Jumpstart Your Fitness: By dealing with chronic pain

For many unfortunate souls out there pain is a major factor in their life on a regular basis. Whether it's an achy joint from an old injury or arthritis, migraine headaches, back pain, or even something like neuralgia, pain has the ability to sideline you from your physical activities and affect in your life in major ways.

Managing pain becomes an even greater issue than being just about your personal comfort when it starts interfering with the already difficult task of living a healthy active lifestyle. There are enough bumps in the road and challenges along the way to fitness without adding chronic pain in as a major player -- especially if you're just trying to get started!
Depending on what kind of pain you have, the approach you take in treating it obviously is going to vary. Acute pain is, in my personal opinion, the easier to deal with (as opposed to chronic pain) because it's usually at least partially treatable and by definition it lasts a shorter period of time. Acute pain may prevent you from working out, but only temporarily until the injury or whatever is causing it heals. Chronic pain, on the other hand, is a whole other ball of wax.

Chronic pain is pain that lasts months or even a lifetime and is caused by a long-term condition like arthritis or a disorder or disease. It can be constant or recurrent, so unlike with acute pain you can't really just 'wait it out.' Understanding the effects chronic pain has on you is an important part of dealing with it -- after all, you have to know what you're dealing with! Everybody feels the effects of chronic pain and discomfort differently, but the five major negative effects are usually loss of mobility, depression, sleep disturbances, medication side-effects, and anxiety. Obviously all of these are big problems in and of themselves.

Being an educated and active member of your own health care team is important, so knowing what kinds of questions to ask your doctor and what information he/she needs to know to best help you is important. And think of pain as a specialty area that needs a specialized doctor, and seek out a pain specialist or someone who comes highly recommended for pain management specifically.

Unfortunately some types of pain are not as easily dealt with as others. But if you have plans and goals that include physical fitness, taking an active approach to managing your pain has got to be a priority. Good luck to you!