If you live with chronic pain, do you have a specific number on the 1-to-10 pain scale that would allow you to give yourself permission to get back to the gym, take that dream vacation, or play with the grandkids? Unfortunately, there is a tendency among chronic pain patients to wait until they reach zero pain before they attempt to rebuild their lives.
Zero pain is a myth for so many chronic pain patients. Waiting to hit that magical number can become a trap. That is why at Lone Star Pain Medicine, and other pain medicine clinics, the focus is not achieving a pain-free lifestyle. It is on restoring function.
The Trap of Inactivity
The trap of the zero-pain myth is rooted in inactivity. According to the doctors at Texas-based Lone Star, chronic pain can change the way the brain and body interact. When a certain kind of movement hurts, your brain naturally tells you to stop doing it. This is appropriate for a temporary injury for which rest is imperative. But it is not a smart move for a patient dealing with a chronic condition.
When a person stops moving to avoid pain, there is an unintended result: muscles and joints get weaker and stiffer. In addition, cardiovascular health declines. This is known in pain medicine as ‘deconditioning’. What most people don’t realize is that deconditioning actually increases pain sensitivity.
A weaker back is more susceptible to muscle strain. A stiff joint becomes more difficult and painful to move. Deconditioning actually creates a cycle that only gets worse as time goes on. More pain equals less activity. Less activity increases deconditioning, which leads to more pain.
Improving Life by Shifting the Goal Posts
Chronic pain patients whose medical care is provided solely by their GPs tend to get caught in the zero-pain trap. Why? Because their goal is achieving that magical ‘0’. On the other hand, seeking care from a trained pain management specialist shifts the goal posts. A Lone Star doctor would seek to have the patient start focusing on doing rather than feeling.
This focus changes the mindset. Instead of the patient asking, “How do I feel today?”, she asks, “What can I do today?” Depending on the patient, a successful day could be defined by any number of things:
- Being able to walk for 20 minutes without having to sit down
- Being able to go to work for at least a few hours
- Sleeping through the night and feeling refreshed in the morning
- Taking less pain medication because the body feels stronger
The key to all of these things is restoring function. That is what a good pain medicine doctor hopes to achieve. Restoring function helps the chronic pain patient reclaim their life. As a bonus, restoring function also reverses deconditioning.
Interventional Medicine Can Help
Activities designed to restore function can exacerbate pain. This is why so many chronic pain patients resist restorative activities. This is where the pain medicine doctor has an advantage. That advantage lies an interventional medicine.
A good example of an interventional procedure is an epidural steroid injection. The injection utilizes a combination of pain medication and corticosteroids. The medication offers short-term pain relief while the steroids reduce inflammation, thus relieving pain over a longer period of time.
An interventional therapy can relieve pain well enough that a patient can engage in restorative activities. Those activities can strengthen muscles and tendons. They can help loosen up stiff joints. As a result, the patient gets stronger, feels better, and busts the zero-pain myth.