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New Year’s Resolution: Manage Pain From Head To Toe

Statistics: 75% of people keep their resolutions until the 1st week, 71% until the 2nd week, and 64% keep their resolutions until the 4th week.

  • 38% of people never make New Year’s resolutions.
  • 45% of people make a New Year’s resolution
  • 39% of people in their twenties achieve their resolution each year.
  • 14% of people over the age of 50 achieve their resolution each year.

Your posture plays a large role when it comes to head to toe pain management. Sitting in awkward positions or standing with your back arched for long hours everyday can cause acute symptoms of back pain. If you work in an office setting and you are slouching from 9 – 5 everyday, chances are your acute back pain symptoms will turn into chronic head to toe pain. For the New Year, consider adjusting your everyday activities to adhere to some of these helpful tips. If you keep reminding yourself to consider these tips, you can save yourself a chunk of $$$ from buying pain medications. However, these tips are meant to manage pain and to help relief pain symptoms. If pain is unbearable or if some symptoms are causing you discomfort, visit your local Pain Management Center in orange county. Keep these tips in mind when going through your day and you will have a pain free year! 

WORKOUT – Make sure you body can handle exercises that are strenuous. Plan before you hit the gym or undertake a weekend full of activities.

WEIGHT– Begin overweight can lead to increased pain in the lower back and joints. Weight causes more wear and tear to your muscles rather than strengthen it. Consider an exercise program to eliminate excess weight.

JOB -Repetitive movements especially lifting, twisting, or pulling could cause back pain. Find work place solutions that will help prevent injuries to your everyday task.

HANDBAG – The weight of your bag and they way you carry your bag could lead to back pain. Limit the contents to 10% of your body weight to prevent pain.

Centers of Rehabilitation and Pain Medicine tips to help you keep your New Years resolution

Picking one resolution

Often times goals are made in abundance. Some goals are either too big to achieve or too general to get started making it less achievable. Create goals that are specific and on a timely basis to make it easier to achieve. For example if you are trying to shed some pounds consider this as a reminder: “ I will eat smaller meals throughout the day and stop eating after 8 pm everyday to lose weight.”

Plan ahead

Plan out how you are going to achieve the results. Think about your goals and the steps to get to those goals. Consider establishing a meal plan if you are going to try to lose weight and keep it off. Go grocery shopping once a week and plan for the entire weeks worth of meals. Here are some healthy tips on what you should eat to beat back pain and what you must avoid!

Reward yourself

Use the reward mechanism to motivate yourself towards your goal. Rather than punishing yourself for not reaching your daily goals, treat yourself to one cheat meal a week to keep yourself motivated. This way, you will continue to be highly motivated knowing that you have a reward waiting for you on Sunday night.  We work better when we have something to look forward to versus being punished for things that we did wrong.

Track your progress

Big or small, track the process that you are making to keep your eyes on those goals. In a general sense, short term goals are much easier to keep than long term goals that will go unnoticed. To get results faster, consider exercising outdoors if you are trying to lose weight. Here are some easy winter weather activities to get you started.