September is Pain Awareness Month

Pain is defined as being chronic or long term when it lasts longer than 3 to 6 months, or beyond the normal healing time of an injury. Chronic pain management is complicated as different treatments and lifestyle changes are needed. Learning what to do to manage chronic pain requires personal responsibility and becoming an active self-manager.

If you are someone you know has chronic pain, consider taking the Stanford Chronic Pain Self-Management Program (CPSMP.) It is a 6 week, 2 ½ hour program that helps people learn how to self-manage their pain. Classes are highly participative, where mutual support and success build the participants’ confidence in their ability to manage their pain and maintain active and fulfilling lives. 

The CPSMP was developed for people who have a primary or secondary diagnosis of chronic pain. Subjects covered include:

·   techniques to deal with problems such as frustration, fatigue, isolation and poor sleep

·   appropriate exercise for maintaining and improving strength, flexibility, and endurance

·   appropriate use of medications

·   communicating effectively with family, friends and health professionals

·   nutrition

·   pacing activity and rest

·   how to evaluate new treatments

If you’d like to know where a workshop is being held near you, check out our PATH state information website at http://mihealthyprograms.org/path-workshop-search.aspx . If there isn’t one close to home, PTI can provide a chronic pain program for your organization or doctor’s office as long as we have 10-12 participants registered ahead of time. If you’d like PATH Leaders trained for this program or other PATH programs please contact me cirvin@transformcoach.org.

For more information on what to do about pain, check out the American Chronic Pain Association’s website at https://theacpa.org  where many helpful tools and treatments are listed and discussed.

So many people live with chronic pain in their lives. Better communication with the health care team is vital for its management. Involve them in decision making and problem solving. It is possible to live a healthy life with chronic pain. You just need the tools to do the job.