chronic pain
“I’ve just learned to live with chronic pain…”
Does this sound familiar?
We often get patients in our office that have dealt with pain for several years.
In fact, in 2016, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimated that 20% of US adults suffered from chronic pain.
I can remember a patient suffering from pain for so long that her doctor told her “You know, I think this pain might just all be in your head.” Now, granted, there are patients who malinger regarding their pain, but she was in legitimate discomfort. They were just unable to help her.
Chronic pain simply means that you have been dealing with pain for longer than 6 months. This can be related to headaches, back pain, or any area that you experience pain.
There are several reasons for chronic pain. Here are just 3 reasons that we often see in our office:
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- Procrastination: Often times, we hope that the pain will just “go away.” So, we will push through the pain and neglect our injuries. As time progresses the pain might diminish, but the problem still remains.
- Turning Off The Alarm: Symptoms are the body’s alarm system to alert us that something is wrong. We have sharp pain or muscle spasms, so we take a pill, an injection, or an ointment to help us feel better. While that may help you get through the day, it does not get rid of the root cause.
- Giving Up: Losing hope after trying several types of treatments, ointments, and therapies that didn’t work is common. It can become discouraging. Therefore, we just learn to “deal with it.”
What to do…
The keys to getting rid of pain:
- Get to the root cause of the problem.
- Take action as soon as possible, don’t wait!
- Keep searching for the solution.