Chronic pain is a huge part of a wide variety of illness conditions. Chronic pain is defined as pain that is ongoing and usually lasts longer than six months. This type of pain can continue even after the injury or illness that caused it has healed or gone away. Pain signals remain active in the nervous system for weeks, months, or years.

Some people suffer chronic pain even when there is no past injury or apparent body damage.

Chronic pain is linked to conditions including:

• Headache
• Arthritis
• Cancer
• Nerve pain
• Back pain
• Fibromyalgia pain

People who have chronic pain can have physical effects that are stressful on the body. These include tense muscles, limited ability to move around, a lack of energy, and appetite changes.

In addition to your illness itself being the primary cause of pain symptoms, there are several secondary factors which can add to the pain levels you are experiencing. Your medication–or more likely several medications may treat your symptoms but can also increase physical discomfort. In addition to this, the weeks and months spent recuperating can lead to muscle atrophy as a result of remaining sedentary. This often leads to physical weakness which contribute to body aches.

Intense physical pain from chronic illness can also cause psychological pain. Suffering from it can lead you to experiencing a reduction in life quality, as you might now be restricted from performing physical tasks you were once capable. Emotional effects of chronic pain include depression, anger, anxiety, and fear of re-injury. Such a fear might limit a person’s ability to return to their regular work or leisure activities.

For you this may mean that you’ve had your important aspects of your life disrupted, including career, hobbies and social life. For many of us this chronic pain can be soul destroying.

We’re here to say that there is still hope. We have learnt through experience that with certain strategies, there are ways for you to circumvent chronic pain and still live a purposeful life. Based upon our research –people we have worked with and what we have lived through–here are our top 18 strategies for coping with chronic pain:

6 strategies for Managing Chronic Pain:

1) Patient Education

Take time to empower yourself with as much knowledge and information you feel you will need to make educated judgements about your conditions.

What are the underlying causes of your pain?

What are the potential remedies?

What type of prognosis can you expect?

Posing these questions to medical professionals is essential, but you can always take this further by reading up online-be advised to use a critical eye and reputable sources when sourcing medical information online. The medical professionals know best.

2) Find support

As well as including medical practitioners and close friends and family, joining an online support group which focuses on your condition can establish close connections and lifelong friends. Most conditions have support groups which can be found on social media. They can be an empowering resource and provide a source of empathy which is rare to find elsewhere. You may even find a partner in these groups who shares your experience and you can compare notes with. Again, any medical advice should be taken cautiously.

3) Measure pain levels

Try documenting which hours in the day you experience the most pain.

Is there a similar pattern each day?

Are there any specific triggers and if so, is there a way to avoid them?

In addition, try assessing your pain levels using a 1 to 5 scale.

Gathering this type of information will help you to predict what’s coming and limit the risk of you being caught off guard. Even this does not entirely reduce pain levels, it will give you a feeling of being in greater control.

4) Assess functionality

In addition to understanding the triggers, patterns and intensity behind pain levels, it can also help identify which physical activities you still able to perform.

Are there any which you can still perform fully, not at all or only partially?

If you recognise fluctuations in pain levels according to the time of day, does your functionality fluctuate with it?

5) Prioritise and minimise

Once you are aware of what you are capable of still doing and when, consider which of those activities cannot be avoided. Pick a window of time during the day where you can manage the most important tasks and postpone the rest. For example, you may have assessed that your pain levels are low most afternoons. Picking up the groceries during that window of time takes top priority, but all other activities can wait.

6) Exercise

Exercise is commonly associated with increases strength, mobility and flexibility which, in turn have been linked to decreases in chronic pain.

Which exercises might you enjoy most and feel comfortable performing? 

Would you need to modify duration, intensity, pace or range of motion?

Using my own recovery as an example, I was able to increase strength and reduce joint pain, by performing very partial push ups and squats for 5 minutes each day. Walking, swimming and yoga are other options to consider. There are personal trainers who specialise in working with chronic pain who can help you tailor an empowering workout.

6 Mindset Activities to help with chronic pain

The following activities will not cure the root causes of chronic pain, but they have been shown to induce positive emotions in those who experience it, as well as take their minds of the physical discomfort.

1) Mindfulness

Mindfulness can be used to redirect your focus from the pain which you are experiencing to external sensations which are coming up for you in the moment. In addition, relaxation and deep breathing techniques have been linked to reductions in discomfort.

Consider starting with 5-10 minutes of mindful activity and assess how it makes you feel.

2) Gratitude Exercises

While it is difficult to avoiding focusing heavily on intense pain and let it define who you are, practicing gratitude can help you redirect your focus and place emphasis on the positive experiences which are easier to overlook. 

Examples of practicing gratitude include daily writing in a journal, about the aspects of life you still feel grateful for.

Alternatively, you could try listing 3 good things which happen to you each day.

3) Savouring

This activity is a fusion mindfulness, which involves redirecting one’s mind to momentary experience and gratitude, which revolves around focusing on the positive. Savouring is the act of immersing yourself in your positive experiences at their fullest in order to distract yourself from feelings of discomfort. This may include making the most of times spent with loved ones, or fully enjoying a warm bath.

4) Nature Walk

Chronic pain could limit you in terms of how far and how often you can walk. However, even if it is a for a short duration this activity is worth pursuing. It can also take place in a field, the woods or local park. Nature walks carry a double benefit for those experiencing chronic pain. Firstly, it can help reduce pain, by improve strength and mobility. Secondly, the exposure to natural surroundings can increase optimism and takes your mind off some of the feelings of discomfort.

5) Best Possible Self

This exercise has been shown to boost reduce feelings of optimism, which again can reduce the perception of discomfort. All it involves is taking several minutes each day to sit to imagine what your life would look like in several years-time, if you were able to better manage your pain. 

What could you be doing?

Who will you be surrounded by?

What could you accomplish?

6) Strength Identification

This exercise allows you to take stock in your positive attributes, and hopefully discover new strengths. This simply involves an identification of the strengths which you still possess.

Maybe you are in regular discomfort thus restricting your daily activities, and perhaps this has a negative impact upon the way you view yourself.

But, does that mean you possess no aspects of who you once were?

Have you lost all your positive attributes?

Moreover, is it possible that your experience of chronic illness and pain has taught you new strengths? If so, what are they?

Take time to give further thought to this and remind yourself of it regularly. 

A 4-phase approach for chronic pain. 

1) Goal Setting Phase (using SMART principles)

Alleviating intense pain from chronic illness does not usually happen overnight if at all. When a goal is too ambitious, it can lead to disappointment, which can halt momentum. Empowerment is the primary objective here and small wins are the way to achieve this.

SMART Goal principles help identify an initial small win which is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Sensitive.

For example:
Specific: Wanting to reduce pain levels
Measurable: Moving from 5/5 pain level for 5 hours a day to 4/5 energy level to 4 hours a day
Achievable: A moderate reduction in pain as opposed to a not feeling any at all.
Realistic: 15 minute nature walk as opposed to a 1 hour bootcamp class.
Time sensitive: Aiming to achieve this improvement within three weeks.

2) Reality Phase

This phase involves being realistic about the current levels of pain which you are experiencing by identifying root causes and examining the affect it is having on your life. This will enable you to determine which obstacles which may encumber your recovery.

For example, if your pain level is at a 4/5 level for 5 hours each day, the causes may be your illness and remaining in a stationary position for too long. This may be making you feel weak and achy. Moderate exercise may be one option you wish to consider, however an obstacle to this may be finding the time, energy and exercise type which does not aggravate the pain.

3) Option phase

This phase involves you brainstorming all possible solutions, and resources which are available to you.

What have you tried?

What has not worked?

What worked before?

What knowledge do you have which you could already use?

What knowledge would you still like to acquire and how would it help?  

For example, you have had experience with activities like yoga, swimming, cycling or weight training. 30 minutes of daily moderate activity may present time and energy barriers, but 10 minutes of light activity each day would be a more realistic initial win.

4) Way Forward Phase

This final phase necessitates setting a timeline for your plan of action to take place.

For example, committing to 10 minutes of light yoga or walking, within seven days.

Whatever next steps you decide upon, if you are successful in achieving this and see good results, you are more likely to feel encouraged in setting the follow up goal, which will help you manage pain even further.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:   Amy Mayers, MA is a mother, designer, business consultant, editor, content creator and one of the co-owners of MPOWER Illness Coaching. She is also living with several chronic conditions.

Amy has been living with PCOS and Narcolepsy since her teens. For three decades she has fought the medical system to gain proper diagnosis and treatment options for her conditions. It’s not been easy as so many of the symptoms have often been discounted as depression, laziness, and low self-esteem. She was diagnosed with PCOS at the age of 35 and Narcolepsy at the age of 39.  

With proper diagnosis comes proper treatment options which, when coupled with much of the information MPOWER shares, has allowed Amy to flourish. She has gone on to study Design Management, receive a Master’s degree and start a freelance business on her own, often working with and helping chronic illness communities.

Keith Mayers, MSc, MSc, MBPsS, is a coach, psychologist, mentor, writer and content creator and one of the co-owners of MPOWER Illness Coaching. He is also a chronic illness survivor.

After being on the verge of kidney and lung failure, Keith was diagnosed with Granulomatosis with Polyangitis (GPA). After 11 days in intensive care, he has spent years recovering with the aid of steroids, chemotherapy drugs and an oxygen tank.

Keith went on to study two Master’s degrees in Organizational Psychology and Applied Positive Psychology with Coaching Psychology. He has spent the past several years focusing on the psychological impact of long-term illness.

Pairing with together, Amy and Keith have pooled their knowledge and experience to create MPOWER to share with others the tools they have learned to help their communities flourish.