Some Thoughts on Pain

I recently went through a short bout of back pain. One of the areas we commonly address as music therapists is pain. I’m going to share what I learned.

Pain is exhausting. I was never incapacitated but needed to be careful about everything I did. Pain disrupted my sleep and complicated several of my Activities of Daily Living (ADLs).

Non-pharmacological methods of pain relief work (to a point) but require a lot of effort. It also helps if you already have a meditation/imagery practice. Trying to learn a new skill and practice it effectively during an acute health episode is difficult.

Even when you are doing everything right, you may still need medication to get things under control.

Medication only does so much. And it comes with side effects.

Long term strategies may be needed to get to the root and the cause of pain.