How chronic pain can be managed

How to manage chronic pain

Given what we know about how chronic pain works, there are many ways in which people can learn to influence and reduce the levels of pain they experience. This is the aim of pain management, and forms the basis of what we do here at the Chronic Pain Management Service.

Pain management aims to help people develop and use all the skills they need in order to live their lives in a way which keeps the pain levels as low as possible. Things like relaxation, pacing, improving mood, taking the correct medication at the correct dose, correct posture and positioning, gentle exercise, engaging in hobbies and activities, and tackling negative patterns of thinking and feeling can all help with the pain experience. They can help to turn ‘negative cycles’ (where the pain and its effects feed off one another and worsen each other) into more positive and helpful cycles, in which the pain feels more bearable, and the impact on a person’s life is reduced as far as possible.

Pain management is not just about medication or medical management – there are many other ways of influencing the pain which are equally as important and effective.

A referral to the Chronic Pain Management Service is not the only way to find out about how this approach can help you. There is also a lot of very good information available on the internet, in books, and through pain support services which can provide you with good quality information and advice about implementing some of the techniques and strategies in your everyday life.