Managing Chronic Pain & Stress With Self Care
- Heather Oliver
- 21 hours ago
- 5 min read
What's Inside:
Anyone with chronic pain knows how badly it can affect your quality of life. Many of us at Alkali can relate. Whether it’s from an injury, an autoimmune disease, migraines and tension headaches, fibromyalgia, carpal tunnel, or another of the many ailments that can strike the human body, relief and pain management are crucial to your overall wellbeing and happiness.
The good news is, self care can significantly improve your quality of life. And this isn’t about us trying to sell a service—it’s a fact.Â
The Link Between Chronic Pain and Stress
It’s common knowledge that stress can wreak havoc on the body and the mind. But did you know it’s scientifically proven to be linked to chronic pain? Studies have found that those with chronic pain also have a stress intolerance, or develop an intolerance because of their pain.Â
But because stress is subjective and everyone experiences it differently and from different factors, you may not even realize how stressed you really are. What’s stressful to one person may not be to another, and vice versa.
Stress Is Not a Weakness
So, the first step to dealing with chronic pain is to accept that stress isn’t a weakness. You also need to acknowledge that stress levels are unique to the individual. The walls don’t need to be caving in at cataclysmic levels for you to be stressed out. Daily life alone can cause an immense amount of stress, especially if you’re not taking steps to manage it.
Taking Care of Yourself is Not a Luxury
The next step is taking care of yourself.
And taking care of yourself doesn’t just mean exercising, eating well, and getting enough sleep. Chronic pain sufferers often struggle with these necessities because of their pain!
A common misconception is that self care is a luxury. But if you’re in constant pain or stressed, or you want to prevent chronic pain and keep your mental health at optimal levels, self care is as necessary as the basics.Â
How you feel mentally and physically affect your health. It's high time we stop being so dismissive of this. Unmanaged negative emotions and attitudes can actually cause chronic stress—and stress can cause a plethora of unwanted health conditions affecting your body and your mind.
Chronic pain and other negative health conditions can also cause stress—see the pattern? Neglecting self care can cause you to fall into a vicious cycle of "stress, pain, pain stress" that makes you feel worse and worse.
Therefore, anyone who claims self care is a luxury or that it's selfish is just flat out wrong. Sorry, not sorry.Â
Now, is self care a magic bullet for all your ailments? Of course not. Nothing is. With self care, the best results are seen over time, with repeated care. Think of it like weight loss. You can't hop on a treadmill for one day and lose 20 pounds. And complaining about it doesn't help either—believe me, I've tried.😂
Just like anything else, self care takes time to fully reap the benefits. That doesn't mean you won't get relief in a single self care service visit. You absolutely can. For instance, when I got my first head spa treatment, I was in such a deep state of relaxation when it was over I was wondering if I could even get up (in a good way).
So while you can and will see results in one visit, if you really want to improve your condition long term, a one-time visit just won't cut it.
Budgeting for Self Care
When feeling the pinch of rising prices or an uncertain economy, self care is often the first to go. While that seems to make sense on the surface, you're kinda cutting your nose off to spite your face by doing this.
Here's the thing:
If you're not taking care of yourself, the chances of stress turning into a negative health condition is much higher. So maybe you're saving money by dropping self care services—but at what cost?
The truth is, if you're not mentally and physically healthy, it's going to hit your bank account eventually as well—and likely at a higher expense. Whereas a self care regimen can head many conditions off at the pass, just by keeping you feeling good, relaxed, AND pampered.
Yes, pampered.Â
Most of us think we don't have the luxury of being pampered. But that's not true. It's about choices and budgeting for it. Maybe a weekly massage or a head spa treatment is just not feasible for you. But a monthly or even bi-monthly one could be. The key is consistency, not necessarily frequency.Â
Maybe you need to start off with more frequent visits until you reach a good place for maintenance self care visits. All of this can and should be discussed with your provider, who can devise a treatment plan that fits your needs and your budget.Â
Don't be afraid to ask about costs! That's with any service. For some, this can be uncomfortable, but it's better (and less stressful) to have that conversation upfront. At Alkali, we offer free consultations for this very reason, and we encourage anyone to take advantage of that.
Professional Self Care Treatments for Chronic Pain and Stress Management
For stress and pain management, the following services are highly recommended:
Authentic Japanese Head Spa Treatments
Head spa treatments promote relaxation, lower cortisol levels, and reduces tension in the head, neck, and shoulders. Studies have shown scalp massages have noticeable positive effects on lowering stress, blood pressure, and the heart rate.
Floating
The effects of sensory deprivation aka floating have been found to have many benefits, including helping chronic pain, lowering stress, improving sleep, and more.
Vichy Shower Treatment
A Vichy shower treatment is a horizontal shower that uses water and temperature controls to stimulate relaxation, lypmpahtic circulation, and removal of toxins. It has numerous health benefits and is a offered as a pre-massage add-on service at Alkali. Vichy showers are also included in our body wrap services.
Massage therapy
Massages are popular for relaxation and pain relief and studies have also shown them to be beneficial for pain and stress relief, as well as other conditions like fibromyalgia, autoimmune conditions, arthritis, and more. There are numerous, specialized techniques that can target specific conditions, including lymphatic drainage, cupping therapy, deep tissue, swedish, hot stone, sports, and prenatal massages. Your massage therapist can help you determine which would be best and more effective for you.
Hair Care
Yes, hair! Believe it or not, it's been found that beauty has an impact on your mental health too. When you look good, you feel good. Never underestimate the power of good hair!
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Last, but most important of all. You are worth it! You deserve to live your best life. Never feel guilty for doing what you can to ensure that’s possible.
Self Care: The Bottom Line
Professional self care services can in fact change your life and help chronic pain. Wherever you choose to get them, just make sure the providers are skilled and qualified to perform their services and that it’s a welcoming, safe space for maximum benefit.
Want to help manage chronic pain and stress—or help prevent it? Our luxury spa offers self care services that focus on the mind, body, and spirit.