Exercising to help pain seems backwards. Right? When you’re in pain, the last thing you want to do is move. However, exercise is one of the most effective ways to reduce and prevent pain.

This is a major mental hurdle for a lot of people living with chronic pain. This lesson is aimed at helping you reframe your beliefs about exercise. You can begin to shift your perception about exercise from something that will hurt you to something that will help you.

Recall the Cycle of Chronic Pain from the first lesson. One of the first reasons why chronic pain becomes reinforced is a lack of movement. Moving less causes the muscles to break down. Also, you become less flexible. This makes it even harder and more painful to move. You might become weaker and stiffer.

Incorporating regular exercise into your schedule can improve pain. Exercise strengthens the muscles and improves flexibility and muscle tone.

Exercising regularly also improves mood. Dopamine, a feel-good chemical, is released after exercise. Further, it provides a sense of accomplishment. If you exercise outside, being in nature can improve mood, too. If you exercise in a group, it can act as a social outlet.

Set Goals

Do not push yourself too hard. Make sure to start at your current activity level and gradually increase the pace and frequency. This is really important. Pushing yourself too much can lead to further injury and more pain.

This is where SMART goals come in handy. Make SMART goals for exercising.

For example, “I want to be able to walk around the block for 20 minutes, three times a week, by the end of this month.”

This person may begin by walking each day for 5 minutes. When they feel ready, they can increase it by 1 minute every other day. They can continue until they reach their goal.

Low Impact Exercises

Low impact exercises are non-vigorous exercises that are gentle on our joints. They are perfect for people in chronic pain. They can be done at your own pace.

Here are some examples:

Swimming or Water Aerobics

Tai Chi or Qigong

Stationary Cycling

Walking

Yoga

Demonstrations

Sometimes, it helps to see some examples in order to believe that these exercises are safe, simple, and effective. In this section, you can watch some videos that may help you get inspired to try a low-impact exercise.

I-Engage Academy Video Library

Our Patient Resource Video Page has several follow-along videos, including yoga and stretching videos. Check out our catalogue for some low-impact, safe exercises. We plan to add more low-impact exercise videos in the future.

Yoga with Adriene

Yoga with Adriene is an amazing YouTube channel with free, low-barrier yoga routines. Adriene has several videos targeting various areas of the body that may be in pain. The routines are low-impact and easy to do. They focus on healing the body and mind.

The first video is a 25-minute yoga practice made for people living with chronic pain. This one can be done on a yoga mat or sitting in a chair.

The second video is a quick 10-minute session for neck, shoulders, and upper back. It focuses on releasing the tension we hold in our bodies throughout the day. This relaxing routine would be great for after-work or before bed.

Yoga is great for chronic pain because it can be very low impact. It incorporates mindfulness and relaxation, while stretching your muscles, and promoting circulation. It’s an exercise that can be done from home and usually doesn’t require equipment.

Tai Chi

This video is a news story on WCVB Channel 5 Boston covering a Tai Chi research project for chronic pain patients. It discusses the benefits of tai chi and how life-changing it was for one person living with Fibromyalgia. If you’re interested in trying Tai Chi, there are often Tai Chi groups that meet up in parks to practice. Alternatively, you can find several videos online to follow along (bonus: many are geared towards chronic pain).

Qigong

Qigong is similar to Tai Chi. It focuses on one area of the body at a time, whereas Tai Chi moves through sequences that work the whole body. Qigong uses concepts from Traditional Chinese Medicine and coordinates the body, breath, and mind. Similar to yoga, it uses mindfulness and can be quite relaxing. It’s easy to do, low-impact, and focuses on fluid movements.

This quick video, by Jeffrey Chand, shares a Qigong routine for back pain. Jeff is a registered acupuncturist and Traditional Chinese medicine practitioner. He explains each of the moves in the video.

Practice 

To practice prioritizing exercise, it may help to utilize the SMART Goals Worksheets from the last lesson. The SMART Goals Planner can help you to plan your exercise goals, whereas the SMART Goals Tracker can help you to stay on track and assess your progress.

Reflect 

Reflect on your relationship with exercise. What are your exercise goals? Have you made any progress recently? What are your favorite low-impact exercises?

Can you identify someone who could act as an exercise buddy? This is someone you can work together with to motivate one another and keep each other accountable! Not to mention, it is important to celebrate your wins. You would have a friend who will applaud your progress (small or large).

In the next lesson, you will learn how to incorporate relaxation into your life as a pain management tool.

To proceed, take the next quiz.