Putting Positive Thinking to Work for Your Pain Relief
Can positive thinking ease your back pain? It may not be the only answer you need, but a positive outlook can certainly have an impact on your pain relief. There are some significant studies supporting this claim. In fact, doctors have may have understood this philosophy for a long time as they try to set their clients at ease before beginning a treatment. This is because even decreasing the expectation of pain can have an effect on how much pain the person experiences. Your own expectations and perceptions of your pain can actually affect how your brain processes that pain, either increasing or decreasing your experience of pain.
Another type of study showed that people who began to have vague pain in their back went on to develop significant pain. In some of those situations, the individuals’ doctors were unable to find an anatomical cause of that pain. When the individual began to believe that there was a problem, then the incidence of back pain increased. Researchers did find that those patients with back who also developed feelings such as fear or helplessness were more likely to find that their back pain became an ongoing condition with increasing amounts of persistent pain.
This does not mean that all back pain exists in the mind, but the studies do show that when treatment of back pain is combined with positive thinking, the patients experience greater success. Some of the ways that this positive mindset can be developed include finding emotional support, keeping a gratitude journal, and focusing on the positive areas of life. At the very first signs of back pain, it is helpful for patients to begin working on their attitude toward the pain and in other areas of their lives in order to increase pain relief from the beginning.
As the awareness of the success of positive thinking grows, more doctors are likely to incorporate a mental health aspect to the treatment plan for back pain. This holistic approach to back pain, or any other type of condition, provides greater relief and faster healing. As you approach treatment for back pain, look for ways that you can also use the power of positive thinking to overcome your pain.
By Dr. James Lin
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