11 Tips for Exercising When You Have Chronic Pain
Guest post from Charushila Biswas
Living with chronic pain is more common than you realize. It’s estimated that one in every three people suffers from chronic pain at some point. Any pain that has lasted more than six months is described as chronic pain.
During this time, many people shun exercise as they believe it will aggravate the situation. However, there are benefits associated with training that will help relieve chronic pain. Below, we’ve got 11 training tips for people struggling with this problem and looking for a solution. Keep reading to find out how they can benefit you.
- Walking
Walking is one of the best low-impact exercises available. It puts very little pressure on your joints and muscles, ensuring a pain-free experience.
- Relaxation Techniques
Meditation helps ease both the body and mind. When your body relaxes, it relieves the tension in your muscles and joints.
- Strength Training
Strength training should be done in the presence of a qualified trainer. Lifting heavy weights is not recommended. When performing compound movements, make sure to avoid exercises that directly affect the pained area.
- Quit Smoking
Smoking can become a temporary escape for people in chronic pain. However, in the long run, smoking can cause permanent damage. It slows down your body’s healing process and reduces blood circulation.
- Water Workouts
Swimming is a great low-impact exercise. People also use swimming pools for strength training and cardio in water because there is less stress on your muscles and joints. It is especially recommended for elderly people and anyone with a spinal injury or pain.
- Stretches
Stretching is essential before any doing any workout; it sends blood to your muscles, loosens your joints, and helps you relax. It is low impact and is recommended even for people in a fragile state, including pregnant women and children.
- Be Consistent
For any exercise to have the desired impact, you have to ensure you are consistent. It takes time for any exercise to have an effect. Avoid long intervals between each workout.
- Temperatures
Athletes use cold water to help sore muscles recover fast. After an intense match or training session, ice-cold water helps relieve muscle tension. Hot water can also be used to help relieve joint and muscle soreness. Heating pads can also be used to warm muscles and reduce inflammation and tension.
- Stay Active
It isn’t always possible to complete a full workout session. Sometimes doing household chores will suffice. Staying active will help keep chronic pain at bay. However, avoid any undue stress that may aggravate the condition.
- Keep A Journal
A workout journal will help you keep track of each workout. Details like duration, intensity, and the side effects should all be included. This will give you a better understanding of which exercises are working for you and which aren’t.
- Diet
All your workout efforts won’t make a difference if your diet isn’t up to the mark. Some common illnesses can be attributed to poor diet choices. Maintaining blood sugar levels, lowering cholesterol, improving digestion and the efficiency of your immune system is all possible through a healthy diet. The frequency and duration of your workouts, as well as patience are also important.
Before starting any workout program, it’s important to consult your doctor and decide what will suit your situation.
There are a few primary triggers for chronic pains. For some people chronic pain is a result of illness, for others these pains occur due to a car accident or a sports injury, while for others they arise due to bad posture and habits. Regardless of what caused your chronic pain, hopefully, these 11 training tips will help relieve your chronic pain and lead you to a better life.
Related Posts:
- Why is exercise important for fibromyalgia?
- Great Exercises for People Who Have Chronic Pain
- The Importance of Stretching for Fibromyalgia
- How Getting Outside Can Improve Your Health
Author Bio: Charushila
Charushila is a budding writer who has passion for writing.She has contributed a couple of articles to various sites like www.stylecraze.com and www.momjunction.com. Her enthusiasm for eating healthy and staying fit has prompted her to explore the scope of nutrition. She loves to share her expertise on health and wellness.
Joe Ashton says
I love your list. Meditation is not that simple at first, you have to be totally relaxed to be able to do this. Your mind and body should be in sync. When you can do meditation perfectly, everything else will come easy to you. So I think, including meditation here on your list is really awesome. Pain is subjective to everyone, so learning how to be in sync with your inner and outer self and your whole self in general, is the key to relieving pain thru meditation.
I totally agree with consistency as well. When you tend to be more unreliable with doing routines and become lazy, you won’t accomplish anything. And it’s the same thing with exercising specially when dealing with chronic pain, Chronic means it’s something going on for more than 6 months and is consistent pain. So doing consistent routine to alleviate that pain is the best thing to do. By the way, what do you think is the best way to manage chronic pain when you’re having a hard time to sleep?
Rose says
I think what scares people the most about excersising with chronic pain is the thought of falling more ill. But then again, most people just associate excersise to aerobics and gym. I think it’s important that people realize that even simple things like keeping a journal will help keep the brain in check. When you are under chronic pain, your brain is constantly overworked. These are great excersise tips Julie!
Laurie says
I definitely think it is important to get cleared by a doctor before proceeding with any exercise. But, when you have joint pain – low impact exercise is the best. Great information, thanks for sharing!
Patty Butts, Ph.D. says
I like the post 11 tips for living with chronic pain. It is so important to move when you have pain even when you don’t feel like it. It breaks up lactic acid that causes pain. I recovered from chronic fatigue, fibro and liver cancer after I told my doctor, “I either want to get better or I want to die.” For five years I felt like I had the drop-dead flu. Candida is a major player in CFS & fibro. Neem pills help get rid of candida.