chronic pain? You aren’t alone! Chronic pain can affect 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 experienced. (1) Accepting pain is hard though! Fortunately, study after study shows that a tad bit of optimism and physical activity improves pain and optimism. For these and more reasons, Old Mill Chiropractic incorporates exercise into our chronic back pain patients’ St Peters chiropractic treatment plans!
EXERCISE: GOOD FOR BODY AND MIND
Exercise benefits go beyond the physical body improvements. Exercise also improves the mind and outlook of a person in pain, especially one who has chronic low back pain. At the conclusion 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 fell significantly more. In both groups, reduced pain scores connected to higher self-efficacy scores (feelings of independence). Chronic low back pain exercisers’ increased disability showed a positive 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 reduction of pain intensity. They summarized that helping chronic pain patients improve 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 help! Fear-avoidance is a common problem for patients with pain. They don’t want to do anything to worsen their condition and cause pain which leads to less movement and less optimism for a life without pain. Research indicated that patients with longer episodes of pain who expressed greater self-efficacy and patients with higher pain disability and depression had lower self-efficacy. (4) Knowing this, we support our St Peters pain patients to be physical and keep living life! ’Better’ is coming!
EXERCISE: Time to Move!
And we all know it: physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyle are not good 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 pointed out in a recent 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 performed two to three times a week for a month were found to be of greatest benefit for chronic pain patients especially for those with spine pain conditions like chronic low back pain, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and fibromyalgia. (5) Old Mill Chiropractic works with each St Peters chiropractic patient to formulate a strategy just for him/her.
CONTACT Old Mill Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Kelly Brinkman on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as she shares the effectiveness of the gentle protocols of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in treating chronic back pain.
Make your St Peters 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 Old Mill Chiropractic. We’ll work together to decrease pain and fear of pain and improve your sense of independence and joy of life with chiropractic and exercise!
