Chronic pain… it doesn’t sound nice, and you can trust me… it’s not! Generally speaking, chronic pain is pain that lasts longer than three months. It's not always because you still have an injury, sometimes it's because your body still thinks it needs to protect that area. Pain is your body's mechanism to protect you from touching a hot pan or running when you have a broken leg.
Pain can be important at times. For example, when you injure your back, the pain will stop you from making the injury worse. This can be useful early on to assist in your recovery, but at some point, it limits what you do, and can cause more pain. This is where the pain is no longer protective and actually causes the injury to take longer to get better.
Why can something keep hurting after an injury has healed?
That is a tough question to answer. There is still more to research and understand about this, but generally speaking, it is because your nervous system adapts negatively to pain. Your body is overprotective, even when there is nothing significant to worry about.
In fact, this protective mechanism actually reduces how much you move! Unfortunately leading to more pain. This can result in an ongoing cycle of pain, as shown in the image at the bottom of this article.
So what can be done for chronic pain?
The treatment of chronic pain and getting out of this cycle is very different from an injury that has just occurred. Here is what you can do…
1. Get moving! But understand the right ways to do it…
Moving through persistent pain is important, and will help you to reduce your pain in the long term. But it must be done safely and correctly. Your physiotherapist can advise you on what activities and exercises you can do and gradually build up your levels as you improve. This will help your body to learn that certain movements aren’t actually harmful and reduce your pain.
2. Learn how much pain is acceptable when exercising
As soon as we feel pain, we are often fearful of injury and stop what we are doing. However, it can be normal to have some pain with exercises if you have chronic pain. This doesn’t mean you are making your injury worse. Talk to your physio about when you should push through pain, and when you shouldn’t.
3. Understand other factors that can influence chronic pain
Increased stress and anxiety, being overweight, smoking, poor sleep and being inactive are all risk factors that can make pain persist. Improving your overall health and well-being reduces the effect of chronic pain on your body.
4. Educate yourself on why you still have pain
There are lots of helpful resources to help you understand your pain. Lorimer Moseley is an Australian physiotherapist and pain scientist who does significant research into why people experience pain. His short video titled ‘Tame the Beast’ is a great way to understand this concept better.
What should you do next?
If you are unsure if you have chronic pain or need guidance on the next steps, we are here to help. All our physiotherapists at Back in Motion Mentone are up to date with the latest chronic pain research and treatment options with proven results.
We know how much of a burden pain can become on your life and focus on getting you back to what you love. Our free assessments are an obligation-free way to learn more about your options or even just to receive a second opinion.
Don’t keep living a life of pain any longer!
Click here to book your free assessment today or call us on 9583 1149.
Author: Zebulun Ariaratnam
Physiotherapist
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