Chronic Pain? Try a Brisk Walk
For people who live with chronic pain, getting up, out and moving can seem daunting. Some fear that physical activity will make their pain worse. But in fact, researchers find the opposite is true: The right kind of exercise can help reduce pain.
Today, Emma Dehne agrees. Dehne is 44, lives in Chapel Hill, N.C., and works as a business officer in the office of the executive vice chancellor at the University of North Carolina. She says her commitment to exercise is relatively recent.
Just a year and a half ago, Dehne pretty much avoided any physical movement she didn’t have to make. Just climbing stairs was painful — “sometimes to the point where I would have to hold on to the banister to help myself up,” she says, “and I couldn’t even extend my leg.” At times, it felt as though the ligaments in her knees “were tearing.”
Excerpted from NPR
