Pain Support From Jan Sadler

Pain Support is an website run by Jan Sadler who is the Founder of the PainSupport website. Jan has lived with the challenges of back pain and sciatica for many years and so understands the experience of living with chronic pain. She lives in the UK where she has been working with people in pain since 1990. She was awarded an MBE in 2012 for the PainSupport charity and her services to pain management. I receive regular newsletters with her ideas and help for chronic pain. This month she has put together the things we need to do when in chronic pain to care for our body and keep our spirits up. Read her ideas below and print off her 'Daily Need to do ' worksheet for you to personalise for yourself. Her website has been a great help to me over the years. 1. Things I need to do every day to care for my body Go for two short walks Do exercises for flexibility and strength Eat healthily Use relaxation CD/Mindfulness Meditation Break up my activities into small manageable chunks I need to be careful when lifting, reaching, twisting, standing still I need to be sure not to sit for more than 20 minutes Hot baths/showers Take care of my posture and movements. I use the Alexander Technique (see  www.stat.org.uk  2. Things I need to do every day to keep my spirits up Step back from life now and then, come into the present moment and take 'breathing breaks' Keep things in perspective Stop negative thoughts as they arise and change my focus to the positive Do some art/craft work or other enjoyable and distracting activity like gardening Look through some video clips of nature and art Laugh Make sure I only watch programmes that aren't violent or worrying Care for my cat Keep in touch with my family and friends Read engrossing, fun and uplifting books Walk and enjoy nature Remember and re-live those moments of enjoyment when I settle down to sleep  I discovered that for me the most important thing was to keep my spirits up. Everything else stemmed from that. For instance, if I was feeling down, I didn't feel like exercising or going out and I wanted to comfort eat.  My lists were so useful that it prompted me to make a 'Daily Need-to-do' worksheet. If you would like to, you can download the worksheet to write your own lists.  www.painsupport.co.uk/enewsletter/dailyneeds.pdf  Your list will be different from mine. You know best what works for you right now.  The lists will help you to understand more about your pain and how you handle it. The lists will also serve as a good reminder of what helps you and what doesn't if you have a pain 'flare-up' or setback.  It is so worthwhile to take the time to think about what we actually need to do to manage our pain, so download your chart today!  Download your Daily 'Need To Do' chart here:  www.painsupport.co.uk/enewsletter/dailyneeds.pdf