Why Do People Wait So Long To Seek Help for Chronic Pain?

We’ve all experienced some form of pain in our lives, whether it’s an acute ankle sprain from a sports injury or something like lower back or neck pain that’s lasted for quite a while. Chronic pain is defined as pain that has lasted longer than 3 to 6 months and a lot of people tend to wait too long to seek help. Why do people wait so long? It’s because the majority of people feel like their pain will “just go away with time” and that’s usually not the case when it comes to chronic pain. Anyone who feels pain, whether it’s intense or mild, should see a healthcare provider, especially if it’s affecting your daily life like limiting activities and ability to work. A few factors that can further irritate individuals with chronic pain go as follows:

• Underlying medical conditions can complicate chronic pain
• Poor diet and exercise
• Smoking and other bad habits
• Age
• Access to healthcare

Other reasons why chronic pain sufferers delay treatment could be as simple as the following:

• Many feel like that pain will go away on its own
• Cost for medical treatment
• They simply “live with the pain”
• Life is too busy
• They put others before themselves
• Becoming used to their pain

Chronic pain can also affect patients' ability to participate in leisure activities, impacts mobility, psychological health, and overall quality of life. Although pain can be scary, it’s your body’s way of telling you that there’s something wrong. A quote that I personally like is this one: “pain is your body’s way of needing change”. Chronic pain can also affect a person’s ability to get proper sleep, reduces energy levels, can cause mood changes, lethargy, weak, taking a toll on your self-esteem, and sometimes loss of appetite. 

Some things to try in order to help with chronic pain:

• Get moving!!! Activities such as walking or swimming can help alleviate pain. When we do experience pain, the last thing we want to do is move, but that can actually make your pain worse.
• Getting help from physical and occupational therapy.
• Alternative treatments such as acupuncture, massage, breathing exercises, talk therapy. 
• Avoid prolonged bed rest. According to doctors, while little rest is alright following an acute injury, it’s not necessarily the best for chronic pain.

Another frustrating aspect of chronic pain is that it’s sometimes invisible to the naked eye, making it difficult to treat. Over time chronic pain can evolve or devolve into its own disease, which also makes it difficult to treat and diagnose appropriately. As healthcare providers, it’s vital that we actually listen when we hear reports of pain and what patients are feeling, in order to find solutions and alternative adjustments/treatments for ongoing care. And as stated in previous blog posts, what you are experiencing is very real, but it could also be coming from a different source, that’s why it’s so important to look at someone from a whole-body perspective, truly finding the root cause. 

Once our patients are starting to feel like their pain is more manageable, there is still more work that needs to be done. Our role as physical therapists is to help increase your mobility, educate, and teach you ways to help yourself in order to keep your pain away or to a more tolerable state. If you have any more questions, contact us today!