Face chronic pain with your own health literacy

Study shows the influences of self-management on chronic pain

Already Goethe realized: "By health I do not mean freedom from impairments, but the power to live with them". According to a study published in autumn 2017 by the Medical University of Vienna, 25 percent of all people in Austria suffer from chronic pain. The 2016 Physician Report of the Barmer Krankenkasse has also pointed to a continuous increase in patients with chronic pain in Germany. A new study from Vienna shows how one's own health literacy can have a positive effect on perceived pain intensity.

The research team led by Thomas Dorner from the Center for Public Health at the Medical University of Vienna has investigated to what extent a holistic self-management of the patient has an effect on the chronic pain. The results were clear: a higher level of health literacy is therefore associated with a more positive course of chronic pain. Health literacy refers to a person's ability to find, process and use health-related information and offers both in the personal area and with medical support. The results of the study were published in the "Wiener Wochenklinik".

Good self-management of chronic pain can positively influence the course of the disease. (Image: Prostock-studio / fotolia.com)

Himself is the person with chronic pain

According to Dorner, a higher level of own health literacy in patients with chronic pain is associated with less disability due to the pain. "Increasing health literacy among the general population is a powerful tool that can help prevent chronic pain," Dorner said in a press release from the university on the study's findings. Pain intensity and quality of life limitations can be reduced and unnecessary medical treatment due to pain avoided. This also includes cultivating social contacts so as not to end up in isolation. The development of mental coping resources is also conducive to pain management.

Chronic pain is complex

The treatment of chronic pain is not just limited to the pain. According to the medical profession, chronic pain is complex and includes biological, psychological and social aspects. Depression, sleep disturbances, impairments in the sexual life and other consequences in the private and working life are frequent concomitants of chronic pain.

The downward spiral of pain

"Many people with chronic pain do not seek professional help and do not have the necessary skills in self-management," explains Dorner. This begins a downward spiraling dramatic spiral. The patient goes to work without pain therapy, makes mistakes and can not work properly. As a result, he loses the job, the mostly associated social contacts and his self-esteem. It follows the total isolation. All these problems would add to the chronic pain.

More management than cure

Dorner points out that many of the additional limitations that cause chronic pain are more "managed" than cured. "Chronic pain often requires patient-centered, personalized, integrated care with multi-professional teams that focus on the patient rather than the disease," Dorner sums up. Even the patient himself could be an equal part of this team with the help of perfect self-management. (Vb)