The Back Pain Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Back Pain’

I have put this list together from studying the literature we were given at a pain management workshop that I attended last year and from the advice I have received over the years from Physio’s, Chiropractors etc. Certainly these are not going to suit everyone and are not a substitute for pain medication, and although not ‘ground-breaking’ I hope that they will be of use to you in dealing with your pain and everything that comes with it.

Number One

Try To Accept Your Pain – yeah, I know, I thought you had to be super-human to do this when I first heard of it too!

What I have learnt, particularly in recent visits to a Psychologist is that accepting your pain is all about coming to terms with the changes in your life that have come about from suffering pain. As much as these changes might have put you in a situation that you don’t necessarily want to be in, you can find positives in each and every situation if you try.

Also it is about doing what you can to design your lifestyle to suit your condition, not banging your head against a wall trying to do things that you were able to before the onset of the pain. I personally had a lot of trouble coming to terms with my ‘new’ lifestyle but once I focused on the positives and started to look forward instead of backwards it did become easier.

Number Two

Exercise – this one I put off for as long as I possibly could. Why would I want to intentionally put myself through pain for no ‘apparent’ result?

You’ve probably heard it a million times but inactivity leads to muscle weakness which further adds to our pain. Naturally you must see your doctor before starting any sort of exercise or potentially strenuous activity but if you look around there are a number of exercise programs that are well suited to people suffering from back pain and they are usually nothing more than a series of stretches that you do daily or every second day until you can handle something a bit more ‘physical’.

I feel stronger in my core muscles from doing my exercises which as you can imagine must take some of the strain from my spine. There is a good book which explains the in’s and out’s of exercising with back pain, it is entitled The Bad Back Book and is available as a free download  from HERE.

Number Three

Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Help – Help in any form can be a godsend when you are suffering in pain and you should not be afraid to ask for it.

Although we may feel like we have a handle on the situation we may in fact be struggling more than we like to admit. In this PREVIOUS POST I spoke about my almost dislike for going to see a Psychologist because, as far as I was concerned I was doing pretty good considering the situation I was in. After biting the bullet, and plenty of nagging from my wife, I went along and honestly it was the best thing I have done in a long time.

Not only did I realise that I was setting myself up for failure with the expectations I had for my immediate future, I was also not handling the emotional side of things very well at all. I really had things screwed up and after just three visits I am back on track and feeling so much better for it. Your Doctor or Public Health Centre should be able to organise any help you may need and believe me the right kind of help can make a world of difference.

Number Four

Relaxation – my favourite past-time! Seriously though if you can manage some time out to sit and relax you have a better chance of getting through the day without a major pain flare-up.

When I did the pain management course last year the first and last thing we did every session was have a five minute relaxation session and I have to say it does put you in a better frame of mind and relieving the tension in your muscles can also lessen your pain. I had a lot of trouble achieving a relaxed state with everything that was going on in my head but after practising for a while I found it quite easy to get into a completely relaxed state.

Running a warm bath (and locking the door!) or sitting alone once everyone else has gone to bed are good times to practice your relaxation techniques. There are many CD’s and Audio tapes available for a good price on the net and I suggest you try one to achieve the ‘ultimate relaxation’. Something the pain management course instructor preached religiously was not to give up, it may take many sessions until you can truly relax but it is sure worth it.

I hope that you have found some useful tips in Part One of this article and Part Two can be found HERE.

Please Take Care,

Craig

The relationship between emotions and pain has long been documented and many theories have been proposed to explain why this ‘manifestation of physical pain’ occurs. Certainly when our emotions are difficult to deal with we feel ‘pain’ to a certain degree, but can this produce ‘physical’ pain?

Being a proud ‘typical male’ I personally have trouble relating emotions with the feeling of physical pain. I think it comes back to the chicken or the egg thing, when we feel stressed or are sad, depressed etc our pain can be worse, a lot worse, but can emotional pain be the underlying cause of our back pain in the first place?

An article written by Darla Magee at The Examiner explains that there is a certain pattern in people suffering back pain that points to an ‘emotional’ cause and touches on what is called Tension Myositis Syndrome. Here is an extract of the article.
Tension Myositis Syndrome. TMS is a painful disorder that is characterized by having no structural abnormalities as the cause, but by specific common emotional disorders.

The “purpose” of the syndrome is to create a distraction so undesirable emotions can be avoided. Many people with TMS are conscientious types but not “type A” personalities. TMS personalities are more in touch with themselves; they are just avoiding emotional pain.

The article is written in reference to a book by John Sarno M.D. called Healing Back Pain – The Mind Body Connection which sounds like a fascinating read and with so many cases of back pain defying medical diagnosis and/or treatment one has to wonder if this theory is heading in the right direction.

One thing I would like to say is if you are finding you’re pain emotionally hard going please go and talk to someone. Although I see myself as a ‘typical male’ (i.e. someone that doesn’t talk about emotional issues) I am not immune to the continual nagging of a certain female in this house and I did agree to go and see a Psychologist last week. She could see that I was not handling my ’situation’ as well as I normally do, that and I wasn’t being as attentive as I usually am or something like that, I don’t know, I wasn’t really listening!

Seriously though, that first visit to the Psychologist really set a lot of things straight. He got me thinking about the possibility that my life may never return to the way it was before I injured my back, which was something that I basically refused to think about previously, and also made me take a good look at why I was still pushing myself and felt lazy when I couldn’t achieve things that were a piece of cake before.

It was very eye-opening and I have now decided on setting different goals for my life as the goals I had were more than likely not achievable in my current state and I was setting myself up for a lot of frustration. It does feel great to have a path mapped out that I have a good chance of succeeding at, even if it is a different one than I would ideally like.

Anyway, the point of the story is that I was against talking to someone as I thought I could handle everything myself and as I found out it was probably the best thing I have done in a long time and I highly recommend it to anyone that is dealing with pain. Oh yeah and thanks babe for nagging me for so long!!

Take Care,

Craig

One topic that was discussed at length during a pain management course that I attended recently was how powerful distraction can be when dealing with pain. Now I’m not talking about the type of distraction you get when you see a nice looking member of the opposite sex on the side of the road while driving your car, I’m talking about taking the time out to do activities that you are interested in and that you thoroughly enjoy doing.

Not only does this let you take a break from your daily routine it also refreshed your mind and in my opinion puts you in a better frame of mind to deal with the pain you are going through. There is nothing worse than being caught in a rut because you’re pain dictates the things that you do everyday. I often find myself in this situation, where I’ll go for days without actually doing or achieving anything because I let my pain override any thoughts of getting out and doing something.

Thankfully Belinda usually notices this pattern of behaviour before I do and drags me out with her to the shops or over to see the out-laws (my name for the in-laws, not some crazy bikie gang!) Even though I don’t find either of these activities particularly interesting, just getting out of the house is sometimes all I need to change my perspective and start planning things to do on the following days.

Of course distraction can also bring about problems. The most rewarding thing for me is to spend some time in the garage working on my cars. Several times I have found that without being aware of it the hours have passed and by the time I come back upstairs and ’wind down’ my back pain, and particularly the pain I get from my heel spurs is really cranking. So as you can imagine it needs to be closely monitored so that you don’t over-do it. Perhaps an alarm clock would be useful to remind you that it is time to take a break. I will have to try that next time.

If you’re pain is really getting you down and you can’t see a light at the end of the tunnel (another sure-fire sign that you are stuck in a rut and not coping too well) I urge you to take time out for yourself and indulge a little in an activity that you know will bring you enjoyment and lift your spirits. Sure, you may wake up in the morning with pain shooting all around your body but if you can muster the strength to get past it and go and do the things that will ‘distract’ you for a while I’m sure the rest of the day will be much better.

It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you get some sense of enjoyment or satisfaction out of it and with any luck you will need an alarm clock to remind you of the hours passing by also!

All The Best,

Craig