We have very few quick fixes for chronic pain, not many of the medications that we use provide instantaneous relief. Many of the medications that we do have, come with really significant problems, for example, the morphine type drugs.
So, it can be really important to find the things that help you achieve the goals that you want. Some of these can be things like Tai Chi or yoga. There’s moderate evidence that those sorts of activities, that combine physical activity, balance, some calming and also really good, social connections, can help with chronic pain. At the very least what they can do is improve your quality of life. And that’s a really important goal in itself.
Acupuncture has also been found to be quite beneficial for some people, spinal manipulation can be useful if you’ve got long-term chronic back pain and some people, particularly with neck pain find massage to be incredibly helpful.
So within chronic pain clinics, we don’t tell you not to do any of those things. In fact we encourage you to take up activities, or therapies as long as they’re not harmful; that help you just get through the day, get through the week and be in a better place at the end of it.
Dr Jennifer Stevens is a Pain Specialist at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney and Pain Australia
