| If you’ve been suffering with pain for more
than six months, then your pain has become chronic. You are not alone. More than 17
percent of U.S. patients seen by primary care physicians have persistent pain, according
to the World Health Organization. And pain medications are the second most prescribed
drugs (after cardiac-renal meds) in ER and physician office visits.
As Andrew Weil has emphasized in his best selling books, chronic illnesses do not
respond well to the modern miracles of conventional medicine (while acutre problems like
infections, injuries and heart attacks have great medical solutions.)
A recent National Institutes of Health panel concluded that self control and awareness
techniques, like biofeedback, relaxation training and cognitive behavioral techniques can
help control pain in arthritis, cancer, irritable bowel, headache, low back pain, and
other medical syndromes. Numerous studies have shown that these approaches can equal
medication in producing relief from pain and the disabilities associated with it.
Chronic pain sufferers are also at risk (30-65%) for developing depression, alcohol or
substance abuse and anxiety disorders. We’ve seen that it is common for pain
sufferers to shut off their feelings. People start out trying to shut out the pain
feelings, but end up shutting off the anger, sadness, frustration associated with pain.
They end up shutting off all their feelings as they widen the "net" trying to
avoid painful feelings. This creates a situation where they don’t even allow
themselves to feel good-- to experience happiness, joy or fun.
Chronic pain adds to the stress in life. We know that arthitics can ease their
arthritis pain dramatically by learning to relax muscles near the sites where their
arthritis flares. Back pain sufferers may start with a pulled muscle in the low back, but
they end up by tensing up other muscles to guard the sore spot, and can end up with
headaches or neck pain. Some of the techniques which have been found to bbe helpful
incluide therapeutic massage by an experienced therapist, pain management traiing and
structured psychotherapy. |
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You can actually learn to make peace with your
pain by learning specially designed imagery and breathing techniques. The use of biofeedback, relaxation and learning how to build your emotional
intelligence entails developing new skills and taking responsibility for your health,
rather than handing the responsibility over to a health care provider or depending on
medication. Once you learn these skills, they will serve you throughout your life.
According to the Center for the Advancement of Health,
"....What seems to work best is a program that combines a
"menu" of skills.. six to 12 different coping strategies....
"One area where the research really stands out is the headache literature. Studies
of both migraine and muscle contraction headaches show that behavioral methods such as
relaxation and biofeedback can be quite effective in helping people control their pain and
reducing pain medication intake. Another area is low back pain. More recently,
there’s been work on arthritis, sickle cell disease, cancer, and other pain
conditions."
The bottom line is YOU can do something about your pain.
Just a note: If there is a question or mind/body optimal living topic you’d like
covered, write to us care of Focus on Newtown, P.O. Box 701 Newtown PA 18940
Rhonda E. Greenberg
Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist and personal coach and
Rob Kall, M.Ed., is a counselor, Biofeedback trainer and
personal coach at
- The Center for Optimal Living http://www.futurehealth.org/CFOL.htm
- 211 No. Sycamore Street,
- Newtown, PA 18940
smile @cis.compuserve.com
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