Chronic Pain Relief Methods

If the pain score is less than 3 points (out of 10 points, does not affect sleep or daily activities), priority should be given to lifestyle modification and light exercise intervention.； 3-6 points can be used with over-the-counter painkillers and regular physical therapy under doctor’s advice. ； If a score of 6 or above has affected normal eating and sleeping, you must first seek medical treatment to check for organic lesions, and then customize a targeted treatment plan. It is absolutely not recommended to take it hard, and do not blindly use folk remedies or Internet celebrity pain relief products.

To be honest, in the three years I have been following up in the rehabilitation department, I have seen too many patients who have fallen into the trap. The one who impressed me the most was a 32-year-old back-end programmer. He suffered from lumbar prolapse pain for almost a year. At first, he was afraid of the trouble of going to the hospital, so he took ibuprofen every day. When he was in pain, he put on the heating plaster bought from WeChat. However, after three months of eating, he suffered from acid reflux and vomited. The pain became more and more frequent. When he came, he couldn't sit still. His waist felt like it was pinned by steel bars. The VAS pain score reached 6 points.

When it comes to chronic pain intervention, there are actually different ideas in the industry. There is no absolute right or wrong, and the most important thing is what suits you. For example, in the area of ​​exercise intervention, the Western medicine rehabilitation school emphasizes "weak muscle activation". Patients with lumbar prolapse must first practice deep core exercises to supplement the support of collapsed muscles in order to reduce the pressure on nerves. ； However, traditional Chinese medicine orthopedics and tendon management schools pay more attention to "relax first and then practice". They feel that the tense and stiff muscles are not relaxed, and hard practice will pull the injured area, making the more you practice, the more painful it becomes. The programmer I met is a typical example. He started practicing Xiaoyanfei on the Internet, and the pain became more and more painful as he practiced. Later, he first did Chinese medicine massage for two weeks to release the tight nodules in the erector spinae and quadratus lumborum muscles, and then followed a rehabilitation practitioner to practice dead insect pose and abdominal breathing. After two months, the pain score dropped to 2 points. Now I write code every day and I have never done it again.

Many people are also very controversial about painkillers. Some people think that "the medicine is only three parts poisonous" and will not take it even if it hurts to death. Others take it if it hurts, regardless of the dosage. In fact, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs commonly used in clinical practice are not addictive at all, as long as they are taken according to the doctor's instructions and for no more than two weeks in a row. Instead, the pain will cause insomnia and the inability to eat, which will sensitize the central nervous system and make the pain threshold lower and lower. The pain that could be tolerated will eventually turn into chronic pain that will not heal. Of course, this does not mean that you should take medicine whenever you feel pain. If your back is sore after sitting for a long time, just rub it twice and it will be better. There is no need to take medicine at all.

By the way, there is another pitfall that many people will step on: blindly apply heat when it hurts. If you have acute pain from a sprain, hot compresses will dilate blood vessels, aggravate swelling, inflammatory exudation, and make the pain worse. You must apply ice first. ； Hot compresses are only useful for chronic pain that lasts for several days, such as knee pain, shoulder and neck pain caused by cold weather. I met a mother who suffered from tennis elbow while carrying a baby. She used a warm water bag to apply it when it hurt. After half a month of application, the swelling became more and more swollen. Later, she switched to ice compress for 2 days to reduce inflammation, followed by ultrasound physiotherapy. It was much better within a week.

There is another point that everyone easily overlooks: chronic pain that lasts for more than 3 months will be linked to emotions to some extent. There used to be an aunt in her 60s who suffered from degenerative knee pain for two years. It didn't look serious on the film, but no medicine was effective. Later, she was dragged by her old sisters to dance slow-paced square dances. She talked and raised the baby every day without any special treatment. She came for a follow-up checkup every six months and found that the number of pains was reduced by more than half. It’s not that the pain is imagined, but anxiety and irritability will amplify the pain. The more you stare at your pain every day, the more intense it will be.

If you are also troubled by chronic pain, don’t rush to find any “curative remedies”. Some people are suitable for practicing yoga to relax, some people need to exercise to build muscle, some people can relieve it with acupuncture, and some people just take an ibuprofen. In the final analysis, chronic pain is more like an old acquaintance that lingers on. Don’t always think about getting rid of it all at once. Find the right rhythm that suits you. Even if it only hurts less a few times, you have won.