Natural
Pain Management: Exercise & Chronic Pain
Copyright Tanja Gardner
When you find yourself living with pain every minute of
every hour of every day, just getting up in the morning
can seem like too much to ask. When you find it hard to
remember the last time you weren’t in pain, it’s
not unusual for fear and depression to take hold and drag
you into a downward spiral that makes the pain even worse.
Even on good days, exercising can still be the last thing
you feel like doing.
There’s evidence, however, that exercise may be one
of the best things you can do to help manage chronic pain.
A recent (2000) study by Martin Hoffman found that moderate
exercise reduced the amount of pain people suffering from
chronic back-ache perceived they felt. Other anecdotal studies
and reports have confirmed that sometimes, activity can
work wonders.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EXERCISE & PAIN RELIEF
Experts have suggested four possible reasons for the pain-reducing
effect of activity. The first has to do with endorphins.
These are chemicals your body produces naturally during
exercise, which have the same kind of effect as opiates
like morphine and codeine. Endorphins actually block the
perception of pain, and create a general feeling of wellness,
both of which are invaluable to someone with chronic pain.
A second reason is that regular activity helps to improve
both the ease with which we fall asleep, and the quality
of our rest once we do. Pain, can become more or less difficult
to deal with depending on our resource levels. Most sufferers
experience difficulty sleeping when the pain is bad, which
can prompt another downward spiral. Something that helps
us sleep better, means more energy and resources, which
in turn, allows us to cope better with the pain we experience. |
