Chronic pain is pain that kind of pain that just won’t go away. It continues long after an injury has healed. Its symptoms are ongoing for longer periods, could be weeks, months, or even for years. You may be forced to incur costs when trying to find medical treatments to deal with the pain.

Have you tried doing some exercise to ease chronic pain? Research shows that doing exercise is one of the common ways of dealing with chronic pain. Exercise can help improve your mobility, decrease inflammation in addition to decreasing your overall pain levels. Exercising will reduce the cost you use on medication, as you will no longer require any form of pain-relieving medication. Some of the common exercises you can try include relaxation, stretching, and cardio exercises.

1. Cardio exercises

Undertaking cardiovascular exercises contributes to several mental and physical benefits and is very helpful to people experiencing chronic pain. The beauty of cardio exercises is that they require very little or no equipment to do. You can also do the exercise at any time of the day. Some of the cardio exercises for chronic pain, you can easily do include walking or swimming.  When you walk approximately 40 minutes, four times a week, you increase your endurance and strength. Walking also improves your heart health. If you are new to walking, it is advisable that you start slowly and d shorter walks as you gradually increase your time to get stronger. For people with mobility issues, you can engage in water aerobics. With swimming, you add little pressure on your muscles and joints.  Other than the strength, swimming is very therapeutic and can be used to clear the mind.

Must Read: Experiencing Soreness and Pain from your Daily Walk?

2. Stretching exercises

This is helpful to those who are experiencing chronic pain in their neck or lower back. Stretching reduces the stiffness and tension hence improving your mobility and proper movement. Here is how you can do a low back stretch without using any equipment.

1. Lie with your back on the floor
2. Slowly bring your knees close to your chest and wrap your arms around the knees and give yourself some gentle hug
3. Move side to side as you feel some stretch on your hips and lower back
4. Stand beside a door
5. Raise your elbow to be above your shoulder
6. Putting your elbow on the door jam, try rotating the outside of your shoulder blade upwards
7. Turn your head downwards away from the side
8. Slowly increase the stretch by putting your hand on your head. This will add some little pressure

3. Strengthening exercises

If you want to stabilise your joints and prevent any future injuries, you need to build on your strength. Adequate strength of your core will help you in maintaining the appropriate posture and balance. It will also help in reducing the risk of you getting injuries that could result in you experiencing more pain. To improve your core strength, you need to get strength training for Chronic pain & work on your back, hips, and the muscles of your abdomen. To do this, you could try a dead bug exercise or do leg lifts on all fours.

It is, however, recommended to first consult with your doctor/ or a fitness coach before engaging in any of the exercises. When you regularly engage in exercises, you manage the symptoms and improve your general health.