I am a retired physician. I practiced adult primary care and Diabetes care for 37 years. Pain management was a common problem. This article is very good with sound and detailed advice. I would add/emphasize three points:
1) Chronic pain as defined in the article is chronic. It is not going to be cured or resolve, generally speaking. There may be exceptions, true, but probably not.
2) Reading the article is the first step toward managing chronic pain. Actually taking the advice and actually doing it are the next steps, and doing it consistently and indefinitely. Just as chronic pain is chronic, the management of it is also chronic, like always and forever.
3) I don’t know how it got started, but that “ bag of frozen peas” is a little ridiculous. A cold compress, an ice pack, a zip lock bag with ice from your freezer will all work. You don’t need peas, you need cold. A caution: be careful about how long you apply something cold. Too long can lead to frost bite.
Both warmth and cold can be effective tools in pain management. Like all pain management tools, you are the only one who knows what works for you. What helps you feel better and more functional? Just as important, what makes you feel worse? Again, I think this article addresses both of these issues well.
I am a retired physician. I practiced adult primary care and Diabetes care for 37 years. Pain management was a common problem. This article is very good with sound and detailed advice. I would add/emphasize three points:
1) Chronic pain as defined in the article is chronic. It is not going to be cured or resolve, generally speaking. There may be exceptions, true, but probably not.
2) Reading the article is the first step toward managing chronic pain. Actually taking the advice and actually doing it are the next steps, and doing it consistently and indefinitely. Just as chronic pain is chronic, the management of it is also chronic, like always and forever.
3) I don’t know how it got started, but that “ bag of frozen peas” is a little ridiculous. A cold compress, an ice pack, a zip lock bag with ice from your freezer will all work. You don’t need peas, you need cold. A caution: be careful about how long you apply something cold. Too long can lead to frost bite.
Both warmth and cold can be effective tools in pain management. Like all pain management tools, you are the only one who knows what works for you. What helps you feel better and more functional? Just as important, what makes you feel worse? Again, I think this article addresses both of these issues well.