Working While In Pain

Being in constant pain is something a LOT of people deal with everyday. And dealing with it successfully is something I'm personally interested in learning more about. To make a long story short I have an injury that has kept me in almost constant pain for 6 months now. I won't go into what exactly right now but while researching and trying to learn more about my problem and dealing with it I found myself looking into how pro athletes deal with the pain they have.

It seems there is a tonne of different things they do. Many take the painkiller route, and others don't take any painkillers at all. In some cases it's extreme. I've posted below a video of a hit Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Anquan Boldin took in a game last year. Quite frankly it's sickening, as it was described after the game many players had never heard a hit so loud on the playing field. Boldin was left unconscious with blood pouring out of his mouth and nose. He had a fractured face that required 8 plates be inserted and his jaw wired. The amazing thing is he returned to the playing field 2 weeks later and during his time off he refused to take painkillers!

Now obviously this is a tough guy to say the very least! And I really wonder how on earth he did it? Athletes push themselves though pain all the time but scientists know there is a big difference between what is known as exertional pain vs. acute pain (there is an interesting article in the NY Times about that if you follow the link). So what is Anquan Boldin's secret? Who knows, of course maybe there isn't a secret at all, he just has a really high threshold for pain.

Either way I don't mind admitting I've found it tough myself. I've tried hard to eliminate painkillers and I've had some good success. But I've also used them to help get over nasty humps. I've also tried to take a break from activities that exacerbate the problem. But the reality I've discovered is that constant pain means dealing with it while continuing to get on with life, not just taking time off when it's there.

So I'm currently working on a plan and system that'll work for me to get through it and back to the level of work I was at previously. It's working out pretty well as I've returned to most tasks at least around the home. Work requires a whole new mindset and I'm not sure how that'll look just yet but I'm very confident it will work out. It's actually pretty fun to be thinking of how to do it. If anyone else has any suggestions at all as always I'm interested in hearing them. You can drop them in the comments or feel free to catch me on twitter. I'll also be updating the blog with the ideas and activities that work for me.

Comments

[Roger Cowell]

Steven - I found your posting very interesting. I have lived with back pain since a work-related injury in January 1994. I do take medication still, but learned a lot from a pain management programme ten years ago. I learned a lot about pacing myself, trading off temporarily increased symptoms to live life the ways I wanted, and to manage pain, not let it manage me. Once I got out of 'being' an injured nurse I moved from clinical nursing to freelance research and writing, and into knowledge management and knowledge brokering.

[SK]

Roger, thanks for sharing. It's interesting to hear how you adapted your career to be able to keep in the workforce. Congratulations on being able to do that. I think that's a hurdle we'll all face as we get older, but perhaps we're both kinda lucky in that we have faced it earlier on in our careers and can use our experiences as we go forward.