What are the ways to relieve chronic pain?

At present, there is no universal solution for all chronic pain at the level of evidence-based medicine. The mainstream intervention idea is personalized and comprehensive adjustment. Simply relying on medicine or hard work is not the optimal solution.

I met a 38-year-old programmer a while ago. He suffered from chronic low back pain caused by lumbar protrusion for almost two years. At first, he relied on taking ibuprofen. Later, he even had acid reflux and did not dare to eat more. The pain made it difficult to even sit for half an hour. After adjusting for half a year, the daily pain can be basically controlled within 1 minute, which does not affect normal work and life.

Let’s talk about the most familiar analgesics first. For mild to moderate chronic non-cancer pain, non-opioid anti-inflammatory analgesics are indeed the first-line clinical choice. However, in the past two years, there has been considerable controversy in the academic community about the dosage of medication. One group advocates that chronic pain patients should try to shorten the duration and dosage of medication to avoid long-term use. The other group believes that patients who do not take medication at all will feel too much pain and will not be able to persist in follow-up rehabilitation intervention, and the gains outweigh the losses. The specific choice depends on your own pain level and underlying disease conditions. See a doctor for evaluation, and don't buy it blindly.

What many people don’t know is that small adjustments in life are sometimes more effective than taking medicine. The programmer I just mentioned sat at his desk for 10 hours a day at first without moving. Later, he set a Pomodoro timer, standing on the edge of the table for 30 seconds every 25 minutes, and simply turning his waist twice. Don’t underestimate this half-minute action. He said that his pain was reduced by 30% in the first month. There are also many patients with chronic migraine and fibromyalgia, and pain fluctuations are closely tied to sleep quality. There used to be a girl who had migraines for 10 years. She used to stay up until 1:30 every day to watch short videos, and then she forced herself to lie down before 11 o'clock and put her mobile phone in the living room. In 3 months, the frequency of migraine attacks dropped from three or four times a week to once or twice a month. She found it incredible.

In the past two years, pain departments have promoted more targeted exercise rehabilitation. Don’t be frightened when you hear about exercise. It is not just for you to run a marathon and lift irons. For example, chronic pain caused by knee osteoarthritis. Many elderly people feel the pain and have to lie down to rest. The more they strengthen their legs, the more muscles they lose, and the burden on the joints increases. Heavy, targeted training of the quadriceps. When the muscles are strong, they will share the pressure on the joints, and the pain will naturally be less. Of course, many patients have experienced more pain after practicing. Most of them are because the movements are not done correctly or the intensity is too high. See a regular rehabilitation practitioner for evaluation before practicing, and the probability of getting into trouble will be much smaller.

There are also some niche auxiliary methods, such as mindful breathing, transcranial magnetic stimulation, acupuncture, etc. I met an aunt with fibromyalgia. She took several medicines but the effect was not obvious. Later, she followed a charity class and took mindful breathing for three months, and her pain score dropped from 7 points at the beginning to 3. Of course, some people think that these are all "psychological effects" and belong to the IQ tax. The current attitude of the academic community is quite clear: as long as there are no side effects and you find it effective after using them, you can use them. There is no need to worry about whether it is a physiological effect or a psychological effect. It is a good method to relieve pain.

To put it bluntly, chronic pain itself is a very individual matter. The magical methods that others use on you may not work at all. Communicate more with your doctor, try several methods that suit you, and slowly find a suitable combination. It is much more reliable than looking for some "special secret recipe".