{"id":11087,"date":"2015-04-27T16:20:35","date_gmt":"2015-04-27T23:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medicalfitnessnetwork.org\/?p=11087"},"modified":"2021-07-01T16:29:36","modified_gmt":"2021-07-01T23:29:36","slug":"know-good-advice-enlightened-chronic-pain-sufferer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/all-mfn\/know-good-advice-enlightened-chronic-pain-sufferer\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do I Know If This Is Good For Me? Advice From an Enlightened Chronic Pain Sufferer"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most significant lessons I learned on my path toward overcoming chronic pain was making the distinction between discomfort and pain. \u00a0Quite often, discomfort precedes and might even be necessary to improve soft tissue conditions. \u00a0This is something I really wish I had understood and embraced early in the development of my chronic pain disorder. At the age of 30, a muscle tear cascaded into a chronic myofascial (muscle and connective tissue) pain disorder that kept me from living the active life I wanted for the next 13 years. Through trial-and-error I eventually uncovered the keys to effectively treating and managing this frustrating condition. A big part of it was identifying the right health professionals \u2013 those with a holistic, problem-solving mindset; engaging these experts in order to fully understand the best approaches to improve my condition; and putting in a lot of effort to wholeheartedly implement their recommendations.<\/p>\n

Once you have identified a health professional who really seems to understand your musculoskeletal condition (problems related to muscles, connective tissues, bones and joints), be sure to pay attention to the exercises and treatments they recommend. \u00a0Ask many questions about how these approaches can improve your condition. \u00a0It\u2019s important to understand this, because there is a good chance that the prescribed exercises and\/or treatments could be uncomfortable for you \u2013 at least in the beginning. Belief that you are doing the right thing is critical to persevering through the discomfort.<\/p>\n

Looking back, there were several occasions in my 13-year struggle, when I was prescribed exercises that were difficult and uncomfortable. \u00a0I suppose it was my misguided self-preservation instinct that led me to discontinue these exercises soon after I started them. \u00a0After all, I thought to myself, if the exercises were too difficult and uncomfortable, then they were probably bad for me, right? \u00a0How I wish the many physiotherapists I saw had thoroughly explained the importance of persevering with the strengthening exercises. \u00a0The bottom line is: if it\u2019s difficult and uncomfortable, it\u2019s a sign that you have a weakness, and the only way to \u201cfix\u201d it is to continue doing the difficult and uncomfortable exercise until it is no longer so difficult!<\/p>\n

\"carolestavely\"It was 13 years after beginning my search for the \u201cmagic cure\u201d to my chronic pain disorder that I met Jillian Halligan, a Certified Exercise Physiologist. \u00a0Her detailed explanations regarding the importance of each exercise she was prescribing gave me the courage and determination to stick with her program, despite some discomfort and setbacks. \u00a0As the difficulty of the exercises increased, I was tempted several times to revert back to my self-preservation mode and avoid those particularly difficult and uncomfortable moves. \u00a0I needed Jillian to reinforce the importance of these moves, as their difficulty was revealing a weakness in the muscle groups being worked. \u00a0I have to admit, I was disappointed on a number of occasions when I couldn\u2019t justify quitting those difficult and uncomfortable exercises! \u00a0But in the end, I am so happy I followed Jillian\u2019s guidance and persevered. \u00a0Not only did the exercises lead me to develop the strength to complete an IRONMAN triathlon without injury, they also served as an important life lesson: the most rewarding results in life are associated with overcoming a challenge or struggle.<\/p>\n

As long as you\u2019re working with a competent professional with expertise related to your musculoskeletal condition, don\u2019t abandon recommended exercises or treatments too soon, simply because they are difficult and\/or uncomfortable. \u00a0These might actually be your ticket to long-term recovery. \u00a0Magic cures are rare. \u00a0Effort and perseverance are more likely the answer \u2013 both in finding the right health professional(s) and in implementing their recommendations.<\/p>\n

\n

\"IMG_9863Carole Staveley is President of Inner Victory Coaching, an organization she founded to empower others to reach their full potential by overcoming the barriers holding them\u00a0 back.\u00a0 After suffering 13 years of debilitation caused by a chronic myofascial pain condition, Carole realized there was no \u201cmagic bullet\u201d coming to her rescue.\u00a0 She took charge of solving her health problems, became her own Health Champion, and went on to complete an IRONMAN triathlon in 2013.<\/p>\n

Carole\u2019s 20-year career as a pharmaceutical executive, combined with her personal health journey, put her in a unique position to develop her Inner VictoryTM<\/sup> 9-Step Approach to Becoming Your Own Health Champion. Her most recent book, Conquer Your Pain in 9 Steps<\/em> (Influence Publishing), empowers readers to develop a self- advocacy mindset, guides them through effectively leveraging health resources, and inspires them to persevere in order to reap the rewards of a healthier and more fulfilling life. Inner Victory Coaching offers Health Champion workshops, seminars and coaching programs to corporations and individuals.<\/p>\n

\"Logo100\"Conquer Your Pain in 9 Steps<\/em> will be released May 1, 2015, and is available to order on Amazon<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most significant lessons I learned on my path toward overcoming chronic pain was making the distinction between discomfort and pain. Quite often, discomfort precedes and might even be necessary to improve soft tissue conditions. This is something I really wish I had understood and embraced early in the development of my chronic pain disorder. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":11212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[172,134],"class_list":["post-11087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-mfn","tag-chronic-pain","tag-fitness"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30305,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11087\/revisions\/30305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}