By Learn what Chronic Pain Acceptance can do for patients that suffer from chronic pain. For the millions of people who suffer from chronic pain, accepting it as a fact of their life may be a difficult task. Yet there is increasing evidence that doing just that may play an important role in helping them to live a higher quality of life. The more we learn about how acceptance of one’s chronic pain can have an impact on the severity of their activity and disability, the more it becomes clear that it needs to be a pain management model that people should explore.
The Study Conducted By Researchers
In the December 2018 issue of the journal Paid Medicine, researchers shared their study that looked at levels of chronic pain acceptance in relation to the severity the pain has on a person’s activity and disability. They hypothesized that pain acceptance moderates the effects of pain severity on general activity and physical disability. With 270 patients in the study who suffer from chronic pain, they gave each of them a self-reported assessment and questionnaire to determine their level of acceptance, and how much their chronic pain affects their activity and disability.
What they found by doing this study?
What they found by doing this study was that chronic pain acceptance significantly impacts their activity and disability. Those who have a higher acceptance of the chronic pain had less severity on their activity and disability, while those who had a low acceptance of it had a higher pain severity and impact on their activity and disability. What their findings suggest is that those who have accepted the fact that chronic pain is a part of their life also try to still live life to the fullest.
When people accept that chronic pain is a part of who they are, they’re more likely to stop fighting it and instead choose to still live a higher quality of life. They do what they are able to and try to see the positives, rather than dwelling on the pain. This doesn’t mean, however, that they have given up and have decided that they will succumb to the chronic pain. On the contrary, those who have accepted it have decided that they will enjoy life despite chronic pain.
Accepting that chronic pain is going to be a part of one’s life is admittedly no easy task, but it is one that can help improve the situation. Those have accepted it often is able to do so because others supported them and have a strong resilience. Those with chronic pain may want to strive for acceptance.
How to strive for acceptance
- By practicing gratitude
- Looking for the positives in life
- Committing to the idea that they are going to enjoy their life despite the pain.
Sources:
Pain Medicine. Mitigating the Effect of Pain Severity on Activity and Disability in Patients with Chronic Pain. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30590737
