Exercise Combats Elgin Chronic Pain and Related Distress
Do you experience chronic pain? You’re not alone! Chronic pain can distress the mind and the body. Over 80% of retired NFL football players reported having 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, study after study shows that a little optimism and physical activity improves pain and optimism. For these and more reasons, Connected Chiropractic incorporates exercise into our chronic back pain patients’ Elgin chiropractic treatment plans!
EXERCISE: GOOD FOR BODY AND MIND
Exercise benefits go 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 conclusion of a 3-month study of chronic low back pain patients who either exercised or did not, 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’ improved disability reflected 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 found that improved self-efficacy was linked to lowered disability regardless of any decrease in pain intensity. They summarized that helping chronic pain patients raise 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 not-too-unusual a problem for patients with pain. They don’t want to do anything to provoke their pain and exacerbate pain which leads to less movement and less optimism for a life without pain. Research indicated that patients with longer periods with pain who expressed greater self-efficacy and patients with higher pain disability and depression had lower self-efficacy. (4) Knowing this, we support our Elgin pain patients to be physical and keep living life! Improvement is coming!
EXERCISE: Time to Move!
And we all know it: physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyle are bad for us. Researchers even write that they are associated with chronic musculoskeletal pain and can even heighten it! What’s the solution? Physical exercise, of course. Researchers explained in a new study that exercise programs combining 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 performed two to three times a week for just 4 weeks 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) Connected Chiropractic works with each Elgin chiropractic patient to design a plan just for him/her.
CONTACT Connected 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.
Schedule your Elgin chiropractic appointment today. Whether you are a retired NFL player or NFL fan or neither of these, bring your chronic pain and worried mind to Connected Chiropractic. Let’s work together to decrease pain and fear of pain and increase your sense of independence and joy of life with chiropractic and exercise!
