Chronic pain impacts daily life physically and emotionally. Keep reading to learn more about its impact and what you can do to heal.
September 2022. This article is independently written by Shelby Golding. All opinions given are hers. Shelby has been certified as a personal trainer and nutritional specialist since 2007. In 2008, she found her passion for writing about these topics and hasn't looked back.
Chronic pain is uniquely debilitating because of its effect on both the physical body and your mental health. Keep reading to learn more about how chronic pain impacts daily life and how to manage the pain so you can get back to living without pain.
The Pain Matrix
When you damage tissues in the body, it sends signals via the nervous system to the brain. Doctors once believed that the line between the damaged tissue and the brain was reasonably straightforward.
However, modern medicine now knows that your body sends those signals through a complex pain matrix. The pain matrix contains all of the parts of the brain that react to pain. It categorizes the pain and helps the body moderate your behavior while you heal.
The pain matrix is directly tied to the body's survival systems. If it perceives an injury as a threat to the body, it will continue to send pain signals, even if it's no longer dangerous. Many factors can influence the pain matrix, including a lack of sleep, poor mental health, increased stress, previous injuries, and fear of not healing properly.
So the tissue injury is only part of the problem. If chronic pain is appearing in your body, you need to take stock of what might be causing the pain to linger. You can do this by analyzing your lifestyle for any factors that could be affecting your body's healing ability. This information can help you provide your physician with everything necessary for a proper diagnosis and treatment plan.
So the tissue injury is only part of the problem. If chronic pain is appearing in your body, you need to take stock of what might be causing the pain to linger. You can do this by analyzing your lifestyle for any factors that could be affecting your body's healing ability. This information can help you provide your physician with everything necessary for a proper diagnosis and treatment plan.
How Chronic Pain Impacts Daily Life
Chronic pain impacts daily life in many ways. Because the pain matrix is tied to so many of the brain’s survival systems, chronic pain influences the physical body, mental health, and emotional stability.
Physical Impact
Physically, you may feel unable to accomplish small tasks that used to be easy for you. Feeling helpless may lead to anxiety or depression, which aggravates chronic pain.
The pain itself limits movement, which, in turn, may cause other health issues to emerge. If you were previously active, you might begin to gain weight. The weight gain might affect your mental health, but the higher body fat levels also increase general inflammation, thus worsening chronic pain.
Or maybe the lack of movement leads to pain in other areas of the body. A sedentary lifestyle is linked to several issues, including decreased strength and flexibility, stiff muscles, and poor posture.
The pain itself limits movement, which, in turn, may cause other health issues to emerge. If you were previously active, you might begin to gain weight. The weight gain might affect your mental health, but the higher body fat levels also increase general inflammation, thus worsening chronic pain.
Or maybe the lack of movement leads to pain in other areas of the body. A sedentary lifestyle is linked to several issues, including decreased strength and flexibility, stiff muscles, and poor posture.
Mental Impact
Chronic pain and mental health have a symbiotic relationship. Living with constant pain negatively affects your mental health. Meanwhile, mental health issues like anxiety, PTSD, and depression worsen chronic pain.
Mentally, you might be unable to focus because you are distracted by the pain. Pain that disrupts sleep interferes with your brain’s ability to consolidate memories for learning.
Because threats are of primary concern to the brain, the memory centers will focus on consolidating salient memories that will prevent you from getting hurt the same way again. Unfortunately, your brain may develop phobias against specific threats or find patterns in pain relief that keep you from healing.
For example, you may think that staying on your couch all day is the only way to heal your injury because it is the only action that doesn't hurt. In reality, though, sitting all day decreases circulation, stiffens muscles, and may increase your recovery time in the long run.
For example, you may think that staying on your couch all day is the only way to heal your injury because it is the only action that doesn't hurt. In reality, though, sitting all day decreases circulation, stiffens muscles, and may increase your recovery time in the long run.
Emotional Impact
Emotionally, chronic pain may leave you drained. As a result, you might feel unable to show up for others or yourself the way you used to. Depression, mood swings, and anxiety are all typical symptoms of people with chronic pain.
Constant mood swings may ostracize you from your family and friends, making your chances of developing anxiety or depression more likely. In addition, worsening depression or anxiety might prevent you from socializing, affect your performance at work, and cause you to lash out at family and friends — seriously impacting all aspects of your daily life.
Constant mood swings may ostracize you from your family and friends, making your chances of developing anxiety or depression more likely. In addition, worsening depression or anxiety might prevent you from socializing, affect your performance at work, and cause you to lash out at family and friends — seriously impacting all aspects of your daily life.
Disrupt the Pain Pathways
Ending the chronic pain loop might be difficult since there is more than one path to healing. Most people need a combination of pain relievers, lifestyle changes, and therapies to manage their chronic pain.
Pain relief is a massive industry in modern medicine. It encompasses a range of medications, therapies, herbal supplements, and topicals, all of which are meant to help the average person manage acute and chronic pain.
Pain relief is a massive industry in modern medicine. It encompasses a range of medications, therapies, herbal supplements, and topicals, all of which are meant to help the average person manage acute and chronic pain.
Pain management is only the tip of the iceberg when healing chronic pain. Once you've stopped the worst of the pain, you'll need to address whatever is making your pain stick around.
This may involve addressing physical pains with acupuncture, massage, and chiropractic therapies, especially if you'd prefer to avoid oral medication and prescription painkillers. It might also require you to look closely at your lifestyle and cut out anything that might exacerbate the pain until it heals.
Lifestyle cues that might worsen chronic pain are a poor sleep schedule, excessive alcohol consumption, smoking, an unhealthy diet, or a lack of exercise. These habits lead to low-level inflammation throughout the body, which may aggravate your pain matrix and keep your body from fully healing.
The issue might not be so easy to identify as a poor diet. Unfortunately, chronic pain could also be related to feelings about a dead-end job, an unhealthy romantic relationship, the poor health of a relative, or a toxic friendship. Healing your pain might mean digging deeper to find the cause, but time and concerted effort can make a difference.
Lifestyle cues that might worsen chronic pain are a poor sleep schedule, excessive alcohol consumption, smoking, an unhealthy diet, or a lack of exercise. These habits lead to low-level inflammation throughout the body, which may aggravate your pain matrix and keep your body from fully healing.
The issue might not be so easy to identify as a poor diet. Unfortunately, chronic pain could also be related to feelings about a dead-end job, an unhealthy romantic relationship, the poor health of a relative, or a toxic friendship. Healing your pain might mean digging deeper to find the cause, but time and concerted effort can make a difference.
Patience in Healing
Everyone wants to be able to take a magic pill that solves all of their problems — a solution they can take once daily to cure everything from chronic pain to mental health. But many oral painkillers only address the symptoms without treating the cause, and long-term use is often inadvisable.
So, be patient as you explore your body and the patterns that have created the chronic pain currently affecting your daily life. And remember to use your Kailo Pain Patch to support you daily as you work towards a pain-free life. Kailo is designed to relieve pain in seconds and doesn't involve any oral medication! Instead, scientists theorize that the Kailo Pain Patch works by interfering with your body's electrical system. In addition, a recent clinical study showed that 99% of patients felt pain relief with Kailo within 10 minutes of using the patch.
Disclaimer: Kailo should not be used if you have a pacemaker or are pregnant. Always consult your doctor or health care professional before using Kailo.
So, be patient as you explore your body and the patterns that have created the chronic pain currently affecting your daily life. And remember to use your Kailo Pain Patch to support you daily as you work towards a pain-free life. Kailo is designed to relieve pain in seconds and doesn't involve any oral medication! Instead, scientists theorize that the Kailo Pain Patch works by interfering with your body's electrical system. In addition, a recent clinical study showed that 99% of patients felt pain relief with Kailo within 10 minutes of using the patch.
Disclaimer: Kailo should not be used if you have a pacemaker or are pregnant. Always consult your doctor or health care professional before using Kailo.
