WHY ONE ACUPUNCTURIST SPECIALIZES
IN THE TREATMENT OF PAIN
Chronic Pain is extremely costly to a
society. In the workplace, production decreases, work
quality suffers because of a worker distracted by
pain, employees cost more to insure. Many people become
disabled which can mean financial disaster. Chronic pain
is much more common than we may notice in day to day life.
Most people rarely admit to having the pain or just how severe
the pain is. These numbers may surprise you.
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60 to 70 million Americans have chronic pain.
-
90% of Americans
with chronic pain work while in pain.
I was a member of the
second group for a long time. Very fortunately for me, my
membership expired.
The
Breadth and Depth of Pain's Effects.
Pain has a wide variety of ways it
interferes with our ability to function in life. Few things
disrupt life as dramatically and as much as pain.
Pain can truly stop us in our
tracks and keep us from moving on.
The more pain interferes, the
smaller the scope of life.
For many with chronic pain, life is
existence and little else. The list below is composed of
well-documented secondary effects of chronic pain.
Direct Negative Effects & Negative Social Consequences
- Impaired physical functioning
- Reduced ability to perform activities of
daily living
- Decreased work performance
- Friction with co-workers
- Decreased ability to think clearly and
well
- Pain often leads to depression, anxiety,
and irritability
- Negative evaluation by self and
sometimes by others.
- Friction and/or distance in marital and
family
- relationships
- Decreased intimacy
- Decreased or no sexual intimacy
- Change or loss of social roles
- Strained or lost friendships
All Too Often...
Left unaddressed, each
of these issues can result in severe consequences for the
patient and loved ones. Several things prevent patients from
avoiding the pitfalls of life with pain. Perhaps the most
problematic is the widespread belief that one should not let
pain "get in the way", that pain can be dealt with by pure force
of will. This is true for some levels of pain severity but
it requires much more physical and mental energy than life
without pain.
Ironically, for the many
people in the middle ground of pain severity there are quite a
few ways to ease the struggle.
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Information presented here is absolutely not intended to replace
consultation with a professional health care provider. The
Chinese Medicine Sampler and Health Balance LLC do not endorse
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