Mindful Movement for Chronic Pain
Understand the science behind why mindful movement can help to improve quality of life for people living with pain.
Most people living with pain have been told at some point that a mindful movement practice such as pilates or yoga can be helpful in managing their pain, but often they don’t understand why. Most people assume that the effect of movement is tied to increasing strength, but movement has systemic (body-wide) effects. There is a fairly substantial body of evidence that shows that for people struggling with pain, a mindful movement practice can help to:
Reduce Pain Intensity
Improve Functional Ability
Improve Quality of Life
Reduce Fatigue
Improve Sleep
Reduce Anxiety & Depression
Combined, these factors can result in an much improved quality of life for people living with pain.
We can understand why this is the case by looking at three of the components of mindful movement: movement itself, breathwork and mindfulness.
Movement
It is well established that any form of exercise is beneficial for pain management. Exercise can help bring about exercise induced hypoalgesia (EIH) by activating the endogenous opioid system.
Research shows that mindful movement practices are at least as effective as other forms of exercise in improving outcomes relating to pain, fatigue, mental wellbeing and quality of life and may offer additional benefits.
Mindful movement practices can seem less intimidating than other types of exercise and offer opportunity for gradual progression. Moreover, pain can often mean developing protective movement patterns but learning to move in varied and novel ways can help people rebuild confidence when it comes to movement. Mindful movement practices can also serve as a foundation for re-engaging with other forms of activity, exercise or sport.
Breathwork
Breathwork is a powerful tool for nervous system regulation which is important as nervous system dysregulation is often part of the picture when people have been living with pain for an extended period of time. The co-ordination of breathwork and movement can bring about physiological changes (altering the sympathetic-adrenal-medullary axis to reduce the reactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis).
Mindfulness
The mindfulness element of mindful movement practices also has many benefits when it comes to pain management. Mindfulness is a well established intervention in chronic pain and mindful movement may be more effective than mindfulness alone (Sud et al., 2021). Being able to slow down and be present with your body in the moment can actually lead to structural changes in the parts of the brain that process the association between movement and pain.
Next Steps
If you have been navigating persistent pain and are curious about exploring mindful movement as a part of your rehabilitation, I would always recommend finding a movement professional with an interest in this area. Working with a movement teacher (whether in person or online) can help you figure out the right level of challenge to begin with, and help you to progress over time within a supportive environment.
Access the introductory module for free.
If you are a pilates instructor or movement teacher that would like to understand how to better support your clients who are living with persistent pain, I created the Pilates & Pain Science course for you so that you can teach movement with greater clarity and confidence. You can sign up to watch the introductory lecture for free.
This blog is based off a presentation that I gave in 2023 for the KZN chapter of Pain SA.
