Feeling pain is an unpleasant sensation, especially if it is acute, but it is much worse if it becomes chronic. Chronic pain would be one of the main public health problems today since it affects people’s normal lives, and can even affect their work life with high absenteeism.
“Chronic pain is understood to be pain that persists for more than three months. Acute pain, on the other hand, does not last more than 7 or 10 days. If it lasts longer than that time and does not disappear even with painkillers, it is called chronic.” This is how the professional Italo Mercurino, kinesiologist at the MG Rehabilitation and Performance center, explains it to us. (See highlighted box). And he appreciates that today there is an attempt to change this concept from chronic to “persistent”, because in this way we will talk about a pain that remains over time, “but it does not mean that it will not go away.”
But what would be the causes of chronic pain? We talked about this with the specialist who assured us that there would be many, due to its complexity and he explains it this way. “In Chile the public health profile is very biomedical, that is, it goes to the structure of the problem, without knowing more about the people’s background. For example, a person who goes to the doctor because his elbow has been hurting for three months, the doctor goes directly to attack the elbow and does not know any further background such as what the person does, if he exercises, if he drinks water, if he sleeps well. , etc. Since everything can influence pain, if you are under stress, or if you are depressed. This refers to the biopsychosocial approach that not only concerns the biological characteristics of the patient, but also the behavioral and social characteristics.”
He adds that research shows that the majority of pathologies that are chronic pain have no correlation with what the doctor finds with imaging. “That is why it has been detected that many people have not yet recovered. There are two problems here, the health system we have in Chile and the world, having the shortest times for medical care.”
INFLAMED BODY
Living in the era of immediacy, with long work hours, where physical exercise is not a priority, it is a concern. Today exercise is the best free drug and should be mandatory, says this kinesiologist. “If you do it vigorously for one or two hours a week, that’s enough. But we see that children, for example, are already developing dynapenia, which is when we begin to lose strength and muscle mass with age because they do not exercise and are glued to technology.”
According to Ítalo Mercurino, we live with a permanent inflammatory state since we eat ultra-processed foods, we don’t exercise and we are more stressed. “Then the body becomes inflamed to such a point that diseases appear that can affect any part of the body. The body has a great capacity to adapt and self-heal, but if you do not take care of it or exercise, it will not have this capacity.”
He insists that pain is an unpleasant sensation, individual and non-transferable, and is seen as something bad, “but it is part of life, we will all feel it, therefore, it is important to see what one attributes to this painful experience. Most believe that the pain is due to damage and feel fear. You can have pain and there is no damage, just as there can be damage and there is no pain,” explains the expert. “It is an alert, a warning from the brain that tells you that something bad is happening or there is an eventual threat. “It is a sensory experience that also depends on contextual psychosocial factors and what people’s lifestyle is like.”
SPORTS PERFORMANCE
Kinesiological Rehabilitation takes care of some pathology such as an injury or persistent pain. And there is also performance where a kinesiologist can help us both in our own health by preventing diseases, and in our sports performance, especially if it is an athlete.
“Physical activity is anything that makes me expend energy, such as going for a walk, climbing a flight of stairs, or doing the toilet. Physical exercise is planned where I use external load and encourage the development of certain skills such as strength or endurance. Sport, meanwhile, involves rules and team or individual work. They are all different things, but the ideal is to do physical exercise,” explains the kinesiologist. “The stronger you are, the more you reduce your mortality rate. That is why I would recommend strength training for health reasons, rather than cardio, which is still good because it improves your cardio-respiratory system, but today strength training has been shown to have a greater impact on our health, from children to adults. greater”.
This is how Ítalo and the professionals who serve at their center create guidelines for each of the people who require it, depending on the sport they practice. Many come to them wanting to improve their physical condition to avoid injuries. “This is voluntary or due to previous experiences, to improve their performance in the sport they practice,” and he declares that they serve players from various disciplines such as soccer, tennis, volleyball, basketball, polo, golf or paddle tennis. “At MG Rehabilitación you can request an evaluation that lasts about 60 or 70 minutes, just like in each session. These are totally individual and can be in person, at home or online.”
Finally, Ítalo tells us that one of his professional concerns is teaching. That is why this year he will begin teaching classes at the UOH to first-year students in Medicine with the Society and Health course. In his opinion, people need to be educated as this can change the concept of pain. “Hopefully people can learn more about this as it will be vital in recovery,” he points out.
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