Each morning, you wake and contemplate the day ahead, wondering how much impact your pain will have. As do millions of other Americans — nearly one-quarter of adults in the United States report chronic pain.
Because September is Pain Awareness Month in the US, the team of pain management experts here at Glaser Pain Relief Center, led by Dr. Jeffrey Glaser and Dr. John Zheng, is using this month’s blog to dive into chronic pain and the very large net it can cast over your life.
If you think it’s best to just grit your teeth and get through your pain, we want you to rethink that approach because there’s much more to chronic pain than, well, pain.
Let’s first quickly look at what we mean by chronic pain, which is technically defined as ongoing pain that lasts for 3-6 months or more.
While this definition is solid, it has some holes. For example, if we diagnose you with a degenerative issue, such as osteoarthritis or spinal stenosis, you can call it chronic pain right from the start because it’s likely to get progressively worse.
Chronic pain is really less about the numbers than it is about your diagnosis, your history, and your health.
When your body is in pain, it launches a stress response that has a widespread impact on your body. When you enter fight-or-flight mode, your muscles tense, your heart and breathing rates go up, and your digestion slows.
When you’re stuck in this stress response because of chronic pain, it exacts a toll on the rest of your body, leading to sleep disorders, lower immunity, cardiovascular issues — and the list goes on.
Our point here is that untreated chronic pain can lead to other health issues and, unfortunately, more pain.
A recent worldwide study found that 40% of adults who struggle with chronic pain also struggle with anxiety, and 39% deal with clinically significant depression. These stats should come as no surprise — you may be all too aware about the effects that pain can have on your state of mind.
Quite simply, it’s tough to have an elevated mood when you're in pain. And the longer this goes on, the more your neural pathways stay stuck in mood dysregulation and heightened anxiety.
The one takeaway we want to leave you with is that finding relief for your chronic pain should be a priority — one that will serve your entire well-being.
As a practice dedicated to pain relief, we offer a wide range of solutions that range from nerve blocks to neuromodulation. We’re confident that we have something in our arsenal that can help you move past your chronic pain and improve your quality of life.
To stop the spiral that comes with chronic pain, your first step is to contact Glaser Pain Relief Center in Encino, California, today to schedule a consultat
