Injury Prevention

Healing chronic pain requires that we eliminate repetitive stressors that contribute to your condition. On a physical level, this means learning how to accomplish the daily tasks of living with conscious attention to posture and body mechanics. Activities, such as getting in and out of bed, brushing your teeth, washing dishes, sitting at a computer, picking up your child, etc…, cease to aggravate your pain when you use and protect your body properly.

It is crucial that you learn to move in the most efficient way possible if you have a physical job that calls for a lot of bending and lifting. It is also imperative that you have and maintain the physical strength to accomplish what you need to do during the day. You may be lifting properly, but if the weight you are lifting is too heavy for your muscle capacity, it doesn’t matter what your lifting form looks like. You’re going to hurt yourself.

On a psychic level, injury prevention means learning to recognize the emotional triggers that cause pain. When you tune into your body’s response to stress, you may recognize a pain pattern. For example, if you develop back pain every time your mother-in-law comes to stay with you, you’re going to need to learn how to cope with her arrival in a different way. (Mothers-in-law get such a bad rap, don’t they?) A pain cycle can be broken if treatment focuses on the appropriate underlying causes.

As part of your comprehensive pain management program, you may benefit from the following:

• Instruction in proper body mechanics for your activities of daily living
  • Bending
  • Lifting
  • Changing positions in bed
  • Sitting
  • Changing positions from sit to stand
  • Picking up a small child
  • Making a bed
  • Vacuuming
  • Leaning over a sink to shave, brush your teeth, etc.
• Ergonomic assessment and correction of your home or office
• Movement re-education for work related activities
• Stress management counseling
• Deep breathing exercises
• General conditioning and strengthening