Health care providers – Register for the RSDSA Annual conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, March 28. “New Perspectives on CRPS: Research, Diagnosis and Treatment”
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Each Monday this series of articles will feature pain management techniques to help you decrease and cope with pain. It’s your at-home pain management class!
Today’s exercise is visualization. Visualization is simply using a picture or image to help you relax. Both relaxation and visualization reduce pain by helping you relax. An image that may people enjoy is the beach, but you can use any place or thing that you love.
(And as you’re reading this post today, click here for sounds of the ocean to accompany your reading!)
There are several ways to use this exercise:
- read through the exercise and then do it from memory (it doesn’t have to be done exactly as I’ve written it)
- tape record the exercise yourself, then play it back and listen
- have someone else read or record the exercise for you
When you picture your image, use as many of your senses as possible with visualization – what you hear, smell, see, feel, etc. Some people find one favorite relaxation exercise and do just that one, while others like to vary the ones they use. Either way is fine.
Your assignment: Do a visualization exercise at least once a day.
Other articles in this series:
- How to change a habit, part 1
- How to change a habit, part 2
- Breathing exercises, part 1
- Relaxation exercise, part 1
- Breathing exercises, part 2
- Websites that help you stick with your new habit
- How are you doing with your new habit?
- Try 1/2 a habit
- Visualization
- Feedback on changing habits, part 1
- Feedback on changing habits, part 2
- Guided imagery, part 1
- Guided imagery, part 2
- Stress management, part 1
- Stress management, part 2
4 responses so far ↓
Darlene Siddons // Mar 3, 2009 at 8:59 am
great article and great suggestions, dealing with pain can be a challenge and we need all the tools we can get…that is for sure…..here is another tool you can use….Vision Map Videos…..they are also a great visualization tool that works…enjoy!!!
darlene
http://visionmapvideo.blogspot.com/
Nickie // Mar 5, 2009 at 9:17 am
Great visualization. One thing I’ve always wondered is whether it’s typical for an RSD patient to feel tense at the thought of, say, the sand on their feet or wherever their RSDS/CRPS is. I often find that that, or something that’s difficult for me as a blind person gets in the way. I’m better now at just using the parts of the imagery that work, like if being near a pond is scary because Julio, my guide dog, decides to chase ducks around the pond. I think this is mostly related to my anxiety, but I’ve always wondered about whether others with CRPS have similar difficulties with imagery if it’s something they don’t usually tolerate.
I do like the fact that you repeatedly mention how smoothe it is, I’m not criticizing, just wondering if my own difficulty is unique or if this is common. BTW, I will reply to your email soon, there are only so many emails on that subject I can deal with replying to, but I wanted you to know that your email was well received. Thanks for all you’re doing to provide us with information to help us make more informed choices and help using the tools which will help us deal with the pain. Visualization and guided imagery are my favorite relaxation exercises.
Keep up the excellent work and have a great weekend.
How to Cope with Pain // Mar 5, 2009 at 11:31 am
Nickie, your experience is common. Some people are unable to use an image of doing something that would bother them in “real life.” I think of this as just the opposite of the coin of visualization working in a good way. It can harm also.
If warm water feels good in “real life,” then this image will help your mind make the same physical changes that it would if you were experiencing warm water in “real life.” For example, increased blood flow to a body part that’s being warmed. This would help in CRPS pain.
However, an image of something that bothers you in real life would help your mind make the same physical changes that bother you in real life. So if rubbing an area of putting it in cold water bothers you, most likely imagining this will bother you also. And this would be through your mind making the same physical changes as if it were actually happening. Just this time it’s harmful, rather than helpful.
So you can either 1) only use images that would actually help in real life, or 2) first visualize being pain free and responding normally. For example, if someone limps and has pain with walking, I will first tell them to image walking normally and comfortably. Otherwise, the image would reinforce abnormal walking and pain. If they can’t image this, I won’t use the image.
Thanks for your comments.
Per // Mar 5, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Visualization is a wonderful tool in freeing your mind from pain.
Per
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