Finding ways to manage chronic pain can be difficult. With the struggle of adding just one more thing to your plate, finding time to incorporate it into your daily routine, or when doubts creep in that this or that will never work.
Today we’re bringing you a list of ten practical things you can do to help manage chronic pain. Before we jump in, let’s discuss one big tip that really brings the following ten things into perspective.
The best way to manage chronic pain is to find things that you can incorporate into your daily routine. Adding things on top of your already busy schedule makes it difficult to remember to do them. Finding a way to make these (or other) chronic pain management techniques a part of your daily routine will help you to keep it up for much longer and you will likely be more successful in seeing results. The goal isn’t to add things to your schedule, but rather to tweak something that’s already a part of your daily life and make it work for you to better your health.
This post may include affiliate links.
Please read my disclaimer page for more info.
*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.*
Disclaimer: The information on this blog is based on personal experiences and should not be considered medical advice. The information on this blog is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Please ask your doctor if you have any questions.
One: Sit While You Cook
Cooking a meal for dinner can sometimes take longer than your chronic pain can handle. It can be frustrating when you’re trying to eat well and cook at home, but it feels like your body is fighting you every step of the process.
This is why I recommend getting a stool so you can chop veggies at the counter and sit in front of the stove while you cook. You can prepare everything in batches, by chopping everything while sitting, then moving to the stove to stir and cook while sitting. If you have a kitchen table you can opt for this instead of a stool at the counter. You can also use your stool to wash dishes at the sink.
Using this method can relieve added stress to your body and help you to get the important things done. This is a practical thing that you can easily add to your daily routine to help you manage chronic pain.
Two: Meal Prep/Make Big Meals
If you’re already in the kitchen cooking, make a big batch to meal prep for the week.
To save veggies from going bad in the fridge, chop things like celery, bell pepper, broccoli, and carrots. This saves us time and energy when cooking at a later time, and keeps everything fresh. Try meal prepping when you’re having a pain day that’s not too bad.
Make overnight oats and chia pudding in large batches. They keep in the fridge all week and are a quick meal that you can easily grab in the morning when your pain is worse or you’re rushing out the door.
In addition to meal prepping, I definitely recommend making bigger batches of food and storing them in the freezer. When cooking soup, make a huge batch so you can store some in the freezer for a later date. By doing this you’ll almost always have frozen soup on hand and in your weekly rotations. It saves time and energy, meaning you don’t have to be hurting every night trying to cook dinner, especially on nights when you don’t feel like it.
Three: Get A Lap Desk To Work In Bed
If you work from home, getting a lap desk can be a great way to help manage chronic pain. Instead of struggling to sit at a desk or table all day, you can recline in your bed and still get work done.
If you get the right kind of lap desk, one that stands up, it can keep the weight of the laptop off of you. You want one that gives you a place to put your mouse and can help you maintain a better posture while in bed.
There are also lap desks, like this one, which have nice cushions underneath to protect your legs.
Four: Invest In Quality Comfy Clothes/Shoes
If you’re anyone who has a body, you should be investing in quality, comfy clothes. Even more so if you’re someone who has chronic pain. Your day-to-day chronic pain will feel much better if you get shoes, socks, and comfortable clothes. Whether you have to run errands, go to work, or are just lounging in bed. Whatever your activity, being comfortable in your clothes is important.
- Buy the biggest, fluffiest socks and pajamas!
- Get the comfy shoes.
- You have to spend your whole life walking on your feet, get the good socks.
- My personal fav socks for chronic pain are these therapeutic socks from Feetures and their compression socks!
On that note, you should invest in quality sheets for your bed as well.
This simple change can impact your overall mood and help you to manage chronic pain day in and day out.
Five: Stretch/Yoga For Ten Minutes A Day
We’ve talked about yoga and stretching on this blog a couple of times now. I’d like to say, while I know perhaps you’ve been told over and over again to just try yoga to fix your pain – and it doesn’t – I get that. That’s not what I’m suggesting today.
There is no evidence to indicate that yoga or stretching daily can ease chronic pain, let alone cure it. However, introducing some form of movement into your daily life could help. From my personal experience, I haven’t found that daily yoga helps with pain. But, I found that getting some form of daily movement helped me to feel stronger mentally.
Studies indicate that daily exercise and moving your body is a powerful way of combating anxiety and depression, says an article from the American Psychological Association.
This is the purpose of bringing up yoga and stretches for your invisible illness. The goal of today’s post is to introduce practical ideas you can do daily to manage chronic pain. Chronic pain isn’t just a physical thing, it affects you physically as well as mentally. It’s important to take care of your mental health in order to persevere in this long fight.
Doing yoga, or some form of exercise, every day, even if it’s just for ten minutes a day, could help you strengthen your body physically and mentally, helping you manage your chronic pain condition.
If you’re interested in exploring our other posts on the yoga/stretching topic, check these out:
Six: Gratitude Journal
Following the mental health theme of the last one, I’d like to bring to your attention the powers of keeping a gratitude journal.
I’ll be the first to admit, with my chronic pain condition it can be so easy to let myself fall into complaints about this, that, and the other thing. It’s easy. What isn’t easy, is choosing to rise above and get up every day, choosing to find the best in each moment. It’s not easy, but, I do find that it helps me to be someone I’m more proud of being.
Not only that, if you do it long enough, choosing to find gratitude in things rather than looking for something to complain about, can transform your view of the world, the people around you, and give you the mental strength to rise above your chronic pain condition.
Keeping a gratitude journal, or simply finding one thing to be thankful for about those around you, each day, can, over time, help your mental health and is a great, small step to take to manage chronic pain.
Seven: Eat Less Processed Food
Studies show that eating less processed food can help you not only mentally but physically. In this podcast episode featuring Chris Palmer, the Huberman Lab discusses how a change in your diet can radically impact you not just physically, but mentally as well. In the episode, Chris Palmer gives some personal experiences, in addition, talks about how implementing diet changes in his patients drastically changed their symptoms.
I would definitely recommend you check out the podcast episode to learn more! You can also check out Chris Palmer’s book on this exact subject!
For me personally, I’ve found by including more meat, fruit, and veggies, and eliminating sugars and packaged foods, I sleep better at night, have a little more energy, and can think clearer. If I ever get a little too crazy and eat too much sugar, it upsets my stomach and I have less energy. It’s a noticeable difference in my life.
What I eat is a huge part of my chronic pain management. I hardly eat processed food, we cook and eat freshly prepared meals and like to really focus on what we put in our bodies. I know that if I tried to manage my chronic pain without ever taking a look at what I’m eating, I would only be scratching the surface of what I could be doing for my invisible illness.
Interested in more of this topic? Check out our 4-part series about becoming your own health advocate:
- Becoming Your Own Health Advocate: Part 1
- Becoming Your Own Health Advocate: Part 2
- Becoming Your Own Health Advocate: Part 3
- Becoming Your Own Health Advocate: Part 4
Eight: Moisturize Often
Getting the itchies appears to be a big part of chronic pain. Scratching it and bruising yourself of course, only makes it worse. To combat that, try moisturizing regularly! By regularly, I mean at least every night.
Often times our skin gets dryer than it actually looks like it should be, moisturizing regularly can help to keep your skin from cracking or creating that itch that it often does because it’s dry.
Of course, moisturizing isn’t the fix-all for this kind of itch. Being regularly itchy seems to be a symptom of some chronic pains, like Fibromyalgia. But moisturizing regularly can help!
Nine: Be Grateful For Your Body
I watched an interview recently, the same one I’ll mention below in Point Ten, where Sarah Jakes Roberts mentioned something I found to be super applicable to the invisible illness community. She said, “Be grateful for your body.”
That’s tough.
It’s tough when you find day in and day out that your body doesn’t work quite the way you wish it would. It’s hard when you get up each morning and things are harder than they were the day before, simply because you did a little more housework yesterday, or you did nothing at all. Having a chronic pain condition is hard, and it’s hard to find joy during your days.
It’s hard if you focus only on the negative.
This is where I found Sarah’s words to be applicable and worth passing on. Be grateful for your body. Find something to be thankful for about your body. Because your body is tough, and you are strong! Perhaps your body didn’t do all the things you wanted it to do today, but it helped you survive! It carried you to the kitchen and the bathroom! Your body sustained you today!
Find things to be grateful for! Look for the positives instead of always complaining about the negatives. Learning to practice this weekly if not daily can improve your mental health as well as help you to manage chronic pain. Just give it time and you will see.
What can you be grateful for today?
Ten: Feed Your Hope, Starve Your Fears
As mentioned above, something else I found interesting in the interview, Sarah said, “Feed your hope, starve your fears.” Albeit, the topic was slightly different than where I’m going with this but still applicable!
Chronic pain takes a mental toll on people the same as it does a physical toll. It’s easy to fall into a depression pit and just keep digging yourself in further and further. It’s easy to let the fears of the future, fears for your body, and fear of the unknown, drown out the hope.
An applicable step you can take today to help you manage chronic pain is to feed your hope and starve your fears. Don’t keep dwelling on your fears and thinking them deeper and deeper until they feel like the worst thing in the world. Focus on hope and on your dreams! Focus on the good and on creating the life you want.
If you always focus on the bad, everything will always be bad. When you look for the joy and hope, and the good in each day, despite the pain, then you will be an overcomer and you can have the strength to carry on.
Did you like this post? Let me know in the comments so I can make more content like this for you! We’re always looking for more ways to make relevant topics that you are interested in.
Explore other recent posts:
- Amazing Essentials To Thrive In A Remote Work Environment
- The Best Place To Thrift In Perú
- How To Make A Gingham Gathered Exposed Ruffle Skirt
- How To Make Elastic Or Drawstring Waist Shorts: Design #4
- Remote Work Life in Perú: Introducing The Chickens
Find us on social media!
P.S. If you’re looking for an activity you can do on a bad flare day and from bed or with your virtual community, download our free trivia here.
Playing trivia is a great way to still participate in fun activities with your friends and family without ever leaving the comfort of your bed. It’s perfect for keeping in touch with friends who you may not be able to visit regularly. Check it out and let us know what you think! 👇
