Dealing With Pain: The How-To

100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain, a number of people larger than the amount of Americans with diabetes, heart disease and cancer together. We have all experienced the occasional headache or body ache, some worse than others. Whether it is a minuscule ache or a chronic condition, we all need an outlet to deal with pain. Beyond the use of medication, there are multiple ways to alleviate your pain – physically, mentally and emotionally:

Physically
By completing easy yoga positions, the body reduces muscle tension, relieving it of pain. In addition, simple exercise every day can strengthen the muscles, in turn supporting the body and ultimately releasing unnecessary stress on parts of the body such as the back. While it seems weird to work your body while you’re in pain, pushing yourself during those times can result in a more powerful you, empowering you to conquer your pains.
Medisafe suggests: Track Your Pain With Medisafe
Mentally
Spine-Health found that pain is heavily influenced by how our brains process the pain signals. Therefore, each of us experience pain in a unique way, yet we all feel it in one shape or another. Here are some interesting methods to alter our processing of the signals:

• Mental analgesia: Imagine injecting yourself with the best of the best painkiller (either in your brain or in the problem area) – watch how the pain slowly fades away.
• Counting: During intense episodes of pain, counting everything around you will help put your focus on anything but the pain.
• Dissociation: Use your mind to envision your body and mind separating or separating the painful part of your body from your mind. For instance, if your foot is throbbing, imagine your foot sitting on your bed somewhere and you telling it to stay there.

The Pain Community Centre is a free learning resource for seeking evidence based information and education on pain and its management. With great resources, toolkits and forums, the Pain Community built a platform for people experiencing chronic pains to come together. By sharing stories and experiences, members are given an emotional outlet for the pain.
While Medisafe is there to help relieve or reduce the pain you have by reminding you to take your medications everyday, we hope these techniques can help you get your mind off of the pain you are experiencing.