Movement for Movement: Physical activity and exercise for chronic pain

Movement for Movement:
Physical activity and exercise for chronic pain

I have written about chronic pain in the past, for those that suffer from chronic pain it may seem like nothing really does much to take the edge off. In the past one the primary management strategies was a pharmacological approach, but over time some of these treatments evolve into a health care crisis of their own. The Center for Disease Control  expressed the need to move beyond a pharmacological approaches for symptom management and a called for the use of a number of non-pharmacological approaches. 

One of the most promising non-pharmacological pain management strategies is physical activity and exercise. The available evidence suggests physical activity and exercise is an intervention with few adverse events that may improve pain severity and physical function, and consequent quality of life. This Cochrane Review gives an overview of the evidence to date. The conclusion my not seem overly promising but keep in mind that The Cochrane Collaborative are notorious for provisional findings. To me this paper gives a good overview of where pain management is heading.

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Link to The Paper

Geneen, L.J., Moore, R.A., Clarke, C., Martin, D., Colvin, L.A., Smith, B.H. (2017). Physical activity and exercise for chronic pain in adults: an overview of Cochrane Reviews. Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 1:CD011279.