Join Jilly Bond in discussing One Thing she wants people challenged by pain to know. Is there one thing to change pain? Explore the current state of pain science research and clinical practice in this straight-to-the-point interview with Jilly.
About Jilly Bond
Jilly Bond is qualified as a Physiotherapist in the pelvic health space. She has opened her own pelvic health clinic and started teaching professional development courses in 2016. Jilly has sat on the national executive committee for Pelvic, Obstetric, Gynaecological Physiotherapy journal and written for many international journals. She is now completing her PhD in pelvic pain at Brunel University London. Find out more about Jilly here.
Transcript
Millie: What is one thing you want people challenged by pain to know?
Jilly: Well, I think it’s really important for people who are experiencing pain at the moment to know that there is not one treatment out there for them.
And a lot of people are searching to find the one thing that’s going to really change their situation, the operation, the injection, the medication, the physio, the – any other treatments that one treatment’s going to change things. But what we know from the evidence and what we know from research is that actually, persistent pain changes, which is really hopeful.
But that also it, there are such a huge amount of treatments that can change pain. So there isn’t just one thing for every person that’s going to knock pain on the head or really make a big change to you. There are thousands of little things and everyone is different. So what works for one person is not going to be the same for someone else, but there are some commonalities.
So working on things like your sleep, getting some movement or exercise. That makes you feel good, moving in a way that feels good. Making sure your nutrition is good, are some really basic steps that you can take. But what we know is that it’s when you want to change a pain experience, we start by doing a thousand little things and all of that just helps to bring down some of the symptoms associated with pain and starting to make a difference to your pain experience.
Millie: That’s so great. So since there are thousands of little things we can be doing right now, what are some little interventions or things, or strategies that people can use right in this moment if they’ve got pain that can help them, perhaps reduce their pain or gradually get better over time?
Jilly: So some of the really simple stuff that is often overlooked, especially in persistent pelvic pain, which is where I work most of the time, is the little things like making sure that you’re moving your bowels comfortably.
And when you’re taking a lot of pain medication, it’s really easy to get constipated, but doing things to really change how your bowels move easily by changing your nutrition. So you’re getting a lot of fluid, you’re getting more fibre, and then the position that you have a poo in can really help your pain.
And that sounds weird, but it can, because if we can just calm down each one of our organs inside our pelvic bowl, inside the pelvic space, that can really have a, a massive knock-on effect on your general pain if everything is functioning happily. So getting your bowels calmed down, making sure that your bladder is working calmly.
You don’t feel like you’re urgent, not having to. Simple, tiny little things like that. Reducing your caffeine intake as well as getting your, yourself moving, trying different positions, trying different exercises. And it doesn’t have to be a level exercise. It can be going for a walk, walking up a hill, walking down a hill, whatever feels good to you.
Yoga, some stretches, some tie gong. But little things build up over time and sometimes just getting the basics right can make a massive difference to how you experience your pain and how, certainly how you experience flares and help them to bring down.
Millie: Amazing, well thank you so much Jilly for joining us and thank you for telling us your one thing or your many things that people challenged by pain should know.
So thank you so much.
Jilly: My pleasure