7 Exercises for Reducing Chronic Pain

Living with chronic pain is not an easy thing. You may wake up in the morning, banging your foot with pain or have a headache that makes you wonder if you should pop a couple of ibuprofen or take some decongestant to relieve your symptoms before you go to work.

Unfortunately, whether you suffer from joint pain or muscle pain, these things can make a person’s life difficult. The first step is to try and understand what type of pain it is and what can be done about it and what lifestyle adjustments you can make to take better care of your body.

Not all pain is the same. For instance, muscle pain and joint pain are two different types of pain and require specialized treatment to help you cure the problem.

Unless there is an underlying condition that needs to be treated medically, you can try out any of these exercises or a combination of all seven exercises on your own at home. Before starting any exercise program, you can reach out to your doctor for more advice.

1. Warm up first, then stretch

As any other person out there suffering from chronic pain, you will most likely have some sort of muscle pain and stiffness in your joints. Stretching helps to reduce the tension and tightness in your muscles and also brings blood flow to the area, which helps you relax and improves circulation.

However, before you try any stretches or warm-up exercises that require you to move your joints, you must warm up your muscles first. You can accomplish this by doing a short circuit. This involves doing some simple movements like walking and holding each position of the exercise you want to do for a minute or two.

After opening up your muscles, you can move on the stretches that require you to move your joints. You should start with the legs and after stretching out those, move onto your upper body. You should avoid doing any exercises that require you to move your joints for too long.

2. Take a walk with your child or pet

If you’re suffering from joint pain, walking can help reduce pain from inflammation caused by the injury. Walking is also good for arthritis because it’s a great exercise that helps improve circulation, which can help your joints function better.

It’s best to walk when it’s warm outside or the weather is good. When you’re out, you can make sure you listen to your body and do what it tells you to do. If you feel pain in a joint, stop walking immediately and take a small break. If the pain stops, you can continue.

Another great idea is to walk around your house with your pet. This can help give you great exercise. It is also good to do when you’re alone and listening to some music, as this can get you into a positive mindset of doing something for yourself as opposed to sitting on a spot and being in pain all day.

3. Use a foam roller

Tight muscles can be painful and can cause you to ache all over. If you use a foam roller on a regular basis, you can reduce muscle tension and make your body more flexible than it was before.

For those who don’t know, a foam roller is a piece of equipment that looks like a long cylinder covered in foam. When you use one, you just roll around your muscles on the foam roller and let the roller do its magic. It’s best to start at the bottom of your body and work your way up in a circular motion.

You can do this daily when you get home after work, or if there’s no wait time between the days, you can do it the next morning before going to work. If you have multiple injuries at the same time, it is best to perform this exercise with each of your different joints at different times.

Using the foam roller every day can help you recover faster. I know a lot of people who have chronic injuries or pain and they’re surprised by how much better they feel after using the roller regularly.

The foam roller can also help you with muscle soreness after a workout. Because the roller is an implement, you might feel some pain at first when doing this. Just keep rolling and the pain will go away. This can be useful for muscle soreness after a lifting session, or in some cases, even for muscle soreness after a hard run on the treadmill.

4. Try yoga

Yoga has been a very popular exercise in recent years. Studies have shown that doing yoga regularly can help reduce the pain you feel in your joints and muscles. It’s a very simple exercise where you lie down on your mat and relax. Exercise is also known to help reduce stress levels and improve your flexibility, which can help relieve some of the pain you feel in your joints due to chronic illnesses like arthritis.

You can attend a yoga class once in a while to learn more about this exercise and how to do it, but it’s not necessary. You can easily do a yoga session from your home, which is great for those who are suffering from chronic pain.

It’s a good idea to talk to a doctor or a therapist and tell them that you’re interested in trying yoga for your pain. They will then be able to help you find the right type of yoga for your condition, so you can start to feel better.

Remember. Yoga requires you to move your joints, so be careful if you have any injuries that may cause more harm. Make sure that when doing yoga, you don’t overstretch any of your joints. And if you’re new to yoga and have never done an exercise like this before, you should start with a very simple regimen of the basic poses.

5. Stretch your quads and hamstrings

Quads and hamstring stretches can help reduce the tension in your muscles. This can relieve some of the pain you feel in your joints. After you do this regularly, it can help improve your flexibility and can also make you feel lighter in your joints. You should perform separate quad and hamstring stretches if you want to feel the best effects of this exercise.

This is how to do the quad stretch:

To do this stretch, you need to stand up near a wall and put one of your arms on it so your elbow is bent at a 90-degree angle. Then, place your foot onto one of the wall corners, so your ankle is behind the knee. You can then push down on the wall with your hand as you try to straighten out that leg.

It’s important to note that the stretch is not enough to make you feel relief in your joint. After doing this exercise, you should then repeat the same steps and stretch again. You should repeat this cycle for 30 seconds each time.

This is how to do the hamstring stretch:

For this stretch, you need to sit down on a chair and lift your legs so that they’re in front of your body at 90-degree angles. Then, rotate your body to the side so the lifted leg stays straight out at the same time. Lean in a little bit and hold it for 30 seconds before repeating the same process on the opposite side.

However, it’s also very important that you stretch your quads after doing these exercises. This will reduce your risk of injury, and increase the effectiveness of the stretching on your muscles. You can do this by putting one foot on a chair or bench while holding a leg up with the other hand.

You should bend your knee and rotate the leg to make sure you are stretching both hamstrings and quad muscles too. You can slowly stand up once you have finished with this step, and then repeat this process with your other leg.

6. Consider weight lifting

When you lift weights, your muscles get stronger. This can help reduce the pain in the joints and muscles that are often associated with chronic illnesses like arthritis. It’s important to note, however, that you should always consult your doctor before exercising if you have a chronic illness. Make sure to tell them about it so they know how the exercise will affect your symptoms and body.

If you’re able to lift weights but you don’t feel confident about it, there are a few simple moves that can help you perform basic exercises. You can start with the bench press and the barbell row before moving on to dumbbells or kettlebells.

To do a bench press or barbell row exercise, you need to grab a bar or an EZ bar that hangs by your hips and stand up straight. You can then bend at the waist and grab the bar so it’s in-between your thighs at your waist level. Your back should be straight to keep the correct posture.

Then, you need to pull the bar down to your chest so it’s resting on your lower armpits. Push the bar up until your elbows are at 90 degrees and try to squeeze at the chest muscle as you do this.

Hang from the bar for a short count and then slowly lower it back down to your hips. Remember, you want this exercise to be slow, so it doesn’t put any pressure on your joints.

To do dumbbell exercises, you need to stand with your feet apart and hold dumbbells in the same way as you would with the bar. You can then bend your elbows and make sure that your arms are at a 90-degree angle in front of your chest. Then, lift the weights and repeat until you have completed one repetition.

You can also try doing an exercise called the squat. This involves neutralizing your knees while keeping your back straight. Your knees should be at a 90-degree angle and your heels shouldn’t make contact with the ground. Lift your legs, so they’re parallel to the floor, and make sure that your other leg stays put on the floor. Then, slowly return to the start position as you lower yourself down again.

7. Consider playing tennis

Tennis can be one of the best exercises for those who are suffering from osteoarthritis. This is because it requires a lot of dynamic movement, so it works a lot of the muscles and joints in our body. When you build muscle mass, this can help relieve your chronic pain.

It’s also important to note that tennis is good for lung function as well. As you’re running about and hitting the ball in different directions, your lungs will have to work hard to keep up with your movements. This exercise can help you improve your lung strength, which can reduce your pain in the joints as well.

However, if you’re looking for exercise that will help you lose weight, you should avoid tennis. This is because the increased amount of muscle mass that you’ll have will make you heavier and heavy weight can make it worse for your knees.

If you have any pain in your joints, try to take a break from tennis and move on to another sport or form of exercise until your joints feel better.

8. Try pilates

Pilates is another great form of exercise that’s effective for reducing pain in the joints and improving your flexibility. Pilates is a type of exercise that focuses more on endurance than strength training exercises do. This means you won’t feel much pain in your muscles after doing it and you can continue exercising longer before getting tired.

To start, you need to find an instructor to help you build a good routine with. This helps you avoid injury and improve your muscles. Various core exercises can help relieve your symptoms if you suffer from arthritis. However, if you’re not sure which one is right for you, your instructor will be able to recommend the best exercises for your needs. Using a mat and doing the exercises in bed or on the floor can also help reduce any joint pain that may occur during these exercises.

Conclusion

A lot of people often avoid exercising because they feel it will aggravate their chronic pain. However, there are a lot of types of exercise that can help you reduce your symptoms and feel better. All you need to do is research which type of exercise will be best for your needs. You can also consult your doctor if you’re not sure which one to choose and make sure to follow the instructions carefully.