When the clock strikes midnight on January 1 every year, it’s time to reflect. To look back not only at the positive aspects of the year we are leaving behind, but also at areas for growth. Whether you are setting chronic pain resolutions or trying to make changes in other areas of your life, SMART goals can help you make that happen. Here are 15 chronic pain resolutions to consider in 2021.

What do we mean by SMART goals for chronic pain?

Setting SMART goals is one of the best ways to achieve them. SMART is an acronym that can help you set better goals and make a plan to reach them.

SMART goals are:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time bound

Consider the difference in the following two goals:

• Goal 1: I am going to get more physical activity
• Goal 2: I am going to walk 20 minutes a day right after work, five days a week

Considering the first goal, if you park in the farthest space away from a building once a week and walk to the door, technically you are getting more physical activity. But the amount of activity is not specified, and achieving the goal isn’t really measurable. The vague quality of the first goal makes it easy to let slide.

On the other hand, goal 2 is more specific (walking), measurable (five days a week), relevant (increasing physical activity), and time bound (for 20 minutes each time). The achievable aspect of this goal lies in the adjustment of the other factors. Maybe only 15 minutes is possible, and perhaps after dinner or during a lunch break makes more sense for you. The point is that the second goal is actually something concrete. And this brings us to setting chronic pain resolutions for 2021.

Any goals for chronic pain relief and management need to be understood in a realistic way. Many people won’t be able to “cure” their pain simply by setting chronic pain resolutions, but there are ways to lessen it and help you better manage your response to it. Sure, you might have as one of your chronic pain goals to reduce your pain levels, but many people in pain are also concerned with the other aspects of managing a chronic condition.

Get started with chronic pain resolutions

This is where setting chronic pain resolutions comes in. Decide which aspects of your daily life you’d like to focus on, and set a SMART goal to improve it. Below are 15 chronic pain resolutions, set using the SMART goals format. These are just examples that you can tailor to your own specific circumstances and needs.

1. I will return to work/daily activities.

The psychological boost that comes with simply being able to take care of daily activities or return to work is nearly immeasurable. Many chronic pain resolutions start here. Your goal may be to head back to work part-time, or it may be to start taking over some household chores that had not been possible before.

Your SMART resolution might be “I will make dinner for the family four nights a week,” or it might be “I will return to work outside the home two days a week, with two additional workdays at home.” Tailor it to be SMART for you.

2. I will focus on my mental health with weekly support group/therapy check-ins.

The mental health challenges that accompany physical pain are significant, yet many patients suffer in silence and don’t get the support they need. Make a commitment to improving your mental health by finding a good therapist or joining a support group (in-person or online).

3. I will increase physical activity by two hours a week, spread over five days.

This SMART chronic pain resolution mirrors our example above but gives you space to customize it to your life. Maybe physical activity for you is nine holes of golf, or maybe you prefer laps in the pool. The time frame above is just 24 minutes for each session — an achievable, measurable goal.

4. I will explore one new complementary therapy each month.

Complementary medicine works in tandem with traditional medicine to provide treatment support for chronic pain. Many of these treatments have no side effects or drug interactions and are safe to explore in conjunction with regular treatments. Think supplements, acupuncture, biofeedback, and chiropractic care.

As always, coordinate this care with your doctor before you begin.

5. I will participate in two social activities per month.

One of the first things that gets neglected when we suffer from chronic pain is our social relationships. But human beings need to be connected. This goal is all about strengthening your relationships and feeding your social side.

These activities needn’t be high-volume, physical occasions. Think about meeting a friend for a walk or cup of tea, or attending a family birthday dinner.

6. I will reduce my pain medication (as recommended by my doctor).

Some patients might look at this chronic pain resolution and cringe, while others might embrace it wholeheartedly. With research demonstrating that opioid medications do more harm than good when it comes to chronic pain, maybe 2021 is the year you begin to gradually reduce your prescription medications.

Of course, changes to prescription medication should be completed under the supervision of your doctor. Best to have a frank discussion with them before making any changes.

7. I will add five minutes of daily meditation at bedtime.

If your overall goal is to reduce your stress, the chronic pain resolution above can help you get started. Adding just five minutes of meditation to your day can help to ground you and cope with life’s daily stresses.

Look for videos or apps to get started.

8. I will get seven to nine hours of quality sleep every night.

That five minutes of meditation you resolved to add before bed? This is just one of the ways you can reach the goal of a good night’s sleep. Sleep is a crucial part of chronic pain management. Plentiful, high-quality sleep can go a long way towards keeping chronic pain patients active, and a lack of sleep intensifies and heightens the perception of pain during the day.

So how do you get your full night of shut-eye? By improving sleep hygiene, getting regular exercise, and practicing meditation.

9. I will pursue an accurate and specific diagnosis of my underlying condition by the end of the year.

This one is a doozy, we’ll admit that upfront. With the average time to diagnose fibromyalgia at five years, and other rare conditions that take even longer to diagnose, it’s no wonder sometimes pain patients feel like guinea pigs in treatment. Make 2021 the year you actively and unrelentingly pursue the root cause of your chronic pain so your treatments have a better chance of working.

10. I will indulge in a new hobby/interest three times a week.

Chronic pain has a nasty habit of sucking much of the joy out of our lives. This includes old hobbies that may just not be possible anymore.

But this does not mean that all hobbies are done for. The number of potential hobbies is remarkable, and there is something for everyone to explore. Take the first part of 2021 to explore a variety of hobbies, then settle on one for the goal above.

11. I will be able to complete (insert task) at least (insert time frame).

Functional goals for chronic pain patients focus not on pain reduction but on returning patients to their ability to function in their daily life. Perhaps pain has made it nearly impossible for you to climb stairs in your home, or maybe walking the dog down the street is something you’ve had to give up. Setting a functional goal, and starting small, helps to focus your attention on something measurable.

This type of goal is something that you can build upon, too. Once you achieve one functional goal, you can gradually expand to others.

12. I will focus on my partner’s needs with a weekly date night/check-in.

The people that care for us when we are sick deserve a medal. No matter how hard we try, chronic pain can sometimes make us forget how lucky we are to have our loved ones. If you are in a relationship, a weekly date or check-in with your partner that focuses on how they are doing helps to strengthen the bond between you and shows them that you appreciate everything they do. This also works to improve your mental health with connection (and fulfills a social activity, too!).

Not currently partnered? Take the time to thank a good friend who regularly helps or celebrate older children who are working around the house in support.

13. I will find a doctor who best meets my needs.

Breaking up with your doctor can be hard. And we know that access to healthcare (or the lack thereof) sometimes dictates who you can choose as a doctor.

But if you have suffered through substandard care that includes a medical practice that doesn’t listen to your concerns, it’s time to look for a new provider.

14. I will become a better advocate for myself by researching my condition, recent research, and potential treatments.

This goes hand-in-hand with finding a doctor who is a good fit. Chronic pain resolutions that are backed by education are the best kind. Ask your doctor for any recent articles on your specific chronic pain condition, or find a blog from a reputable pain clinic online to search. This empowers you and helps guide your decisions for treatment.

15. I will not let chronic pain define me.

This may not be a SMART goal in theory, but it’s one of the smartest chronic pain resolutions on our list. You are not your chronic pain. You are not your treatments, your diagnosis, or your trauma.

Let 2021 be the year when you let go of the idea that chronic pain defines you, and bring your whole self boldly into the next decade.

It’s time to find a life with less pain

If you are in Arizona and looking for a pain management doctor to help coordinate your care is in your resolutions, it’s time to call our office now to set up your first consultation.

Let Arizona Pain help you with all of your chronic pain resolutions. Get in touch today!

The end of the year is a natural time for reflection and resolution. Chances are good that at the end of every year you sit down and make a list of things you might like to change over the coming year. Maybe last year you vowed to get fit. Maybe you wanted to eat better, quit smoking, or call your mother more frequently. Now it’s the last day of the year, and it’s time to evaluate last year’s resolutions. Making resolutions is the easy part. The hard part is sticking with them.

How do we make habits stick?

Back in the 1960s, a plastic surgeon noticed that it took his patients about 21 days to get used to their new appearance. He wrote an article about it, and his estimation of that period of adjustment became cast in stone. Motivational speakers and self-help books began proclaiming that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. While this may be true for some, for most people it takes much longer than that.

Researchers at the University College in London wanted to find out exactly how long it takes to form a new habit. Following 96 people over 12-weeks, Phillippa Lally and her colleagues found that it takes approximately 66 days for a new habit to take hold. This time frame didn’t seem to change across new habits. It took an average of 66 days to make small changes (e.g. drinking a bottle of water with lunch) or large changes (e.g. exercising daily for 15 minutes). And in other encouraging news, it didn’t matter if the study participant slipped up. If they missed a bottle of water or took a day off from exercise, the average length of time didn’t change.

So what does this mean when it comes to making (and keeping) your New Year’s resolutions?

How to achieve your New Year’s resolutions this year

Making New Year’s resolutions is the easy part. The hard part comes when the force of habit grabs you and tries to convince you to abandon your hopes for self-improvement. Don’t succumb to the beckoning of inertia, though. Stay strong and realize your New Year’s resolutions with a few easy tips.

1. Focus on the long game

You have 66 days to form a new habit. If you decide to exercise daily or incorporate two more servings of veggies into your daily diet, recognize that it will take over two months to implement these changes consistently.

Consider yourself lucky. John Hayes, a cognitive psychology professor at Carnegie Mellon University, wanted to know just how long it takes to go from enjoying something to mastering it. He looked at composers and found that out of 76 composers and their 500 “master works,” only three pieces were composed before ten years of their career had elapsed (and those were composed in years eight and nine).

Maybe drinking a bottle of water with lunch isn’t composing a master work, but looking at the persistence of others may motivate you to make a change and keep you on track!

2. Find small actions

The secret to dramatic change lies in focusing on small things. Try the Japanese concept of kaizen, which involves tackling one small change at a time. The idea is that by amassing a series of small changes, you achieve big things.

So, if you wanted to lose weight, identify one part of your day where you’re especially tempted to indulge. Maybe when your energy drags in the late afternoon, the vending machine at work tempts you with sugary delights. When 3 p.m. rolls around and your sweet tooth starts singing, focus on getting past the craving. Do whatever you have to — walk around the block, have a cup of tea, or maybe even enjoy a piece of fruit.

Once you train yourself to avoid late afternoon sugary treats, focus on the next thing. The key tokaizen is to avoid tackling everything at once. That way your resolutions seem manageable.

3. Set aside money every month

For goals that require money, set aside a small sum every month until you’ve amassed enough to achieve your goal. If you want to visit Ireland, but find the trans-Atlantic flight busts your budget, calculate how much you’ll need to make the trip a reality. Divide that number by a number of months until you get a reasonable figure.

So let’s say a trip you want to take costs $2,000. If you put away $167 dollars per month for 12 months, you’ll have enough money. If $167 is out of your reach, can you save $83 a month over two years?

Every time you skip that Starbucks or stay in and watch a movie instead of going out, envision yourself boarding that plane. Bon voyage!

4. Define specific, reasonable goals

So your New Year’s resolution is read more. What does that mean exactly? How many books do you want to read over the next year?

A key characteristic of attainable goals is knowing exactly what you want to achieve, and making sure that goal fits comfortably within your abilities.

Let’s say you want to read one book per month. Select a book you want to read, and divide the number of pages by 30. That’s the number of pages you’ll have to read per day to finish the book by the end of the month.

If the number is too high, pick a shorter book or decrease the number of books you want to read that year. Your committed self might gasp at the idea of decreasing your goal, but you’re realistic self will thank you when you actually achieve the goals you set out to reach.

5. Recognize habit building as a process, not an event

Changing habits or starting a new habit is a complex mental and physical process. With few exceptions, it is nearly impossible to decide to change and just…change. One of the reasons developing new habits (or sticking to resolutions) is so difficult is that it brings up many other challenges.

Consider quitting smoking. When you smoke, you have an excuse to take a break at work. You may have a certain group of friends or acquaintances who join you. Smoking may be a way to mark time or deal with stress. If you quit, all of these things will change. You won’t get a regular break (except for the ones also afforded non-smokers), and you will need to find a way to manage the stress of quitting smoking on top of your regular stress. Understanding that there are steps to keeping a resolution can help you stick with it.

6. Understand that not everyone will be supportive

We like to think that making positive changes in our lives like exercising, eating healthier, or quitting smoking will garner universal support, but this is not always the case. Friends and family can sometimes be like crabs in a pot. One crab in pot will get out of the pot when the water starts to boil, but if there is more than one, the crabs will pull each other back in.

Sometimes our friends and family get comfortable thinking about us in a certain way, or our resolution conflicts with what they want. If this happens, they may try to sabotage your efforts. This does not mean that they don’t care for you and don’t want you to be healthy. It may mean that they are dealing with changes in their life that they are not happy with and want other things to stay the same. Be patient with them, politely refuse the extra butter or the smoke break, and stay the course.

Instead, look for your supporters to bolster you in trying times. Maybe you and a friend want to incorporate daily exercise. As often as possible, plan your exercise together. Also identify moral support: someone you can call if you are starting to be overwhelmed by a craving or an urge.

7. Plan ahead

Figure out which behaviors you’d like to change (or add), then write down a plan to make sure that happens. If you are adding exercise every day, sit down with your calendar and schedule it like you would an appointment.

Then, consider how you’ll replace old behaviors. This step is important if you are eliminating a behavior, like smoking or drinking. Figure out what you will replace the old behavior with, and try not to make it another negative behavior (like overeating).

8. Forgive yourself if you slip up

Remember, the study about forming habits found that slipping up didn’t change the timeline, so a slip up isn’t failure. Keep this rule of thumb: try not to let more than one day go by with or without the thing you are changing. If you are exercising daily, don’t skip more than one day in a row. If you are quitting nicotine and you sneak a smoke, don’t do it two days in a row. Forgive yourself, firm up your resolve, and keep moving forward.

The most important step is the final step: persist. If you truly want to change, you just need to do the work. No one can take that walk but you. No one can put down the pack of cigarettes but you. Think about the goals you have for yourself and set your mind to achieving them. Remember the old saying: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Making New Year’s resolutions is the first step. Just 999 to go.

What changes will you make this year?

Was your New Year’s resolution to be tobacco-free in 2018? In the modern era, this isn’t just about quitting smoking but could also include chewing tobacco or e-cigarettes. So much has changed in our culture surrounding smoking and tobacco that it is hard to disseminate the truth from fiction. Regardless of how you’re using it, tobacco can have a number of harmful effects on the body. It can lead to more pain, including neck, joint, and back pain. And, it can obviously lead to serious health risks from cardiovascular and respiratory issues. Here’s how to finally kick your smoking habit for good, so you can look forward to a more healthful year.

Why is it so important to kick a smoking habit? 

By now, it is common knowledge that smoking is no good for your health. In addition to causing lung, mouth, throat, and esophageal cancer, smoking has been pinpointed as a risk factor for a variety of other diseases and conditions, including:

• Cardiovascular disease
• Stroke
• Respiratory disease
• Low birthweight babies in mothers who smoke and higher infant mortality
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Type 2 diabetes
• Lower back pain and neck pain
• Joint pain and reduced healing from injuries

It also:

• Makes Type 1 diabetes more difficult to control
• Makes getting (and staying) pregnant more difficult
• Is a key risk factor for obesity

And finally, there is death. A large-scale study of adult smokers over four years in Australia found that as many as two out of three smokers in the study died from smoking.

Why is it so important for men to stop smoking? 

Recent research demonstrates that smoking causes a higher risk of cancer in men especially. According to a study published by Upsala University in December, there is a connection between smoking and the loss of the Y chromosome in blood cells. The loss of this chromosome has been linked to cancer and, because only men carry this trait, they are at a much higher risk for developing the disease.

According to the report:

“The association between smoking and loss of the Y chromosome was dose dependent, i.e. loss of the Y chromosome was more common in heavy smokers compared to moderate smokers. In addition, the association was only valid for men who were current smokers. Men who had been smoking previously, but quit, showed the same frequency of cells with loss of the Y chromosome, as men who had never smoked.”

The study demonstrated this correlation and researchers believe that reducing the dependence on nicotine and transitioning to a tobacco-free life could make a huge difference in the risk of cancer in men.

Is quitting more difficult for heavy drinkers?

Almost everybody knows someone who swears they only smoke when they’re drinking. The problem is these people are also likely to be heavy drinkers so their smoking isn’t reduced by a high enough factor to make a difference in their health. And, adding excessive alcohol consumption to the equation creates more possible health issues.

In November of 2014, the Yale Cancer Center released a report linking alcohol consumption with smoking. The information indicated that heavy drinkers have a much harder time quitting than those who don’t drink. They learned that around 20% of the phone calls made to counseling hotlines for smokers came from individuals who were also hazardous drinkers.

These quit-lines discovered if they offered counseling that treated the drinking and the smoking equally the callers had more success in quitting either or both addictions. They suggest that hotlines provide additional training for their counselors to help not only with smoking cessation but also alcohol counseling.

What happens when someone quits their smoking habit?

Quitting smoking is the single best thing you can do for your health and wellness, with immediate results:

• Within 20 minutes of your last cigarette: Your heart rate slows
• Within one hour: Carbon monoxide, a toxic gas that is a by-product of smoking, drops to normal levels in your blood
• After two weeks to three months: Your risk of heart attack begins to drop
• Within nine months: Your lungs begin to function properly, reducing the chance of lung infections and illness
• Within one year: Your risk of heart disease plunges to just half that of a smoker’s
• After five years: Your risk of stroke is the same as a person who has never smoked
• Within ten years: Your risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas decreases dramatically, and your chance of dying from lung cancer is half that of a smoker’s
• Within 15 years: Your risk of heart disease is the same as that of a non-smoker

How to quit your smoking habit, for good

With these immediate and long-term health benefits it is clear to see that quitting smoking is in your best interest, but it is also one of the hardest habits to change. So how do you make sure that your quitting will be successful?

First, understand that most smokers will go through what is known as The Six Stages of Change. These stages include:

• Precontemplation: Not even considering quitting.
• Contemplation: Thinking about it but not committed.
• Determination/Preparation: The decision to quit is made, and you reflect on what has helped in the past and what made it harder.
• Action: This is when the quitting actually happens.
• Maintenance, relapse, recycle: This stage acknowledges that there may be times of relapse or faltering. This does not mean change has failed but that the stages must be re-entered with renewed commitment.
• Termination: At this final stage, the habit is completely changed. There is no chance of relapse.

In this popular Evans Health Lab video, Dr. Mike Evans breaks down these six stages and adds other helpful strategies, including identifying what needs to change, why you are making the change, and what supports you need in place to help you to be successful. The American Lung Association has an excellent site with online support, including live chats with a counselor, plus resources to find local support in your community.

For those who want to quit but don’t feel like they can do it alone, there is new evidence that the medication varenicline not only helped smokers to quit but also helped them to remain so over the course of a year. This can be very helpful for those who feel like the “cold turkey” method won’t work.

Nicotine patches and gum are also excellent over-the-counter supports for smokers who want to ease withdrawal symptoms.

Prepare to quit

Developing a plan for quitting is probably the best thing you can do to guarantee your success.

In The Six Stages of Change, the preparation stage is when the planning happens. In this stage, you might locate support resources. You may make a list of all of the reasons why you think quitting smoking is the right thing to do.

Also, take some time to think about what other changes you need to make to successfully quit smoking. You may not realize just how much time smoking takes until you stop. Planning for positive, productive activities during the times when you would normally smoke is imperative. For example, if you normally take a smoke break at work mid-morning, take that break anyway, but use that time to go for a walk around the block outside. You are still outside, you are still taking a break, but you have not smoked.

Think about all of the times, activities, places, and people you associate with smoking. You will need to consider making temporary changes to these things in order to support your goal of quitting smoking. If you have formerly smoked inside your home but are quitting, it is important to let people know that you have made this change and to enforce it. It can be very difficult to make these lifestyle changes, but doing so will give you a better chance at success.

Know that you can do it 

Finally, perhaps the most important part about developing a plan to quit is understanding that you can do it. Maybe you tried in the past and were not able to maintain. Maybe it seems too daunting, or maybe you feel like you are too old to quit and it won’t make any difference.

It may be a difficult task, but you are up to the job and able to complete it.

You know in your heart and mind that quitting smoking is an important and valuable gift to give to yourself and your loved ones, and it is important to keep that focus when you are faced with inevitable moments of temptations. By having a plan in place and coming up with a powerful motivation for quitting, you can help yourself be successful.

And know that even if you relapse, it doesn’t mean you have failed. Mark Twain once said, “Quitting smoking is easy. I’ve done it a thousand times.” It takes the average smoker more than one attempt before they are able to quit for good. Knowing this can make it easier to get back on track if you falter.

Can money make a difference?

A study published in November by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston indicates that money may be another answer to help you quit. Among individuals in communities with economic disadvantages, smokers had more success quitting if they were given access to small financial incentives. Clinics in a Dallas neighborhood offered gift cards to individuals who were able to reduce or quit their tobacco intake. Researchers noted that:

“Specifically, participants in the intervention group had the opportunity to earn $20 in gift cards for abstinence on the quit date, and this amount increased by $5 each week for continued abstinence up to $40. Thus, participants could earn up to $150 in gift cards over four weeks. Progress was monitored for 12 weeks following the quit date.”

They observed that abstinence rates were higher for these individuals following the quit date. Eight weeks after the incentives were discontinued 33% of the participants remained tobacco-free.

Don’t use other tobacco products as a crutch 

Many smokers believe that by transitioning to a smokeless tobacco product, they have a better chance of quitting altogether. While this is partially true, it is extremely important to understand the risks, implications, and challenges involved. Let’s take a closer look at some studies that have tackled these topics.

Tobacco dip

In November of 2014, the University of West Virginia began a study on the use of tobacco dip and how it helps or harms individuals while they quit smoking. Smoke-free tobacco products, including dip as well as e-cigarettes which we will discuss at length in another section, are marketed to smokers who are looking to break their addiction to smoking. The manufacturers suggest that these products allow users to cut back on the negative effects of tobacco while still being able to consume it in a safer way. However, are these just marketing ploys to convince addicted people to buy more tobacco products?

The researchers want to discover whether or not smokers use these products to lessen their use of tobacco or if they are supplementing their addiction. While the study focuses on tobacco chew, it will also review smokeless tobacco novelty products such as lozenges. If the results show that more people are using these smokeless products in addition to smoking it may demonstrate that they are causing more harm than good as advertised. We’ll follow up on the blog once results are published.

E-cigarettes

In December, a report published by Cochrane review indicated that e-cigarettes may be a helpful tool in smoking cessation, but not without some risks. It appears that people who use e-cigs can reduce and even stop their smoking habits. The report used information from several studies that looked at whether or not smokers who used e-cigs reduced their intake of tobacco or use of traditional cigarettes. In the studies, around 9% of the participants who used e-cigs containing nicotine were able to reduce or quit their smoking habit. Only 4% of those who used a placebo saw a significant change.

These numbers seem, and are, low but there is some hope that the right use of e-cigs can help individuals live a more tobacco-free life. Many of the existing treatments for smoking cessation also include the use of products that deliver nicotine in a smokeless fashion such as patches or gum. E-cigarettes may have similar value in the market place.

Start. Today.

No matter where you are, know that you have the support you need to stop your smoking habit this year. Use the resources given up above, or reach out to your primary care or pain doctor for more help. Quitting smoking not only provides cardiovascular and respiratory benefits, it can also decrease your pain levels.

2018 can be the year you stop using tobacco. Let’s do it.

Happy New Year! We hope this article finds you well and ready to take 2016 by storm.

At Arizona Pain, we’re looking forward to a special initiative running yearlong during 2016: Arizona Pain Cares. This slogan encapsulates a fresh approach we’re taking to keep you, our patients, and community informed and inspired to live your best possible life.

Sometimes there’s nothing more invigorating than hearing the ways other pain patients just like you are making their way in the world despite having a chronic condition. We’ll be featuring patient testimonials in videos on our websites and on our social media accounts all year. We hope this effort makes you feel less alone and more connected to other pain patients in the community.

Staying inspired while working to find new ways of managing pain is imperative. Part of the battle is finding fresh ways to stay encouraged and full of hope. Many times, reading stories about other people just like you who have found effective ways to better manage pain or live full lives despite it, is just the ticket you need to lift your spirits.

We’re excited to share inspiring stories of patients who have transcended difficult conditions, or learned how to live well despite chronic health conditions. We’ll also be revealing, throughout the year, several miraculous stories of healing from patients who have experienced the most profound transformations.

During the yearlong initiative Arizona Pain Cares, we’ll feature inspiring patient stories full of courage, bravery, and healing.  

Arizona Pain Cares also perfectly describes our signature philosophy of helping patients manage pain with minimally invasive techniques and all natural, but powerful lifestyle modifications like diet, exercise, and stress management.

Living with a chronic pain condition can be difficult, but the trio of diet, exercise, and stress management can be amazingly effective for reducing inflammation and pain while promoting healing.

Patient care is always a focus of ours at Arizona Pain, but we wanted to step up our commitment to you this year and make a more concerted effort to provide you with greater levels of inspiration and comfort.

Feeling like you’re part of a community is another potent way to promote healing. Finding fuel to stay inspired and as positive as possible is essential for living well despite chronic pain, and finding that fuel is sometimes the most difficult part. Arizona Pain Cares will be a great resource for you to connect to helpful information when you need it the most.

Look for stories from Arizona Pain Cares all throughout 2016 to keep you inspired and motivated on the path toward wellness.

Thinking of wellness may seem odd when living with a chronic pain condition, but if you think of wellness as a series of actions taken to help you live your best possible life, then it makes perfect sense.

Wellness isn’t reserved for marathon runners and athletes. Instead, it’s a very personal journey that involves making good choices every step of the way. All of these choices accumulate to help you feel as good as possible.

Arizona Pain Cares aims to help our patients find inspiration and information to promote wellness.

Besides providing inspiration, we hope our new initiative provides you with a big dose of information, as well. Sometimes there’s nothing more helpful than hearing the story of a pain patient with a similar condition to you who underwent a specific procedure or treatment and experienced a benefit from it. We hope these stories will give you new insights on potential treatments that perhaps you haven’t considered.

Chronic pain and all the conditions that fall under its umbrella, from back pain to the more than 100 kinds of arthritis, are hot areas of research because they affect so many people.

All through the year, you’ll hear stories of patients who have found success with all types of treatments, from traditional to cutting-edge, and learn first-hand how those patients fared with them.

As 2016 gets kicked off with a bang, we hope you’ll join us on our journey of inspiration and wellness.

Arizona Pain sends you many blessings for the New Year.

What are you most excited for during 2016?

Image by Harsha K R via Flickr

People who define wellness as doing those activities that feel good and support vitality will enjoy the health site Sonima.

The site’s slogan is “Live fit, live free,” and it perfectly encapsulates its mission of making wellness accessible and practical.

Many people think of fitness as chiseled abs, green smoothies, and marathons, but true wellness is a state of being that involves activating your highest potential for wellness.

People living with chronic pain may feel frustrated when society’s definition of wellness seems to exclude you by nature of having a chronic condition.

But never fear, by considering wellness as a more relative condition rather than absolute, you can achieve peace of mind, a level of physical fitness that’s right for you, and a feeling of being whole. Sonima defines fitness as:

“Doing what you can do, each day, to reduce the limits on your bodies and minds. It’s about achieving physical and mental freedom one step at a time.”

Who is behind Sonima?

Founder Sonia Jones decided to take her passion for wellness to the next level in 2011 by teaming up with Salima Ruffin to create the Sonima Foundation, which helps underserved schools access health and wellness programs.

The website emerged from the Sonima Foundation and features articles on topics including yoga and meditation, physical fitness, recipes, and educational videos.

How can Sonima help me feel better?

The site’s array of content includes mouth-watering recipes, yoga videos, health news, and articles with Sonima’s trademark, practical wellness advice, such as improving sleep hygiene when the typical recommendations don’t fit your lifestyle.

Best-in-field experts share their top tips

Some wellness sites feature articles from people without top credentials in their field, but Sonima gravitates toward the most renowned leaders so the information you get is top-notch.

Featured experts include mind-body medicine expert Dr. Deepak Chopra, who has meditations on the site, yoga teacher R. Sharath Jois, whose grandfather is Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the father of Ashtanga yoga, and Pete Egoscue, a pain and anatomy expert.

How does this site help people manage chronic pain?

Incorporating as many wellness practices as possible into your life helps to reduce pain in many ways. Often, it starts with bolstering the foundations.

Implementing Sonima’s practical tips on sleep hygiene, for example, will help you feel more rested and possibly in less pain. The array of beautifully photographed, inspiring recipes will help you fuel your body and make it a climate more conducive to feeling good than feeling pain.

Sonima also offers an entire fitness section devoted to reducing pain. Resources include a selection of exercises designed to reduce the risk of knee injuries and articles like this one, discussing the importance of the little known, but influential psoas muscle.

This psoas muscle is integral to a strong core, running from the lumbar spine all the way through the pelvis and attaching to the upper thigh. It helps to stabilize the spine and encourage proper body alignment.

This muscle is also connected to the stress response, and pain in this area may be related to emotional trauma, according to Sonima.

This is just a small selection of the insightful, helpful articles available on the site that could give pieces of essential information to change your experience of wellness.

Keep in mind that implementation is the most important, and the most difficult, part. It’s wonderful to learn new information, but the critical step is taking what you learned and applying it to your life to enhance it.

What other types of information will I find on Sonima?

The website is divided into several sections: yoga, fitness, food, meditation, and videos.

Within each of those categories, you’ll find subcategories. For example, the yoga section includes full-length classes, tutorials for specific poses, and inspiration, such as ways of incorporating yoga philosophy into real life.

The article “What ‘Drishti’ Can Teach Us in Yoga and Life,” for example, talks about yoga’s concept of drishti, which means gaze or point of focus, and how changing our viewpoint in life can help us feel more peaceful.

The fitness section includes workouts and the aforementioned section on pain and healing, the food section includes recipes, nutrition tips, and cooking videos, and the meditation section features guided meditations and inspiration for mindful living.

In the mindful living section, check out the article “The 5 Aspects Of Life That Contribute To True Happiness,” that talks about the importance of key aspects: spiritual, emotional, physical, intellectual, and rational.

This holistic approach to happiness is much deeper and more well-rounded than what the article calls “outdated notions of psychology” that attribute happiness only to the thoughts that we think.

You’ll also find practical approaches to potentially taboo topics that people don’t like to talk about, but that still influence mental health and wellness. The article, “How To Overcome Jealousy And Truly Be Happy For Others,” for example discusses how it’s natural to feel envy when hearing about others’ joy, and how feeling that we’re flawed because of this natural feeling only compounds the problem.

To cultivate joy for others’ happiness, we can try practices like seeing the bigger picture, and understanding that the joyous one has also experienced hardships and barriers to happiness, Sonima recommends. When we see other people through a more complete lens of compassion, creating the feeling of happiness becomes easier.

What makes Sonima special?

Tips like these may not normally fall into the category of what you might consider wellness, but adopting a holistic view of health mirrors the Arizona Pain philosophy that managing pain requires paying attention to a host of lifestyle factors.

Sonima is special in that it takes holistic wellness and incorporates Buddhist principles and yoga philosophy with modern medicine and practical health tips. Many other sites focus on science-driven information without offering an Eastern perspective or they emphasize the New Age side of alternative health while skimping on time-tested philosophical perspectives.

With Sonima, you get them all.

Have you visited Sonima? What is your favorite wellness site or blogger?

Image by Mike Vance via Flickr

Self-improvement through New Year’s resolutions is a noble effort, but sometimes our desire for radical change backfires when we try to do too much at once.

Popular resolutions include vowing to lose weight, eat better, spend less money, and enjoy life to the fullest, according to research firm Nielsen. Unfortunately, many people fail to achieve their New Year’s resolutions, and the seed of that ill-fated effort is often found in the months preceding January 1.

Take, for example, Nielsen’s surveys of people from January 2015. Although 43% of respondents said they wanted to lose weight by eating healthier, 76% of those healthy hopefuls didn’t follow any sort of nutrition program in 2014. People want to make healthy shifts, but believe they can do it all at once, without any sort of preparation.

These plans sound idealistic and wonderful, but excessive optimism often leads to failure. Losing weight and getting fit are not only the most frequently made New Year’s resolutions, they’re also the most commonly broken, according to Time magazine.

We’re not trying to get you down, only helping you to have a more realistic view of the work ahead. Losing weight, eating healthy, and living a more joyful life are all within reach, but require a specific approach that increases the odds of success so your hopes don’t end up deflated on the floor like a balloon after the party ends.

1. Think small for your resolutions

The idea of making grand change is inspiring. The vision lifts you up as you imagine the person you’ve always wanted to be. But big changes are also intimidating. It’s difficult to make sweeping life changes, and this is why people often fail.

Instead of making broad New Year’s resolutions like “get fit,” instead vow to hit the gym for 30 minutes, three times each week. Start out slow, and allow yourself to warm up to the new habit, expanding over time. Or instead of “eat healthy,” decide to eat a piece of fruit with breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Making small changes helps bypass the natural fear reaction. They elicit less internal resistance and are easier to maintain. If you happen to fall off the wagon for a week, it’s easier to get back on.

2. It’s okay to backtrack

People often make goals, work hard to keep those goals for a few weeks or months, and then inevitably slide away from the persistence that’s somehow easier at the start. Consider that it’s okay to get off track because every day is a new day. Every week is a new opportunity to start again.

If you vow to go to the gym thrice weekly but skip a few weeks, it’s okay to start over at any time. You don’t have to classify the effort as a failure and wait until next New Year’s to begin again.

3. Prepare to succeed

Although vision is important for making change, it’s equally important to prepare. Use your past failures as fuel for the fire. Think of all the excuses you tell yourself and work in advance to devise a game plan.

If you want to eat vegetarian three nights each week but never know what to cook, research blogs with delicious dishes so you have a few easy references. Or invest in a few cookbooks with recipes that are easy to prepare and taste good.

If you know that you hate kale or dishes with exotic ingredients that you have to buy at a special store that’s 30 minutes away, buy a cookbook full of accessible dishes that aren’t complicated or so special. Be true to you.

If you want to start exercising, but know that not having the right equipment has been an obstacle in the past, buy yourself a pair of nice athletic shoes or good-looking outfit for the holidays. Having fresh gear can be a great motivator.

Alternatively, if you don’t like the idea of shelling out the cash for a gym membership and always vow to run outside, but then realize you dislike the cold and end up promising yourself you’ll run come spring, understand this about yourself, and then find the money for a gym membership.

4. Plan the specifics

Many goals lack specificity, and vague goals are easy to miss. When you’re creating new habits, there exists a space between your current habits and the potential for the new. In that space, if you’re not sure which direction to go, it’s hard to select a healthy behavior simply because it’s not a habit yet.

It’s not that we don’t want to do better for ourselves, but often we don’t know what to do, and in that confused space, we move toward what we know unless we have clear guidelines otherwise. So plan ahead.

Decide in advance which days of the week you’ll work out, or which days of the week you’ll eat vegetarian. Then backtrack and decide what you need to do to meet that goal. Do you need to decide which recipe you’ll eat on Sunday so you have time to go to the grocery store? Do you need to take a snack to work so you can head directly to the gym after work?

Invest the energy to figure out the ways you’ll need to support yourself in these new habits. Outline a specific schedule so all you have to do is follow the rules you’ve set for yourself.

5. Change how you think of yourself

One of the reasons it can be so difficult to change habits is because of the way we think of ourselves. We characterize ourselves as someone who is out of shape or someone who eats unhealthy food.

How can someone who is out of shape be going to the gym all the time? So we disappoint ourselves because there’s a part of us that doesn’t believe it’s possible for us to change, based only on our self-perception. So change how you think about yourself.

You are now a person who is getting into shape, a person who is working to eat healthy. This sounds like a small distinction, but it’s really powerful. Changing your mindset sometimes unlocks the key to more transformational change.

What are your tips for keeping New Year’s resolutions?

Image by Cherry Point via Flickr