Did you know that your emotions could impact the way you experience pain? Did you also know that swearing could help you reduce pain? And did you also know that many experts believe chronic pain to be an actual disease that ought not to be ignored?
Your reaction to injury could result in chronic pain
Researchers have unearthed new information about the possible causes of persistent and long term pain or chronic pain – it could be the reaction that we have to an injury that determines how much pain we feel and for how long.
This could explain why, of two individuals with the same type of injury one may go on to develop chronic pain and the other may not. A combination of the state of the brain combined with the injury will determine the amount and extent of pain suffered.
Researchers claim that it is now possible to predict who will develop chronic pain and who will not. So if you were emotionally charged at the time you were injured you are more likely to suffer from chronic pain. This research will be useful in understanding the sort of pain that persists even after an injury has healed physically.
Hope for chronic pain sufferers
As for people who do have chronic pain, various alternative treatments are used for managing and reducing pain. A technique called the “biopsychosocial” approach works by training the brain to perceive pain differently and thereby manage the pain better.
Then there is “graded motor imagery” that improves the perception of difference between the right and left parts of the body. This technique reduces pain sensitivity and improves limb function.
Many chronic pain sufferers also find that dietary changes can help reduce and manage pain better.
Simple activities such as gardening can also help people deal with their pain better and more effectively. Similarly other enjoyable pastimes and hobbies could be therapeutic as well. If all of these options fail then you can visit pain management doctors that specialize in achieving lasting pain relief.
Swearing could help ease pain
Researchers at Keele University have found that swearing or using foul language could manage pain better. Those people who are normally polite and well spoken, may find that swearing or using bad language after being hurt could help them relieve pain.
When these otherwise polite people swore, they were able to hold their hand in ice cold water longer than if they used neutral words. It is something known as stress induced analgesia that could be responsible for this.
