This post is sponsored by Sunbeam. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Did you know that September is the US Pain Foundation Pain Awareness Month?
This year’s Pain Awareness Month campaign is presented in collaboration with my friends over at Sunbeam & you can come up with your own pain care plan by going to www.mypainplan.org.
The US Pain Foundation believes that every person with pain is entirely unique & their treatment plan should be as well. The theme for this year #MyPainPlan was chosen because it’s vitally important that everyone have access to an individualized, multidisciplinary, multimodal approach to pain care.
While my own pain is currently mostly superficial, I am no longer dealing with the chronic hamstring & knee pain that I once was, I went to www.mypainplan.org and created #MyPainPlan.
When you go to the site you’ll be able to learn about treatment options, create a customized plan and then download & share your plan.
You’ll be able to explore options in seven categories of pain management
Self-management options focus on lifestyle changes, like learning how to pace yourself or improving your sleep habits. They typically are low risk to try but can take a major time commitment to implement.
Restorative therapies are treatment approaches and interventions that focus on using or modifying movement to reduce pain. These are mostly low-risk, but may require you to start slow and work with a trained professional at first.
Complementary and integrative health approaches include options that are not typically part of conventional medical care and/or have origins outside of Western medicine. These options often emphasize the mind-body connection & can focus on calming the nervous system and reducing stress. There is mixed scientific evidence so it’s hard to know if things like acupuncture, cupping, reflexology & reiki will help with your specific type of pain.
Mind Body and behavioral health approaches may help you reframe how you see your pain and improve your ability to cope with it. In some cases, in the long run, they may even improve pain itself. Examples include counseling, mediation, and support groups.
Medications – pretty self-explanatory but please work with your health care provider to determine what medication is right for you.
External devices – treatment options use innovative technology and electrical currents to reduce pain. These currents can interfere with, or even block, pain signals in the body. This would be something like a TENS unit or one of the many Sunbeam heating pads.
Interventional – this category involves surgical procedures performed by medical professionals. These procedures can range from minimally invasive to invasive.
For now, I personally will be sticking to using my Sunbeam GoHeatTM USB Powered Heating Pad to help with my minimal pain, but if you have chronic pain, head over to www.mypainplan.org to create your own pain plan to discuss with your health provider.
