Pain And Gain

From the occasional creaky knee to the more serious slipped disc or blown ligament, the wear and tear of more than four decades can turn into chronic pain. Your best tactic to overcome it is to treat it like a team sport

01/ THE MANAGER

‘The strain in pain lies mostly in the brain,’ says Sean Mackey – not a poet but the chief of pain medicine at Stanford University. So, consider speaking to a therapist. ‘Your beliefs and emotions about your pain play a huge role in your experience of it,’ he says, and he has the brain scans to prove it. Chronic pain rewires your brain, and therapy can help to undo this. It may not eliminate pain, he says, but it can ‘give you back control’.

02/ THE PHYSIO

When a Premier League player injures his knee and needs surgery, the first thing the doctors do is send him into physical rehab. The same could work for you. ‘Although it may hurt at first, you need to strengthen those muscles and support the area that’s painful,’ says Dr Mackey. Studies show that physiotherapy reduces pain in the long run – so act now for lasting relief. 03/ THE FAMILY

Reducing stress reduces your pain, Dr Mackey says. Thankfully, there are now more options than ever when it comes to tackling it. Apps such as Headspace can guide you through mindfulness lessons, while many gyms offer meditation classes. Involve your family and friends, too – stress is something we all experience, and sharing the load is more effective than trying to bear it alone.

04/ THE SUPPORTERS

Chronic pain isn’t something you want to deal with in stoic silence. Managing it is a long-term effort, and support groups exist to make this easier and less lonely. So, seek out meet-ups where you can compare notes with others. The idea of sharing your experiences of pain with strangers might sound horrendous, but so is enduring a screwed-up back with no one to talk to who actually understands what it’s like.