How To Work Through Pain

Do you have to work despite the fact that you are in pain?  Me too!  So I found some tips for how to work through pain.  I hope one of them helps you.

Introduction

It was my goal to write another article on my website for the past few days.  But new pain has presented itself into my life and I just couldn’t get going.  What did I have to write about?  Why bother?  Nobody seems to care about what I have to say.  Am I even being helpful?  Are pain and work linked?

Then I thought about the fact that there are millions of people that do work through their pain.  Surely if that is the case, I can do the same.  So this article will be about helpful tips that I found while researching this topic.  If it helped me, I hope it will help you also.

Take a look at some of my other articles.  For my buttock pain I have found stretches and acupuncture very helpful.  But I suggest you look at other ones on this site.  Who knows?  One of the articles may be helpful in finding some relief to your suffering.

Where Is Your Focus?

One of the first things that helped me today was doing a web search of how to work when I am in pain.  That’s how I came up with some suggestions.  But the solution is twofold because just the activity of sitting at the computer and researching is a way to relieve pain.  In other words, having your mind engaged in something else takes your focus off of your pain.  Which is the main idea of the title of this article in the first place.  Working refocuses your mental state and takes away the power of the pain.

I also read about a practice where you STOP your mind in it’s tracks when you are focusing on the pain.  Then you TELL yourself a hopeful thought, like “This will get better”.  Finally, you REFOCUS on your present task.  This would be an easy task to do anywhere, especially at work.  So we see that focus is very important.  Here is a link from SpineHealth that suggests other focusing techniques.  I haven’t tried them all, but maybe one or two of them would be helpful to you.

In summary: 1.  Engage your mind in an activity  2.  Stop your mind focusing on pain and tell it something hopeful.

Check Out These Suggestions

A Couple of Helpful Links

Here is a great post by a woman (Elly Copeland) who suffers from Crohn’s disease and depression and has ADHD.  I found her suggestions extremely helpful.  They also support my research and experiences.  She is honest and well spoken.  She knows her topic because she knows pain.  I highly recommend this post.  Stop right now and check it out.  Here is another post from Health that provides some of the same suggestions and a few more.  I especially recommend the one about moving, or changing positions.  In my former job I could sit at my desk hard at work and never get up.  That is a recipe for pain.  Move and stretch.  And move often.  If you sit in one position for extended periods, you are making the pain worse, and will lose ground on managing your pain.

Find a Compassionate Person

Although you may not be able to talk to someone while at work, if you can, I recommend it.  Find a caring person and spend a few minutes letting them know how you are feeling.  You never know if they might have a suggestion that would be helpful.  And just talking about your pain to an emphatic person is helpful.  Having someone validate your pain is such a relief.  Find that person.

Journaling

When you are off work, try journaling.  I was surprised when I started this activity.  I am not a natural writer, but once I started putting my thoughts on paper, I was astonished how they continued to flow.  I frequently made some profound discoveries from this.  Plus just the activity of writing will refocus your mind and you will not feel as much pain.  Also, journaling can clear your mind of other concerns and worries.  Who knows, you might come up with some very profound insights.  Insights that could change your life!

Support Groups

Look for support groups in your community.  Did you know that there is an organization called American Chronic Pain Association?  Check out their website.  It is extensive.  They have a few videos to watch that are very encouraging.  Also, you can see if there is a group in your area, or if not, start one!  This is a vital part of managing our pain, by finding a community that understands our sufferings because they too suffer.

Relaxation Breathing

Can you take a few minutes for some relaxation breathing?  Find a quiet place away from any interruptions and distractions.  I found a great free app called Breathe.  Type it into your app search.  It will guide you through various exercises depending on your needs.  It will take less than 10 minutes for you to do some relaxation breathing.  This relaxation exercise helps manage the pain.  See also my post regarding Meditation.

Vacation?

Is there a chance that you need to just get away from work for a break?  If your work is stressful, that is only adding to your pain.  More stress = more pain.  A vacation can be refreshing to your mind, body and soul.  Especially if you practice some of the recommended techniques you’ll find through the links here.

Here’s a video that proves the validity of refocus.  I hope that there will soon be an application of this for those of us that are chronic pain sufferers.

(I don’t like that they are throwing snowballs at innocent little penguins though!)

Conclusions

Writing this article took work on my part.  I had to research and concentrate on learning.  Then I had to write it in my own words.  You can see that to find relief from your pain you are going to have to work at it.  But I know that once these practices become habits, it will be less work and you will find more relief.  But do commit to WORK at lessening your pain!

I welcome your comments.  I especially welcome recommendations so I can do further research and posts and hopefully help out another pain sufferer.  I’d love to hear what tips worked for you, or about other ideas that worked.  Thanks for reading.

Disclaimer

I am not a medical professional; merely a fellow pain sufferer.  Please talk with your doctor about any of these recommendations if you are concerned how they might affect you.

There are no affiliate links in this post where products are recommended.  However, I do recommend the platform I am using to build my websites.  It is called Wealthy Affiliate.  If you join I become your mentor and I do receive a referral fee.  Check it out for free here.