What is resilience training and why is it important for my chronic knee pain and overall health?
The Mayo Clinic defines resilience as follows:
“Resilience is your ability to adapt well and recover quickly after stress, adversity, trauma or tragedy.
If you have a resilient disposition, you are better able to maintain poise and a healthy level of physical and psychological wellness in the face of life's challenges.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, being less resilient can have consequences, including:
• Dwelling on problems
• Feeling overwhelmed
• Using unhealthy methods to cope with stress
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Burnout
For people with chronic knee pain, here are several possible consequences of stress that could get in the way of feeling better:
• Feeling depressed may worsen knee pain
• Feeling overwhelmed may reduce your energy and motivation to exercise
• Eating more to cope with stress may lead to weight gain
• Anxiety might make you avoid people and become isolated
• Stress can increase blood pressure and worsen inflammation in joints
Minorities with chronic knee pain and other chronic conditions may need additional reserves of resilience because of greater than average stress. Caregivers need just as much resilience as patients. Some caregivers would say they need more!
As we move through life’s ups and downs, resilience gives us the ability to bounce back, to pick ourselves up when we fall. To keep going. Sometimes called “mental toughness”, resilience is vital when we face health challenges. It’s a skill that prevent burnout. And it appears that a resilient disposition can be strengthened as well as being something you are born with – hence the importance of resilience training.
How does it work? Where can I find it?
Mayo Clinic's Department of Integrative Medicine and Health department offers resilience education and training to help you develop positive strategies to manage stress and foster resilience in your life. The program offers individual or group sessions in the Stress Management and Resiliency Training program.
Kaiser Permanente recently ran this short video to coincide with March Madness, featuring Stephen Curry: youtu.be/x1MUx42Zzyk
“Stress adversely affects the health of many of our members and patients, so we wanted to put out a message of hope, embodied by Stephen’s example, that you can manage stress rather than having stress manage you,” says Don Mordecai, MD, Kaiser Permanente’s national leader for mental health and wellness. “The first step to tackling stress may be to start a conversation with your support system — family, friends and physicians — to begin your path toward resilience.” Their special website, findyourwords.org/ provides some helpful guidance.
If you think resilience training is something that you could benefit from, here are some ideas to get this type of support:
• Start by asking your healthcare provider about programs they may have. You might be surprised by what is available to people who show an interest (and your provider may have incorrectly assumed you would not be interested).
• A mental health therapist can help with resilience training. Many will provide free counseling for those who cannot afford to pay.
• Church groups are a form of resilience training. Take a look at the Start Moving Start Living Fact Sheet on the subject and see if your church has created support: startmovingstartliving.com/...
• Use Google to find out what is going on in your community - there are many resilience programs in place in most cities and hospital systems
