Exercising when in chronic pain

When you are in chronic pain, you can feel yourself losing strength stamina, and mobility. ?You may be told to exercise, but since the brain is hardwired to avoid what increases pain, your motivation is likely pretty low.

What do you do when you are in chronic pain and you want to start exercising but you don’t want to make things worse?

Acute pain is the body telling the brain there is a problem and the pain is a signal to get you to pay attention.

Chronic pain however is different. The brain starts to hyper-protect that area and sends extra pain signals. There is a mismatch between the level of injury and the pain levels.

This is why pain scientists are raising awareness that chronic pain needs very different treatment than acute pain.

Two factors contribute to chronic pain

1. De-conditioning: the gradual lowering of stamina, strength, and mobility worsens stiffness, and limitations and adds to strain in other areas with movement. ?
2. Stress increases chronic pain but since chronic pain is a stressor in and of itself, this can keep you in a vicious cycle.

Mindfulness, self-kindness and science-based movement together means your body signals to your brain that you okay right now. Your brain starts to calm those extra pain signals.

Movement science is the way to move with less strain and more strength

Mindful self-compassion keeps you able to listen to your body and respond in ways most likely to help lower inflammation. ?

The Well Habits System? steps provide a guide to making a habit of using exercise to manage chronic.

It all revolves around your Core Why so make sure you have that clarified using the link below.

1. What to do: Your body needs a balance of mobility, strength and stamina for movements of daily life. ?When these are in balance, your body starts to restore the skills for moving with greater ease. ?Make sure those movements are functional - meaning they are the movements of daily life. ?
2. Enough to spiral up: When moving lowers pain, it is an anti-inflammatory. ?When it increases pain, it’s pro-inflammatory. The 123 Template gives you a general guide for how much is enough, of each of the types. By moving mindfully as an act of self-kindness, pain becomes a guide rather than a threat. This is not easy, but with practice, you can learn to listen and use exercise as a way to manage chronic pain. ?Click here for a mindful movement meditation audio for practicing using pain as a guide. ?
3. Link to moments of your day: The more consistent you are, the more often you get the anti-inflammatory and function-restoring benefits of exercising. Link small bouts of pain-reducing, science-based movement to times in your day like when you use the microwave or after a meal.
4. Learn from what your body is telling your brain. We call this Thrive Tracking at Exercising Well. ?Simply noticing how you feel when you exercise means you learn about how to use exercise to reduce inflammation and improve function.

Taking the time to notice your mindset about pain, and using movement, motivation, and mindfulness science to build new mindsets are the way to use exercise to treat on of the root causes of chronic pain.

Learn how in my Start Well program. It's the step-by-step way to use exercise to treat chronic pain by lowering stress and strengthening self-motivation.

Sources

Silvio Maltagliati, Philippe Sarrazin, Layan Fessler, Ma?l Lebreton, Boris Cheval,Why people should run after positive affective experiences instead of health benefits, Journal of Sport and Health Science, 2022,

Ludwig, V. U., Brown, K. W., & Brewer, J. A. (2020). Self-Regulation Without Force: Can Awareness Leverage Reward to Drive Behavior Change? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(6), 1382–1399.

Chen Y, Almirall-Sánchez A, Mockler D, Adrion E, Domínguez-Vivero C, Romero-Ortu?o R. Hospital-associated deconditioning: Not only physical, but also cognitive. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2022 Feb 2;37(3):10.1002/gps.5687.?

Emiel O Hoogendijk, Jonathan Afilalo, Kristine E Ensrud, Paul Kowal, Graziano Onder, Linda P Fried, Frailty: implications for clinical practice and public health, The Lancet, Volume 394, Issue 10206, 2019, Pages 1365-1375,

Crofford LJ (2015) Chronic pain: where the body meets the brain. Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc 126:167–183

Sluka KA, O’Donnell JM, Danielson J, Rasmussen A (2012) Regular physical activity prevents development of chronic pain and activation of central neurons. J Appl Physiol 114(6):725–733

Ambrose KR, Golightly YM (2015) Physical exercise as non-pharmacological treatment of chronic pain: why and when. Best Pract Res Clin Rheumatol 29(1):120–130

Paley CA, Johnson MI (2016) Physical activity to reduce systemic inflammation associated with chronic pain and obesity. Clin J Pain 32(4):365–370