It seems to me that there are many people who would benefit by utilizing the endorphin/serotonin way of alleviating chronic pain, whether it has been cast upon us by osteoarthritis or pain developed from a sports or job injury. Or consider pain from your lower back, or fibromyalgia or shingles. No matter where it comes from it tends to become chronic or long lasting and has affected far too many people for comfort: The American Pain Foundation states that this is a complicated state to be in and it has downed 42 - 50 million Americans and only 58 percent of these are helped by a thoughtful prescription of pain killing drugs. Chronic pain has a psychological as well as a biological effect. We know the biology of pain, which tells us that an aberrant nerve impulse will hammer the brain in search for tissue damage that may or may not have ever existed, continuing to call that pain to our attention: In addition, a person with chronic pain can experience a negative or positive reaction which dictates who survives the pain and who caves in under it.
Sometimes pain elicits negative emotions and other times the emotions cause the pain. It is very important to treat chronic pain in all its aspects because when we are experiencing it, there is nothing that can surpass it. So, why can't we think, "Endorphin Boost", when pain is calling the shots? The brain chemicals, the endorphins, improve your pain resistance and your outlook on life. We know that not only does exercise increase the levels of endorphins that come naturally, and assists the pain reducing molecules, it lowers stress, depression, and therefore, pain. And while all this is going on, Serotonin has a leading part in changing our bad moods for good and pleasant ones: high stress increases our perception of pain.
Exercise, while lowering our perception of pain does more than that: it contributes pain reducing effects by strengthening muscles which help in preventing injury that creates more pain. Exercise will help you keep your weight down, lessen your risk for heart disease, and keep blood sugar under control. The stretches I have in mind are for painful knees: Hamstring Stretch, Knee to Chest, Calf Stretch, Straight Leg Raises. Try these exercises slowly at first and ramping up the numbers as you progress, keeping your body and mind open to changes that might indicate a " high" or pain reduction.
At the present time I wonder if my questions are a little farther out than contemporary research covers. How much pain relief can a person receive from endorphins stimulated by exercise? I see that "runner's high" has been documented by a study that claims that euphoria, a floating feeling, as if your feet are not touching the ground, a perception that the runner could continue on, even after the workout is over, without pain or struggle. This study was limited to the role of endorphins on the runner, but the speculation is that more studies may uncover a variety of brain chemicals namely dopamine, serotonin, adrenaline and others that work together to produce an euphoric feeling and to reveal how these chemicals effect pain reduction. The studies may also ask how much exercise and what intensity does it take to produce pain relief. Another question would be "How long does it last?" So, at least we know that we can achieve a "high" by exercising intensely for a 2 hour period, but look to the near future for better news on pain reduction by exercise. Also, I would not hesitate to say that there are substances in our bodies that, know it or not, are working for our good.
Sometimes pain elicits negative emotions and other times the emotions cause the pain. It is very important to treat chronic pain in all its aspects because when we are experiencing it, there is nothing that can surpass it. So, why can't we think, "Endorphin Boost", when pain is calling the shots? The brain chemicals, the endorphins, improve your pain resistance and your outlook on life. We know that not only does exercise increase the levels of endorphins that come naturally, and assists the pain reducing molecules, it lowers stress, depression, and therefore, pain. And while all this is going on, Serotonin has a leading part in changing our bad moods for good and pleasant ones: high stress increases our perception of pain.
Exercise, while lowering our perception of pain does more than that: it contributes pain reducing effects by strengthening muscles which help in preventing injury that creates more pain. Exercise will help you keep your weight down, lessen your risk for heart disease, and keep blood sugar under control. The stretches I have in mind are for painful knees: Hamstring Stretch, Knee to Chest, Calf Stretch, Straight Leg Raises. Try these exercises slowly at first and ramping up the numbers as you progress, keeping your body and mind open to changes that might indicate a " high" or pain reduction.
At the present time I wonder if my questions are a little farther out than contemporary research covers. How much pain relief can a person receive from endorphins stimulated by exercise? I see that "runner's high" has been documented by a study that claims that euphoria, a floating feeling, as if your feet are not touching the ground, a perception that the runner could continue on, even after the workout is over, without pain or struggle. This study was limited to the role of endorphins on the runner, but the speculation is that more studies may uncover a variety of brain chemicals namely dopamine, serotonin, adrenaline and others that work together to produce an euphoric feeling and to reveal how these chemicals effect pain reduction. The studies may also ask how much exercise and what intensity does it take to produce pain relief. Another question would be "How long does it last?" So, at least we know that we can achieve a "high" by exercising intensely for a 2 hour period, but look to the near future for better news on pain reduction by exercise. Also, I would not hesitate to say that there are substances in our bodies that, know it or not, are working for our good.
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