Daily Pain Care Plan: What is it and how it helps with pain management
This is Part 1 of a 4-part series on Daily Pain Care Plan. Download your accompanying worksheet for your own Daily Pain Care Plan here.
Go to Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 of this Daily Pain Care Plan series.
The relentless nature of chronic pain
Sometimes, Candace* feels like her life is outside of her control. Her persistent pain from rheumatoid arthritis is like a 24/7 job, with no breaks, no relief.
It's as if she is dealing with a horrible boss who keeps her working overtime without pay, or puts more work on her without promoting her.
It's that bad boss who just keeps overstepping boundaries.
Every morning, Candace wakes up, slightly startled, at the shrill of her alarm. Mornings are rough on rheumatoid arthritis, and she needs to be slow and mindful in getting her body, and joints in particular, to wake up.
Then it's go time as she wakes her 3 children up -- ages 5, 7, and 8.
Dress them.
Disperse their fights over toys while making breakfast.
Yell at them to finish breakfast.
Yell at them some more for throwing food at each other.
Herd them into the car (there's no time to clean up the kitchen after breakfast).
Break up some more fights over toys in the car.
Drop off at school.
Then, finally, a few moments of quiet to herself before she dives into some work.
She then immerses herself in some paperwork, pay bills, replies emails, schedules her three active kids' activities, maybe take a walk in the woods nearby or a bit of yoga, all the while trying to ignore the mounting pain she is feeling.
By 2:30pm, she is exhausted. All she wants to do is lie down and sleep until tomorrow morning.
But the kids are not going to drive themselves home. So Candace hauls her battered, sore, aching body off the chair and into the car, her wrists -- her most vulnerable area from rheumatoid arthritis -- aching from a day's work in front of the computer.
Then it's dealing with her 3 children until bed time.
The day repeats again the next day, and the next, and the next.
Candace explained all that to me during one of our sessions, a hint of defeat, sadness, and frustration showing up behind her strong facial features.
I knew right then what she needed.
Not more yoga practices, though they help, but a Daily Pain Care Plan -- a system to help her schedule breaks, calm her systems, and keep her body and mind anchored to improving her quality of life bit by bit.
What is a Daily Pain Care Plan?
Persistent pain can derail us very quickly from our jobs, our social activities, our hobbies, and even from our own identities. It can leave us feeling lost, hopeless, and helpless.
The purpose of a Daily Pain Care Plan is to help set up some structures and routines that support our bodies in pain management. There are 3 essential components that go into a Daily Pain Care Plan:
Taking breaks - Schedule frequent breaks throughout the day so that we don’t overexert ourselves and “pay for it later”
Things that calm us down - incorporating things (activities, scents, sounds, sight, etc) that calm us down is essential in reducing the agitation in our nervous system that sends heightened pain signals
Things that challenge us - it can be easy to not want to do anything for fear of pain, but the fear itself can exacerbate the symptoms of persistent pain. Challenging ourselves just at the edge of our comfort zone without overexerting can ultimately help us increase our threshold and resilience.
You can use the following sample guide / journal to get started.
Download your accompanying worksheet for your Daily Pain Care Plan
Accepting that pain care is not linear
As much as we like to be able to track our progress (of any kind) in a clean, linear way, when it comes to pain care, most of the time the progress looks like a few steps back, some detours, and a handful of hard-earned steps forward.
Having a Daily Pain Care Plan is helpful in creating routines that allow you to pace yourself with plenty of time to rest and calm your nervous system in between your tasks, errands, and activities.
While it is important to have a plan, it is also crucial to adapt a flexible mindset around your plan. With persistent pain and chronic fatigue, each day contains a mystery box -- you may wake up feeling great with little pain, or you may wake up as if you had just spent the last 2 weeks without sleep on a battleground.
Source: https://relishcateringkitchen.com/grocery-delivery/home-cooked-chopped-challenge-mystery-box-of-ingredients
Because how you will feel day by day can be unpredictable at times, your Daily Pain Care Plan will also need to be adjusted accordingly.
If on a certain day, you wake up feeling exhausted with all over body pain, perhaps it is wise to adjust your Pain Care Plan that day to include even more breaks and activities that are calming and relaxing. If on another day, you wake up feeling like you have more energy than usual, you might feel more inspired to challenge yourself just a little bit (I said a little bit) more while still honoring the sacred times for breaks and rests.
The success of your Daily Pain Care Plan depends on your willingness to adapt to honor your body’s needs that day. The trick is to find that fine balance between overstraining and underwhelming your body.
This is Part 1 of a 4-part series on Daily Pain Care Plan. Download your accompanying worksheet for your own Daily Pain Care Plan here.
Go to Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 of this Daily Pain Care Plan series.
Take action
Well, friends, now it is time to bring this theory into action! Comment below and let me know how you will incorporate a Daily Pain Care Plan into your daily routines. How many times and when will you take breaks? During breaks, what will you be doing to calm your nervous system down? On the days when you have a bit more energy, what will you do to very gently challenge yourself at your edges so you can keep increasing your resilience?
If you loved this educational content on pain management, then you’ll definitely want to experience Pain Care Yoga in action! Get your FREE Pain Care Yoga Starter Toolkit to receive five daily videos with gentle movements and relaxation techniques to help you manage pain and move with more ease.
If you have any further questions, I am just one email away at elaineyogatherapy@gmail.com. Follow me on Instagram for more daily suggestions on pain management.