All About Pain and What to do About it

Managing Chronic Pain

Managing chronic pain is a journey with many ups and downs. Anyone can get temporary relief from pain with the biomedical model of care, until they exhaust all of those options. To manage pain effectively, it requires hard work and dedication. The biopsychosocial model of care is evidence-based and incorporates:

A comprehensive assessment – chronic pain is an individual experience
Setting goals – of course, it is easy to say the goal is to “get rid of pain”, but it is more effective to set functional goals – what activities are limited because of your pain?
Self-management and education – the more we know about what we are dealing with, the better we will be able to manage it; finding resources to facilitate long-term management is very important for chronic pain, because there will be times when the pain flares up, and the more support you have, the more confident you will be in overcoming it
Physical activity
Physically based interventions
Therapeutic exercise
Pharmacotherapy – medications regularly reviewed for pain management and function
Psychologically based interventions
Psychosocial supports – includes families and caregivers of one with chronic pain – to consider their emotional, social, cultural, cognitive, accessibility or spiritual needs
Interventional management of chronic pain – when clinically indicated – in combination with interprofessional approach
Access and referral to interprofessional chronic pain program – for those with significantly impacted quality of life
Transitions and coordination of care – collaborative care plan between providers and/or settings, facilitate communication and information sharing during transitions

Whatever you choose to do, whenever you choose to do it, remind yourself of why you want to manage your pain better. Ask yourself, “If I wasn’t in pain, what would be different about my life? What would people notice about me? How would I feel?” – let those thoughts motivate you!