As we reach a new phase of the Corona Virus pandemic in which access to vaccines is high, the infection rate is dropping, and health-related services are more accessible, it may be appropriate to review the pain treatment plan and examine the adjustments that could have a good effect. You can ask your pain management doctors to come up with entirely new ways to manage your pain.

Let us begin by looking at some of the ways the epidemic could have aggravated your pain problem:

• Drained emotionally: Life during COVID-19 certainly was a cause of great stress. The pandemic played a part in raising mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression whether or not you have COVID-19. For some, it has already increased difficulty in homes, while for others it has meant emotional pain, distant from loved ones. In many households, a decline in incomes and problems for children doing virtual education at home have become regular sources of extra stress. However, both depression and anxiety can influence how much we hurt and how difficult it is to handle our discomfort.

• Gaining weight: Studies suggest that the typical person was gaining about 2 pounds during the lockdown. While this additional weight gain may affect underlying health concerns such as diabetes and high blood pressure, it can also significantly exacerbate pain. Even tiny spikes in body weight can increase mechanical forces dramatically in regions of the body, like hips, knee, and spines.

• Self-medicating: According to the CDC, 13% of Americans stated that substance use was initiated or increased as a method of coping with the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020 and there was an 18% rise in overdose during early epidemic times. Combining all the added stress together with increased difficulties receiving health care and behavior can have helped promote harmful activities, such as abuse of prescription medications, increased use of alcohol or use of illicit substances in the hope of relief.

• Less active: Access to locations like pools, health clubs, gyms and indoor workouts was highly limited over a period of months in many areas. If you relied on these kinds of training venues, you might have had to do without them. With caution, many of the patients opted not to leave their homes as much as possible, which also decreased their activity level. But a lot of patients with chronic problems such as arthritis and back pain rely on programs like yoga or water aerobics, or work out at the gym, without access to workouts that made controlling their pain more difficult.

• More isolated: Most of my patients have noticed a major drop in social connections over the past year. Solitude is now seen as a major health problem and has an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, depression, anxiety, suicide and premature mortality.

Now that access to services in many of your areas has probably increased, some thoughts are available to assist you negotiate your next steps:

• Make It a Bit Easy: If you haven't been swimming or worked for a year in your local gym, start carefully since your time has probably left you unconditioned and with some muscular atrophy. Stop your workout program or your business scheme to give yourself time to strengthen your strength and endurance while reducing pain flares that can slow down your progress. Now is an excellent moment for your body to be patient.

• Ask for Assistance: It can be difficult to make adjustments, but there are people who can help. If you want some advice on recharging and becoming more active, talk to your doctor about suggestions or a reference to a physical therapist. If you have created a problem of addiction during a pandemic or have re-entered the old one, ask for assistance and seek resources. If your relationship with your other person is weakened by the epidemic, look for a counsellor who can assist you and your family get back in track.

• Baby Steps: There can be a lot of concern about doing things again, such as leaving the house more, getting into the water aerobics class. This is expected. Start small and gradually build your trust and don't forget to respire!

Now may be the perfect time to assess what can be added or modified to your pain management regimen safely. It is always a good idea to talk with your pain management doctor before starting something new or starting something you may not have done in more than a year. Ask us at Oklahoma Pain Treatment Center. You can visit our office in Norman.

**Disclaimer: This blog post does not establish terms of a doctor-patient relationship and is not intended to be taken as a doctor's advice.