Chronic pain affects millions of lives across the world. In the United States, 50 million adults have chronic pain while 19.6 million have high chronic pain. Medics have defined chronic pain as pain that exceeds three to six months.
Despite chronic pain impacting millions of lives, chronic pain and its causes are not clear even to the affected ones, and several myths surrounding chronic pain.
Myths About Chronic Pain
It is a natural effect of aging
For most people, chronic pain is an effect of aging. However, this is not true. Chronic pain affects people of all ages. Chronic pain has been studied, and it has been proven that all age groups suffer from chronic pain. The only aspect associated with aging is that chronic pain increases as one gets older. In the study, the young age set(18-39) reported chronic pain mostly on body parts that had experienced injuries they knew. The age set of people aged between 40-59 reported chronic pain without knowing where it emanated from, while the older age set reported longer-lasting pain duration.
Exercise will increase your chronic pain
Don’t Exercise! It will aggravate your pain! That is a standard warning to people living with chronic pain. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Exercise like physiotherapy exercise are essential for people living with chronic pain. Sessions with a physiotherapist major on easing pain to the body part is experiencing chronic pain. The results are usually astounding. Exercises such as strength training help reduce joint pain, while cardiovascular exercises increase blood flow to the affected areas hence relieving pain.
Tough it out!
The medical statement ‘In case symptoms persist, consult your doctor should be highly applicable to all living with chronic pain. Toughing it out can lead to more health concerns such as decreased immunity, decreased mobility, poor concentration, and sleep disturbances. Never tough it out! If chronic pain is persistent, it is better to talk it out with your doctor, who can recommend the best pain management drug or other effective treatments that can help you manage the chronic pain.
Chronic pain is proportional to the damage
Pain is a symptom exhibited due to many things, and there is no medical proof that the higher the pain, the more severe the body damage. You can often experience a lot of pain due to a common underlying issue, while you may not feel pain and have an underlying problem. Thus, this myth is not factual those living with chronic pain should not take it as gospel truth.
It will kill you
Chronic pain will impact profoundly on the quality of your life, but it will not kill you. Chronic pain limits you from doing some daily activities, the pain tampers with your mood, and it also hurts your body. All this affects the quality of life, but the fact is that chronic life will not kill you.
If you are suffering from chronic pain, and you need help in managing it, don’t hesitate to contact us or schedule an appointment today!