Home Care For Individuals With Chronic Pain

Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the United States is suffering from chronic pain. The numbers are more dramatic among seniors. With 78% of seniors suffering from at least one of the many chronic conditions out there, that is sadly unsurprising. When pain prevents older adults from doing daily activities like cooking, light housekeeping, and attending to personal needs, having someone there to help can make all the difference in their quality of life. 

Depending on the cause of the chronic pain, family members or home care workers can help in many ways, including daily tasks. For people with arthritis, for example, light exercise can bring relief. Home care workers can provide help to do those exercises. Let’s take a closer look at how home care can help individuals with chronic pain.

Taking medication is essential when suffering from chronic pain and any medical condition.

Family caregivers try their best, but it can be difficult to keep up with the needs of elderly adults who are suffering from chronic pain. In-home caregivers can assist with medication management, medication reminders, and even picking up prescriptions as needed for seniors who need assistance. Even transportation services are available for those suffering from chronic health conditions so that they are attending all their necessary doctors appointments and medical care treatments.

Chronic pain can lead to excessive stress and anxiety

And what’s especially cruel is that excessive stress levels and anxiety can lead to additional inflammation, which exacerbates pain. Home health aides can assist with stress reduction through emotional support and social interaction that can help seniors deal with such constant pain that is associated with chronic illness. This can have a significant effect on overall health, mental health, and well being.

Diet plays a vital role in pain relief.

There’s a lot of evidence that your diet plays a role in chronic inflammation that can cause pain. An anti-inflammatory diet, for example, can have a profound impact on chronic pain. Inflammation is good when it’s fighting off germs, but chronic inflammation can be bad. It can damage healthy cells and leave you in constant pain. 

It raises the risk of heart disease, some types of cancer, and even Alzheimer’s. A bad diet changes the immune system so it doesn’t function as it’s supposed to operate. It causes low-grade chronic inflammation. A bad diet can even cause inflammation.

Making the right dietary changes, then, can have a significant impact, without the uncomfortable side effects of additional medication. Your home care provider can help with meal planning, grocery assistance, and even meal preparation to help ensure your loved one is eating the particular foods needed to reduce inflammation and help support a healthier body. 

If you’re in chronic pain, cooking healthy meals is often difficult.

That’s where a home care professional can help. Increasing nutrients in the diet, such as zinc, selenium, vitamins A, B6, E, and C, folic acid, and iron can improve immune functioning. The antioxidants in a diet can help relieve inflammation and lower pain. 

Eating highly processed food and food with added sugar aggravates the situation and causes pain to continue. Home care professionals can create healthy meals that will boost the immune function and bring relief from pain.

We’ll work with you as part of an individualized treatment plan to ensure our senior care professionals are meeting your specific nutrition goals for your loved one, and we’ll provide the best care possible to ensure your loved one has access to healthy meals from their personal care assistant, giving you peace of mind.

Light exercise can increase circulation and bring relief from pain.

Mild exercise is known as a pain reliever and low-intensity workouts can have a profound impact. Doctors recommend it for people suffering from arthritis, back pain, and other chronic pain situations. If you’re living alone, it’s difficult and often scary to attempt exercising. Having a home care professional help can encourage daily exercise that can reduce the pain and help the individual sleep better.

• Stretching exercises, chair yoga, and simple movements that don’t require standing or are minimally demanding can help reduce chronic pain. Having someone there to remind you to exercise can help bring relief.
• Managing pain medication can be difficult for some seniors. Taking too much is often a problem and can end in disaster. A home care worker can help with reminders and track the medication taken.
• Distraction helps lower pain scales. Facing pain alone can be frightening. That fear can lead to more pain, depression, and lack of movement. Having a home care worker brings a sense of security and peace.
• A home care worker can help track the pain and notice if there’s an increase to alert the doctor. Having an extra set of eyes can help the healthcare professional do a better job of helping the patient deal with the pain.

For more information, call us at (405) 461-6175 or contact us at LiveBetter At Home.