PainGuide
- Caring for pain does not have to be expensive.
- Pain care does not have to mean many different doctor’s appointments.
- Sometimes it can be done in your own home - if you know what to do.
- PainGuide gives you the tools for managing pain.
- These tools were created for people living with chronic pain.
- Using these tools with professional care can be helpful.
Pain
- Two separate problems lead to the experience of pain (although they seem to go together).
- Problem 1: Caused by damage of a body part – usually requires professional help (e.g., medications, surgery, etc.).
- Problem 2: Pain – Not from where the injury happened. The pain comes from the brain sending a warning signal in response to damage to a part of the body. The brain tries to warn us that something was damaged or injured.
- Sometimes pain lasts longer than the injury or pain can be felt if there is not an obvious injury. This is an example of chronic pain.
- Professional treatments for chronic pain are available (see the PainGuide section on professional treatments).
- The key to successful pain control is self – management.
- Self – management – can be used with or without other treatments.
- Since pain starts in the brain, how we feel it can be influenced by whatever else is happening in the brain
- Because you have the most influence over what is happening in your brain, you can have a great deal of influence over your pain.
- This section gives you resources for pain self-management.
- Please click on the video below that talks about how self – care can be helpful in managing chronic pain.
Managing Pain: A Wholistic Approach
Run time: 4:07 minutes