Exercise Combats Fort Wayne Chronic Pain and Related Distress
Do you experience chronic pain? You aren’t alone! Chronic pain can influence the mind and the body. Over 80% of retired NFL football players experience pain daily. A recent questionnaire study of them revealed that the greater the pain acceptance, the lower the pain intensity they experienced. (1) Accepting pain is hard though! Fortunately, so many studies show that a little optimism and physical activity improves pain and optimism. For these and more reasons, Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc incorporates exercise into our chronic back pain patients’ Fort Wayne chiropractic treatment plans!
EXERCISE: GOOD FOR BODY AND MIND
Exercise benefits go beyond the physical body improvements. Exercise also improves the mind and outlook of a person in pain, especially 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 did not, researchers documented that pain disability scores in the exercisers decreased significantly more. In both groups, reduced pain scores correlated with higher self-efficacy scores (feelings of independence). Chronic low back pain exercisers’ improved disability reflected a beneficial impact 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 documented that improved self-efficacy was linked to decreased disability whether they felt any decrease in pain intensity. They summarized that helping chronic pain patients tweak their sense of self-efficacy could be an effective addition to the treatment of chronic pain patients beyond just pain relief. (3)
OPTIMISM FOR A BETTER, LESS PAINFUL DAY
And an optimistic outlook toward pain can be a positive! Fear-avoidance is a not-too-unusual a problem for patients with pain. They don’t want to do anything to provoke their condition and cause pain which leads them to move less and have less optimism for a life without pain. Research showed 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 Fort Wayne pain patients to be active and not avoid living life! ’Better’ is just around the corner!
EXERCISE: Time to Move!
And we all know it: physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyle are not good for us. Researchers even write that they are associated with chronic musculoskeletal pain and can even heighten it! What is the solution? Physical exercise, of course. Researchers noted in a new study that exercise programs combining a variety of forms of exercise – flexibility, balance, aerobic, strengthening – tend to be more effective. 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) Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc formulates a plan specially for each Fort Wayne chiropractic patient.
CONTACT Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Kelly Brinkman on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as she details the effective gentle protocols of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in treating chronic back pain.
Make your Fort Wayne chiropractic appointment now. Whether you are a retired NFL player or NFL fan or neither of these, bring your chronic pain and worried mind to Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc. 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!
