Deconditioning

Those living with chronic pain can become fearful of making their pain worse. This can lead to fear avoidance (meaning avoiding activity for fear of worsening pain) and can enhance the tendency to withdraw from activity. This in turn can lead to deconditioning, meaning that the body loses fitness and the muscles become weaker because they aren’t being used.

If the chronic pain is in one area specifically, often patients can favor that area: this means they try to keep weight off it and not use it as much in the hope that this will reduce pain. This article explains that, “This area will cease normal, symmetric, coordinated movement, and the patient will simply self-splint, immobilize, and decondition the area.”

Unfortunately, this can lead to deconditioning and compensation. Compensation means that the rest of the body tries to ‘make up for’ that area of the body not being used. This can cause muscles, joints and nerves to be overworked and can lead to chronic pain in areas of the body where the patient was previously pain free.

Cardiovascular health

It’s common for pain patients to struggle with hypertension (high blood pressure). A mechanism called the baroreflex which controls our blood pressure, is also involved in pain inhibition. This means that the two can influence each other. When hypertension is left untreated, it can lead to cardiovascular problems.

Hormonal effects

Our hormones control so many things within our body including our sleep, our mood, our metabolism and more. The endocrine (hormone) system is affected in those with chronic pain which can cause disruption to biological processes. Since our metabolism is affected by this, it can lead to weight gain, malnutrition and other problems.

Excess cortisol and adrenaline caused by prolonged stress which we discussed earlier can have negative impacts on the body. It can cause a number of problems including digestive issues and a reduced immune system. Hormonal disruption can also lead to sexual dysfunction.