Sheri D. Pruitt

Sheri D. Pruitt, PhD, is a member of RecoveryOne's medical advisory board. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and behavioral science consultant.

Putting ACT into ACTion

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Pain can take up a lot of space in your brain. Sometimes, you might even feel like the struggle to avoid pain takes over your life. If so, acceptance and commitment (ACT) might be a good approach for you. With ACT, you can learn to accept that you have pain, but that you don’t have to put your life on pause to manage it.

Here’s an ACT exercise that can help you observe your pain without letting it take over. Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Notice any physical sensations. You might notice pain or tightness, the fabric of your clothing on your skin, or maybe even a feeling of calm. Next, notice what you hear around you. Finally, notice your thoughts without judging them. You are not defined by your body, what you hear, or what you think. You can simply observe each of these without letting them take over who you are.

When you accept your pain and commit to your life, you can suffer a lot less. This approach isn’t magic; it doesn’t get rid of your pain, but it does help you avoid sadness or anger taking over your life. It’ll allow you to get back to things that make you happy, even when your muscles and joints aren’t 100% better.

An introduction to ACT

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Have you ever felt like your pain takes a lot of space in your brain? Or that the more you think about easing your pain, the more it takes away from other things in your life? If so, acceptance and commitment (ACT) might be a good approach for you. ACT comes from the idea that pain hurts, but it is the ongoing struggle with pain that causes people to suffer. With ACT, you can learn to accept that you have pain, but that you don’t have to put your life on pause to manage it.

The first step of ACT is to accept your pain. Most people spend a lot of effort trying to get rid of their pain. How much energy do you put into fighting negative thoughts and feelings about your pain? As odd as it sounds, mental attempts to “fix” your pain can cause more harm than good. Think of it this way: compare the force it takes to hold a beach ball underwater (i.e., fighting your pain) versus the energy it takes to let it go and allow it to float at the surface (i.e., accepting the sensation of pain in your body).

Beyond letting yourself accept pain, the ACT approach asks you to commit to taking actions that will get you the things you love. Take a moment to reflect on what gives your life meaning, whether it’s your health, relationships, career, or other things. Ongoing pain can cause you to lose touch with what you value. You might even try to avoid things that are important to you because you are focused on your pain. In ACT, it’s key to define your values and choose actions that move you to things that give your life meaning. When you focus on your values, you can keep doing what you care about — even when you’re having pain or have to adjust how you do things.

“Hurt” isn’t always “harm”

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Pain is hard on your body and your mind. It can limit the things you can do in daily life, which might make you angry, annoyed, anxious, or depressed. To treat pain, you may need to work not only on your physical health, but also on your mental health. Even though pain isn’t just “in your head,” most people find that using their minds to manage pain is key to getting better.

The first step to honing your mental skills is to be aware of the tie between emotions and pain. Just like pain has an effect on how you think, how you think has an effect on your pain. For one, when you expect something to hurt, it often hurts you more. You might also feel more intense pain when you are already upset.

Fear is one emotion that can have a strong effect on pain. If you feel pain when you move a certain way, you might fear that you are doing harm. Then, you can become more fearful of moving, which can cause you more pain. Soon enough, you’re afraid to move at all, even if it would be good for you!

If there’s one thing about the mind-body link that can help you recover, it’s learning to split “hurt” from “harm.” Feeling a little pain when you move doesn’t mean that you’re doing harm to yourself. Once you realize this, you can keep pushing forward with your recovery. The more you keep yourself on track, the less pain you should have… and the more relief you’ll feel that you’re getting back out there.

Sheri D. Pruitt

Sheri D. Pruitt, PhD, is a member of RecoveryOne's medical advisory board. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and behavioral science consultant.

Pacing yourself: How to keep moving when times are tough

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It’s common for humans to avoid things that make us feel bad, and pain is no different. When moving makes you feel pain, you might want to stop moving. The more you avoid movement, the more you’re afraid of it — and soon enough, you don’t want to move at all. This lack of activity can actually make your pain worse, reduce your muscle strength, and make it harder for you to do certain motions. Once you’re stuck in this cycle (fear of movement, avoiding movement, and worse pain), it can be hard to get out of it.

To prevent this cycle of pain and fear, you can try an approach called pacing. Pacing is the balance between movement and rest. When you pace yourself, you won’t overdo it when you’re feeling good and underdo it when you’re not feeling great. Here are some ways you can pace yourself in physical tasks you want to do:

  1. Break tasks into smaller parts, with rests in between.

Do your tasks with frequent rest breaks. In the long run, you will be able to get more things done if you don’t do too much at one time.

  1. Work at a slower, less intense pace.

Slower ways of movement, like walking instead of running, can keep you from overdoing it when you’re feeling good. Going slower doesn’t mean that you’re not working hard; rather, you’re taking better care of yourself.

  1. Switch tasks often.

Instead of doing the same task for long periods of time, switch it up. Get up from your desk after some time to give your neck, back, and arms a rest. Instead, try doing something that requires you to stand.

  1. Use different parts of your body throughout the day.

If you’ve been using one part of your body for a physical task, move to actions that use a different body part every once in a while. This will keep you from putting too much stress on one area.

Now that you’ve learned about pacing, take some time to reflect. Have you ever over- or underdone it with exercise? If so, how did that make you feel? How do you catch yourself doing too much or too little, and what will you do if it happens again? What are one or two ways you could try pacing this week?

While pacing might mean you adjust the way you move about, you can still feel good as you achieve things each day. You can apply these tactics to your chores, hobbies, and physical therapy exercises.

Sheri D. Pruitt

Sheri D. Pruitt, PhD, is a member of RecoveryOne's medical advisory board. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and behavioral science consultant.