{"id":8328,"date":"2024-03-11T20:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T20:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=8328"},"modified":"2024-03-11T20:30:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T20:30:00","slug":"live-whole-health-212-mindfulness-and-chronic-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=8328","title":{"rendered":"Live Whole Health #212: Mindfulness and chronic pain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally published:<\/strong> 2024-03-11T20:30:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n

Do you suffer from chronic pain? You are not alone: Estimates show that about one in five people in the United States have some sort of chronic pain and billions of dollars are spent every year on treatment.<\/p>\n

Chronic pain is pain that lasts longer than three to six months and persists after tissue healing has occurred. For many, chronic pain has no clear cause and may last for years or even decades.<\/p>\n

Living with chronic pain can have a profound impact on your life, but there are ways to learn to manage it. Other treatments approaches\u2014such as yoga, tai chi, and mindfulness\u2014are helpful as a comprehensive approach for enhancing self-management of this chronic condition as opposed to eliminating pain.<\/p>\n

Mindfulness can help<\/h2>\n

Studies have shown that mindfulness can help increase acceptance of chronic pain and improve functioning, as well as reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression and bodily tension. <\/p>\n

As a licensed independent clinical social worker, my video below follows a guided mindfulness meditation for chronic pain. The first half of this 13.5-minute video involves settling into the moment, and the second half provides guided instructions on working with pain and experiences associated with pain.<\/p>\n

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Mindfulness can help with pain through the following possible pathways:<\/p>\n