Eating Right to Heal Chronic Pain: Nutrition Guidance in Physical Therapy Practice
It’s 9 am and your patient just arrived at her first physical therapy session for chronic knee pain. She is a heavy but active woman. As she checks-in, she sets aside a 32 oz. soda cup and you realize that it will take more than some range of motion and resistance exercises to alleviate her […]
Nutritional Deficiency, Obesity, and Poor Eating Behaviors in Chronic Pain Patients Receiving Long-Term Opioid Therapy
Are patients with chronic pain on long-term opioid therapy more likely to be overweight? To what extent are chronic pain, nutritional deficiency, poor eating habits, and obesity related? The field of nutrition has gained increased interest in medical circles over the last 20 years, as science continues to support the correlation between nutrition, diet and […]
5 Ways Social Interactions Promote Analgesia
Imagine two identical female patients with chronic low back pain walked into your office. Both women have suffered from low back pain for over 5 years and both tell you that their current pain intensity is 8/10, with 10 being the worst back pain imaginable! The first woman calmly describes her frustrating journey with pain. […]
How to Effectively Taper Off Opioids and 3 Tips For Living Happily Ever After Without Them
Chronic opioid therapy is not a long-term solution for pain. And it shouldn’t be the first choice in the treatment for those with chronic pain. The recommendations in this blog post focus on pain lasting longer than 3 months or past the time of normal tissue healing, outside of active cancer treatment, palliative care, and […]
5 Powerful Ways to Reverse the Nocebo Effect and Feel Better
Are you ensuring that the language you use when conversing with your patients is having a healing effect? If not, your lack of awareness may be the reason some of your patients have a difficult time managing their chronic pain. Your words are very powerful and have the ability to heal or harm. The language […]
Spirituality and pain management. Evidence-based or hocus pocus?
Why is there so much pain in life? And does collaborating with a higher power help to ease the suffering? Most importantly, what impact do the spiritual beliefs of your patient have on their ability to cope with pain? Spiritual beliefs of the patient are a valuable asset for helping manage pain. With anywhere from […]
