Exercise Combats Augusta Chronic Pain and Related Distress
Do you have chronic pain? You aren’t 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 revealed that the greater the pain acceptance, the lower the pain intensity they had. (1) Accepting pain is hard though! Fortunately, study after study shows that some optimism and physical activity improves pain and optimism. For these and more reasons, Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic incorporates exercise into our chronic back pain patients’ Augusta chiropractic treatment plans!
EXERCISE: GOOD FOR BODY AND MIND
Exercise benefits extend beyond the physical body improvements. Exercise also improves the mind and outlook of a person in pain, particularly one dealing with chronic low back pain. At the end 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, lowered pain scores correlated with higher self-efficacy scores (feelings of independence). Chronic low back pain exercisers’ improved disability showed a beneficial 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 linked to lowered disability whether they felt any reduction 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 attitude toward pain can be a plus! Fear-avoidance is a not-too-unusual a problem for patients with pain. They do not want to do anything to provoke their pain and cause pain which leads to less movement and less optimism for ever being without pain. Research showed that patients with longer periods with pain who stated greater self-efficacy and patients with higher pain disability and depression had lower self-efficacy. (4) Understanding this, we encourage our Augusta pain patients to be active and not avoid living life! Improvement is coming!
EXERCISE: Time to Move!
And we all know it: physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyle are not beneficial for us. Researchers even write that they are associated with chronic musculoskeletal pain and can even exacerbate it! What is the answer? Physical exercise, of course. Researchers noted in a new study that exercise programs combining several forms of exercise – flexibility, balance, aerobic, strengthening – tend to be better. Such combinations are also more adaptable to an individual patient’s issues. Light-to-moderate intensity exercise done two to three times a week for just 4 weeks 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) Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic designs a plan specially for each Augusta chiropractic patient.
CONTACT Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Kelly Brinkman on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as she describes the effectiveness of the gentle protocols of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in treating chronic back pain.
Make your Augusta 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 Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic. We’ll work together to reduce pain and fear of pain and raise your sense of independence and joy of life with chiropractic and exercise!
