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Take Steps to Manage Pain

September is Pain Awareness Month

Living with a chronic condition requires changing the way you think about your health care and your life. The American Chronic Pain Association describes this as moving from patient to person and provides advice to help you regain control of your life and actively participate in your treatment.

Steps For Moving From Patient To Person:

  1. Accept the Pain. Learn all you can about your physical condition. Understand that there may be no current cure and accept that you will need to deal with the fact of pain in your life.

  2. Get Involved. Take an active role in your own recovery. Follow your doctor's advice and ask what you can do to move from a passive role into one of partnership in your own health care.

  3. Set Priorities and Goals. Look beyond your pain to the things that are important in your life. List the things that you would like to do and set goals that are within your power to accomplish.

  4. Know Your Basic Rights. We all have basic rights including the right to be treated with respect, to say no without guilt, to do less than humanly possible, to make mistakes.

  5. Recognize Emotions. Our bodies and minds are one. Emotions affect physical well being. By acknowledging and dealing with your feelings, you can reduce stress and decrease the pain you feel.

  6. Learn to Relax. Pain increases in times of stress. Relaxation exercises such as deep breathing, visualization, and other relaxation techniques can help you to better manage the pain you live with.

  7. Exercise. Most people with chronic pain fear exercise. But unused muscles feel more pain than toned flexible ones. With your doctor, identify a modest exercise program that you can do safely.

  8. See the Total Picture. You will see that pain does not need to be the center of your life. You can choose to focus on your abilities, not your disabilities, and grow stronger in your belief that you can live a normal life in spite of chronic pain.


Source: American Chronic Pain Association

Join Us! Minuteman Senior Services is offering a Chronic Pain Self-Management workshop in Maynard this fall. Check the Healthy Living Programs Schedule for information on this and all upcoming programs.