Pain Archive

Stress reduction expert Jon Kabat-Zinn recommends the body scan mindfulness exercise as the best form of mindfulness meditation for pain conditions.

He advises practicing it every day for 45 minutes, even if it seems boring or doesn't seem to be helping. "You don't have to like it, you just have to do it," he explains in his book. "Whether you find the body scan to be very relaxing and interesting or difficult and uncomfortable or exasperating is irrelevant to whether it will serve you well." The goal of the body scan is not to relieve the pain completely, but to get to know it and learn from it so you can manage it.

Chronic pain and insomnia are an unhealthy combination. According to the National Sleep Foundation, chronic pain disturbs the slumber of one in five Americans at least a few nights a week. Whether it's from a bad back, arthritis, or headaches, chronic pain puts you in double jeopardy: the pain robs you of restful sleep and makes you more fatigued, and thus more sensitive to pain.

But you can start to break this vicious cycle.

Morning stiffness like in the back, knees, and feet are common complaints for many older adults. People cannot reverse the affects of joint aging, but they can reduce the severity and frequency of morning stiffness by being more active and adopting regular exercise to increase muscular strength and flexibility. 

It appears that “unloading” shoes are no better at reducing pain or improving function than a good pair of walking shoes, according to a study published online July 12, 2016, by Annals of Internal Medicine. 

Lower your dependency on medication by altering your perception of pain.

Image: Cathy Yeulet/ Thinkstock

Everyday pain becomes more constant as you age. It can vary from morning aches to occasional joint flare-ups to recurrent episodes that interfere with your life and overall health.

Yet pain has a valuable role. It alerts your systems to potential injury so you can seek treatment. "Pain is similar to blood pressure, which becomes a problem if the levels become too high," says Dr. Jianren Mao, director of the Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Translational Pain Research. "Only when pain becomes intolerable should you resort to medication or other types of treatment."

Mindfulness can be an effective adjunct to medication for chronic pain.

 Image: Tetmc/ Thinkstock

For a long time, people with chronic pain have had to make a trade-off—enduring the discomfort stoically or taking medications that pose additional health risks, including dependence and addiction. But in the last few years, medicine has added another approach that has no troubling side effects: mindfulness.

"Mindfulness is basically paying attention to the present moment without judging," says Dr. Sara Lazar, a neurologist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. It is a component of many relaxation techniques, including yoga, deep breathing, tai chi, massage, reflexology, journaling, and prayer.