This year instead of making a resolution that you won’t keep, vow to finally rid yourself of chronic pain for good. We have a few healthy resolutions to help you meet that goal and find yourself living with less pain.

1.  Find A Doctor That Understands. Finding the right physician to help you manage your medications is difficult. Make sure you have found someone who understands your condition and is committed to helping you overcome it. Gather up all your questions and concerns before your appointments so you don’t miss anything important while you are in the exam room. If you haven’t found a physician you like, the physicians at Non-Surgical Orthopaedics are experts at chronic pain.
2.  Exercise More. Yes we sound like a broken record, but it is true that exercise is effective at reducing pain. Patients who get out and move their bodies more often find a reduction in pain. Find an exercise that doesn’t make your symptoms worse and start slow.
3.  Lose Weight. The more you weigh, the more stress is placed on your muscles and joints. Maintaining your weight plays a vital role in protecting the spine from wear and tear and those who have excess weight tend to have a greater risk for low back pain, sleep problems and joint pain. Imagine how much pain you can get rid of by just bringing your body weight down to a healthy level.
4.  Reduce Stress. Finding ways to reduce your stress can help decrease your chronic pain. Two of the best choices for reducing stress are meditation and yoga. Meditation has a list of benefits that can help you feel more joy, manage your stress and reduce your pain. Start slow and work your way up to 20 minutes a day. Yoga helps build flexibility and strength and is another great stress reducer. Yoga can be substituted for meditation because it is an active meditation. Finding an instructor who can help guide you is a great way to learn the basics until you know enough to enjoy a practice on your own.
5.  Try Alternative Medicine. The people who are most successful at reducing chronic pain have found a mixture of both alternative medicine and conventional medicine that together helps reduce their symptoms. Massage is a great way to reduce tension in the muscles and get rid of painful trigger points. Acupuncture is another great alternative medicine treatment and has been found effective at helping to reduce chronic pain symptoms.  Check out more on acupuncture here.
6.  Quit Smoking. Smoking makes it three times more likely to have low back pain. The relationship between chronic pain and smoking is significant and quitting this nasty habit is one of the best ways to better your health in the long run.

Sources:
http://painmanagementtrends.com/2013/12/is-it-possible-that-your-new-years-resolution-can-reduce-pain/
http://arizonapain.com/5-best-new-years-resolutions-for-chronic-pain-patients/