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For patients suffering from chronic pain, it can be easy to focus only on the extreme pain they are feeling and ways to make that pain subside. This can make finding a treatment to ease the symptoms that come along with chronic pain hard.

Coloring, it turns out, can have a great therapeutic impact on those suffering from many different types of physical pain, and can help control symptoms such as chronic pain, anxiety, and depression. Coloring is good for the mind and body! Here’s why:

Benefits of Coloring For Pain Treatment

When it comes to arthritis therapy methods, why not color outside the lines? According to Harvard Health:

“Art therapy helps lower the perception of pain by moving your mental focus away from the painful stimulus. It is not simply a distraction, but rather a way to teach you how to relax and alter your mood, so the pain doesn’t control your emotional state.” 

While coloring does not replace the need for physical therapy and pain medication, it offers the chance for pain patients to relax their minds and gain a bit of a mental break from thinking about their pain. It can also help to exercise your hands and arms in an easy movement.

A study by The Arts in Psychotherapy found that participating in art therapy for an average of 50 minutes can significantly improve patients’ moods and lower levels of pain and anxiety.

What Art Therapy Entails

Art therapy is practiced by a registered or board-certified art therapist. Your art therapist will help you to understand your pain and work through it by guiding your creative process. This may include painting a picture of your pain on a given day or letting your imagination run wild.

You don’t need to be an artist to benefit from art therapy. Additionally, pain patients of all ages can color from practically everywhere. Whether it’s sitting down, standing, lying in bed, or waiting for your doctor’s appointment.

At Orthopaedic Specialty Group, we’re dedicated to finding the right treatment to manage your chronic pain and ease your symptoms. We provide state of the art interventional pain management targeting spinal and musculoskeletal disorders.
To book an appointment with a pain specialist today, contact us.