Five Chronic Pain Myths Among People Age 50 and Older

Chevy Chase, MD (PRWEB) May 12, 2011

Pain affects everyone. Not only can it be emotionally and physically debilitating for patients, but their families, and the economy at large, suffers as well. Studies show the annual cost of chronic pain in the United States, including healthcare expenses, lost income, and lost productivity, is estimated to be $ 100 billion. Pain management has become a personal and economic priority as 75 million baby boomers approach retirement age.

But diagnosing and treating pain in older adults can be challenging. Those 65 and older often have multiple medical and nutritional problems, take multiple medications and have many potential sources of pain.

Older patients can also harbor certain beliefs about pain that can stand in the way of successful treatment. This article is meant to help dispel some well-worn myths while giving practical examples of pain management techniques that have been very effective for many senior patients.

Myth #1. Expect pain.

It comes with age and you must learn to live with it. Myths about pain, and an individuals predisposition for enduring it, tend to increase with age no matter how fit or otherwise healthy the patient. Call it inherited attitudes about aging or a lack of facts, some patients begin to exhibit a pain acceptance attitude as early as age 50.

While pain is often a symptom that something is askew in the body, that something can often be easily corrected and in many cases prevented by simply staying fit. For example, an increasingly idle patient in his 60s experienced acute lower back pain after playing touch football with his old Army buddies. The retired soldier knew he was going to be active at the reunion, but didnt prepare for it by gradually increasing his cardiovascular activity or participating in a weight training regimen. He didnt adequately stretch his muscles before or after the football game. Instead, after straining his back he waited for two weeks to call his doctor and in the meantime became increasingly more inactive. His inactivity confounded the problem and slowed his recovery.

Acute pain caused by temporary circumstances can largely be prevented by keeping the body fit and by preparing for activity. Acute pain can also be lessened by taking charge of it immediately instead of hoping it will go away on its own.

Myth #2. Over-the-counter or prescription medications are the only real way to alleviate pain.

Johnson & Johnson (or Bayer, or GlaxoSmithKline, or fill in the brand) knows best when it comes to safe and effective pain relief. Pain relievers from the most well-known brands have been around since we were kids and in some cases, for more than a century. They must be safe and effective, right?

Not always. While prescription drugs have been used and prescribed with caution because of many known and serious side effects, traditional OTC medications, such as Tylenol, Motrin, and a host of others have become embroiled in controversy because of their side effects, adverse affects on the heart and other vital organs, and for questionable manufacturing practices.

What we once took for granted as very safe OTC medications compared to prescription painkillers, has now made us wary. Parents are now encouraged to forego giving OTC medications to children below a certain age. Older people and those with pre-existing chronic conditions are making doubly sure they dont ingest more of an OTC painkiller than what is recommended.

Before reaching into the medicine cabinet, consider stepping out of the OTC box by experimenting with these alternative methods of pain relief. Information about alternative pain relief therapies can be found at the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which include: