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i. 3 Types of Pain
Most people might have experienced body pain but may not fully understand the cause of it. There are several types of pain as well as different ways to deal with it.
A. Acute pain
- Lasts no longer than three months.
- Even though it is intense, it ends quickly.
- Typically, a minor physical factor is to blame for it. For example, overdoing exercises in yoga class
B. Subacute pain
- It can last for one to three months.
- Like acute pain, it resolves relatively quickly and is usually attributable to a minor physical reason
C. Chronic pain, for more than three months (such as persistent back pain)
- It isn't always brought on by a physical wound.
- When an injury causes chronic pain, it may persist even after the pain has fully healed.
These types of pain may happen to everyone and possibly, your employees have experienced one, or all, of them, so how should we prevent body pain from exacerbating an employee's work lives?
ii. 3 Tips to Alleviate Body Pain
A. Reducing sedentary behaviour
Movement has been proven to reduce the chance of getting body pain. However, when we are absorbed into our daily tasks at hand, it is easy to forget and forgo our need to not remain seated for hours. Iit is essential to include as many types of movement breaks throughout the day. The key here is to blend these movement breaks into your daily routine.
For instance,
? Walking to the kitchen/pantry when you’re thirsty to grab a drink
? Walking to the nearest food stall when you’re hungry to get lunch
? Standing every hour via a sit/stand desk
This reduces the inertia for incorporating deliberate, intentional movement such as a dedicated hour for exercise by simply riding on an existing habit.
B. Time your breaks
Over recent years, productivity applications such as the pomodoro timer better help us schedule movement breaks in between long hours of work. Taking quick breaks every hour or so goes a long way in curbing the ill effects of prolonged sedentary time. Timers help to provide audible cues for us to perform an action, ie. stand up, perform stretches at our desks, etc.
C. Listen to your pain
Analogous to touching a hot stove, our bodies’ pain receptors act as cues for us to move. On a similar note, when we feel the aches and pains in our neck, back, and shoulders, it should also be viewed as a cue for us to start moving. The benefits of movement far outweighs the best ergonomic set-up. As the saying goes: the best posture is your next posture, implying that movement is essential to pain reduction and prevention.
iii. The Start Is Always The Hardest
Start small by including at least 3 movement breaks throughout the day. The key to being pain-free is the sustainability of your healthy habits. An effective exercise program loses its effectiveness if it is not adhered to in the long haul. Similarly, the habits formed in your pain-free journey have to be sustainable. Thus, guidance and accompaniment are important to help you sustain in the journey of preventing and getting rid of that body pain.
iv. How Lexly Can Help You Get Started
At Lexly, our mobile application aims to address the loss of productivity caused by musculoskeletal pains that have been costing employers billions of dollars.
We believe the key to the reduction and prevention of musculoskeletal pains consist of education, guidance, and follow-up support, all of which are in-built within our upcoming application.
With Lexly, you will be able to:
a. Treat pain conveniently at home
Busy schedule should not be an excuse to ignore your health. Our app has taken it into consideration and now you are able to relieve pain with 5 minutes of exercises at home. No more travelling back and forth, and trying to book time slots with your practitioner.
We work with trusted physiotherapists and health coaches who will help you achieve your goals at the comfort of your own home.
b. Utilize our AI guidance for your pain-relief journey
Guidance plays a pivotal role in complementing a user’s pain-free journey. Our AI technology detects your exercise form and provides corrective feedback when you are doing the exercises wrongly. Feel confident in your form whilst on your pain-relief journey.
c. Use our app as your reminder buddy
Motivation gets you started, but discipline keeps you on track. Lexly provides daily, bite-sized tips as well as push notifications to act as cues for our users to get them moving, ensuring they stay on-track on their journey with us.
Parting note
Pain shouldn’t be looked in isolation. Instead, a more holistic angle should be adopted when treating pains, taking into consideration a user’s pain levels, mental well-being and other variable factors such as weight and productivity levels.
Hence, at Lexly, we use the biopsychosocial model to allow us to better understand our users from a broader perspective, providing a more effective solution for musculoskeletal related pains.