Chronic pain means that you have had the pain on and off for anywhere from three months to years. Like many, I have personally dealt with chronic pain on and off for years. When I encounterd my last pain episode two different doctors recommended surgery for my back. I've met people who have had wonderful results from back surgery, but I am too chicken shit. So I persevered, using a cane to get around, still giving treatments to my clients while trying to ignore my own issues. Now I understood what many of my exasperated clients told me when they said they wished they could sleep standing up. I was in so much pain that I could only sleep on my forearms and knees with pillows stacked up under my stomach, which really meant that I wasn't sleeping. My body would pass out for an hour or so from sheer exhaustion. This is certainly not a sleep position I would ever recommend. I rarely cry and shocked myself by bursting into tears at the drug store. My doctor had given me a pain prescription and I was eagerly dreaming of actually sleeping. The pharmacist burst that bubble telling me that the medication would take 2 - 3 weeks before I felt any difference. So there I was, ugly crying in the drug store. No help in sight as I stood there blubbering and watching people back away from me into the other aisles. Thoroughly embarrassed I finally stumbled outside wiping the tears and snot away when a thought came to me - 'You can do this Kim, you can get through this'. I became determined to find a way through the pain with self-treatment.
The best advice I received was very simple: move. When I was given this advice all I thought was, 'I can't. It hurts too much! How can I possibly do what they're suggesting? How much more pain can I endure?' Then the motivating words came - 'You will be in pain regardless if you move or not, so why not try?' I couldn't argue with that logic.
It honestly doesn't matter how small the movement is, as long as it doesn't increase your pain. At the beginning of my recovery the movements with my back could be measured in a few centimetres, but over time my mobility increased and better yet, my pain decreased!
There was a newletter recently from Harvard Medical School that talked about Tai Chi and Yoga as medication in motion rather than meditation in motion. It may take some time to get to the point where you can integrate a larger movement practice into your life. Remember to start small. Movement is lotion for the body and I truly believe it plays a big part in helping with chronic pain issues.