Do you feel like chronic pain controls your life? People with chronic pain often feel what they want to do takes a backseat as the chronic pain drives what really gets done in during the day. Those days where the pain level is higher can lead to feeling like nothing gets accomplished or as pain rises during activity someone may push until the pain makes resting or laying down feel like a must.
This is part 2 in a series of posts by the PCET Occupational Therapy Department about self-management of chronic pain. You can find the first post here.
Learning to self-manage your pain can be like creating a toolbox. If you have a project to complete at home, you want to have the right tools for the job so that you can get your project finished with the least amount of hassle. For your pain tool-box, there may be some physical items, but a lot of the tools will be found in the choices you make in your daily life. Today we will look at one tool to manage pain: PACING.
We often think of athletes pacing themselves during events so that they can finish strong. With chronic pain, you have to keep in mind that rest breaks and changing positions will be important so you can finish the task while keeping your pain from rising quickly.
One strategy is to take breaks before your pain gets too severe. Pain is easier to manage at a lower level. Don’t keep pushing until a task is finished and the pain is very high before taking a break. Work until your pain slightly increases then take a short break. After 5-10 minutes, go back to the task and repeat the rest breaks as needed to manage the pain.
One tip to help you take those breaks is a timer. Before you start your task, set a timer and take a break once the timer goes off. How long should you set the timer for? You want to figure out how long you are able to work before the pain goes up. Ideally, you should then set the timer for that amount of time.
“But I want to just get the task done!” is a common complaint about taking breaks during an activity. Think back to a time that you pushed through an activity just to get it finished. How did you feel afterwards? How long did it take to recover from pushing to complete the task? If your pain was much higher forcing you to lay down after you were done, how much did you get done for the rest of the day?
By taking breaks, you can complete the task and help to manage your pain so that you can move on to accomplish another task. If you push yourself and then have to lay down for a long period of time or for a couple of days, are you really getting more done?
Remember, this is about having more control of what you are able to do. Plan ahead to begin making small changes such as taking breaks during your activities during the day.
