Managing Back or Chronic Pain is a skill that has to be learned. In fact, managing Back or Chronic Pain successfully means bringing into play a number of skills such as pacing and goal setting; and also relaxation.

Find it hard to relax? If this is you, you may feel you're the only one with the problem, and failing where others succeed effortlessly. In reality our society values activity almost for its own sake. Think about how you might react to the following:

"Today I mowed the lawn, washed the car and finally got round to doing that clearing out I had been promising myself to do for ages."

"Today I took things slowly. Instead of rushing around doing things for others, or to keep my home nice, I took care of myself."

For most people the first statement seems to have more value. Small wonder then, that most of us are not very good at relaxing.

Chronic pain sufferers inevitably try to protect themselves from the pain. For example, by developing different ways of standing, sitting, moving and so on, that avoid using the painful area. What actually happens here is the overworked muscles become very much tighter, while others are under-worked. This compounds the problem of poor relaxation by leaving a substantial section of your musculature permanently tensed up, and makes it much harder to achieve effective relaxation.

Some of those who have ended up in this situation may turn to alcohol and drugs to help them to relax. Clearly, this is not a wise move. It doesn't address the underlying causes and both can bring on other serious problems - to the user and their family.

There are many ways of relaxing. Taking a walk, reading a book, listening to music, learning Yoga or T'ai Chi, painting, sewing, baking. These may or may not appeal to you, but we are sure you can think of something that you would enjoy.

Pain tends to make people anxious. But if the pain is not serious and the cause is known - say dropping something on your foot, or taking something out of the oven - then we tend not to become excessively anxious. Chronic pain on the other hand, can lead to almost chronic anxiety. It's human nature to worry whether the pain will get worse and what happens if it does. Surveys have shown that people who are anxious are slower to recover from a flare-up than those who are not.

Anxiety affects not only the mind, but the body too. In both anxiety and acute pain situations, the body mobilises for an emergency. Heart rate and blood pressure rise, breathing becomes more rapid, sweating begins and muscles tense up, making the person feel even more uncomfortable. Anxiety increases and the cycle goes on.