People that are more active tend to have lesser rates of chronic pain than those that are more sedentary, according to a group of researchers.
A team from the Arctic University of Norway looked at people who were physically active in their past, and how this impacted them years into the future. They found that increasing physical activity was also associated with less of a risk of chronic pain. For example, going from light to moderate amounts of activity saw a 5 percent lower risk of pain. For those that experienced severe chronic pain in multiple parts of the body, increasing the amount of activity that was experienced resulted in a 16 percent reduction in pain.
Researchers believe that this correlation occurs because of pain tolerance. They stated that people who were exercising regularly seemed to have better pain tolerance than people that didn’t. The more active someone was, the more likely they were to have a higher pain tolerance.
The team published their findings in the journal, PAIN – Journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain.
It’s not easy to be active when pain is present, but this study does indicate that it has a lot of potential for helping seniors. It is important to work with a medical professional if you are trying to become more active or are dealing with chronic pain. These are situations that could potentially result in injury, increased pain, or other complications if things aren’t approached correctly. Working with a professional can help ensure that you get the benefits of exercise and reduce the risk associated with it.
The study also pointed out that there seemed to be some sort of protective property that exercise created. People who were physically active in the past were less likely to have chronic pain seven to eight years in the future.
The study also spent some time focusing on how exercise impacted those that were already experiencing chronic pain. They found that exercise could help and that it didn’t add to the amount of long term pain that people experienced. However, the study did caution that exercise should be done under the guidance of a doctor and that it was pretty common to experience increases in pain because of the exercise itself while the body adjusts to new activity levels. This was not a bad thing, but should be done under the guidance of an experienced professional.
A loved one in pain might require more attention than they did before. If that pain is chronic in nature, it’s possible that you or your family are struggling to help them in the way that they need. There are a whole host of other health issues that could result in an extra need for care and attention, too.
If this is the case, we would love to talk more with you to see how we might be able to help your family out. Please give us a call if you have questions or you’d like to learn more about senior care and how it might be able to benefit your family.
Leave a Reply