Beyond the Scale: 5 New Year’s Resolutions for Better Pain Management

The CDC, using data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), reported that, in 2023, 24.3% of adults in the United States lived with chronic pain, and 8.5% had high-impact chronic pain, pain that limited life or work activities over the previous three months. That’s a lot to cope with.

At Interventional Pain Center in Legacy Office Park, Norman, Oklahoma, interventional pain medicine physician Dr. James Stephens provides pain management services to patients struggling with pain, regardless of the cause or duration. Using a combination of conservative and minimally invasive techniques, he targets the source of your pain so you’ll feel better.

Now that everyone’s in the middle of making New Year’s resolutions, isn’t it time to make some to better manage your pain? Here are five from the expert to get you started.

1. Resolve to seek professional help

Before you can ditch the pain, you first have to resolve to address it. Your first step toward better pain management is to seek help.

Contact the Interventional Pain Center to schedule a consultation with Dr. Stephens. He’ll review your medical history, any imaging tests you’ve had, and ask you about your habits. All are important for him to develop a treatment plan that works specifically for you.

2. Resolve to improve your ergonomics

If you work a sedentary job, ergonomics becomes incredibly important. Resolve to sit up straight, with your head and neck aligned, your feet flat on the floor, and your screen at eye level so you don’t have to lean forward or backward, which strains the neck and causes pain. Take breaks every half an hour to stretch and reorient yourself.

If you’d rather, you can use a standing desk. Again, though, make sure the screen’s at eye level and you don’t have to raise or lower your arms unnaturally.

Make sure, too, that you blink while you’re working. You tend to blink less when looking at screens, which can lead to dry, painful eyes.

3. Resolve to commit to first-line therapies

Resolve to commit yourself to two first-line treatments for managing your pain: medication and physical therapy.

Medications include over-the-counter (OTC) nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen and naproxen, which reduce pain by reducing inflammation. If you need something stronger, Dr. Stephens can prescribe muscle relaxants to calm muscle spasms and allow the tissue to heal.

Physical therapy uses targeted exercises and movements that strengthen muscles and tendons, decreasing pain and improving range of motion in painful areas. It may also use heat and ice to soothe sore areas and help ensure proper alignment, so no part of your body is out of alignment.

4. Resolve to explore noninvasive devices

Consider trying other noninvasive options to manage your pain, such as a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) unit. This over-the-counter device applies a low-level electrical current through the skin near painful nerves to disrupt their ability to send pain signals to the brain.

Although you don’t need a prescription for the device, check with Dr. Stephens before using a TENS unit to ensure it’s the right device for you.

5. Resolve to consider minimally invasive treatments when needed

If you don’t get adequate relief from any of these therapies, resolve to bump treatment up a notch, exploring the range of minimally invasive options available.

With epidural steroid injections, Dr. Stephens injects an anesthetic combined with a steroid near the affected nerve roots to reduce both inflammation and pain. This is a good option if you’re having trouble with physical therapy due to pain; it provides enough relief to allow you to engage in the required moderate exercise.

If your joints are the problem, the doctor can inject a steroid directly into the joint space to calm the inflammation and pain. This is an effective therapy for people with arthritis. It can be used in most joints, including the facet joints of the spine, which hold the vertebrae together.

Other options include targeted nerve blocks, radiofrequency ablation, and the Vertiflex™ Superion® if you’re dealing with spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal canal.

If you’re in pain, don’t let it dominate your life; resolve this New Year’s to pursue treatment actively. To learn more or to schedule a consultation with Dr. Stephens, call the office at 405-759-8407, or use our online booking tool today.