How Mindfulness Helps With Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is more than just pain for many people. The pain is bad enough, but dealing with it on a daily or near daily basis can lead to frustration, depression, and anger. While thinking about the pain even more than you already do may seem like a strange approach, there’s actually a great deal to be said for the effectiveness of mindful practices when it comes to this type of pain.

Rather than putting the emphasis on how much you want the pain to be gone, it can be beneficial to observe the pain with curiosity instead. By observing the pain this way, it may make it easier to understand and deal with. Here is how mindfulness helps with chronic pain.

TECHNIQUES OF MINDFULNESS THAT MAY HELP

Being mindful of the pain can be enormously helpful for many people, and there are many ways to do so. Chronic pain can be understood, and mindfulness practices are the tools to doing so for many people.

Some of the most efficient tools for mindfulness include:

• Proper breathing techniques: With proper breathing, a person can become much more grounded, and they can also change their focus. This can start as simply as breathing in with the phrase “in,” and then slowly exhaling with the phrase “out.” Putting all the emphasis on the breathing can help with both the physical and the mental/emotional part of the pain.
• Meditation: Meditation is something that many people assume to be complicated and time consuming, but it can be as simple as taking a few minutes just for yourself each day. Allow yourself a few moments to be alone, to be still, and to place the mental focus deep within yourself. Some meditation techniques can be specially targeted to deal with the pain, honing in on it so that you can fight back effectively.
• Yoga: Yoga has been enormously helpful for many people who are suffering from chronic pain. Not only does it allow you to stretch and strengthen the body, but it also allows you to tackle the pain in a very mindful way. Many different types of yoga exist, and one of them is likely going to be an excellent way to fight back against the pain in a mindful and focused way.

Dealing with chronic pain and want to do so in a more focused and mindful way? The team at Alliance Spine and Pain Centers is ready to help. Our pain management specialists, nurses, and physician assistants work together to make sure that a care plan tailored for your unique needs can be created. Call anytime to arrange an appointment if you have anymore questions about how mindfulness helps with chronic pain.