Living with chronic pain

Bodies can be incredible but also a huge burden, especially if living with chronic pain. As someone who lives and manages ongoing pain in my hip following the accident, I’ve found a few things that help with living with pain. Nothing truly gets rid of it, but a lot does help so I wanted to share.

1. Look after your home – it sounds so simple but ensuring a good diet is so important. Natural, non-processed, low sugar and low salt food makes a huge difference to how I feel. If I eat rubbish food such as a KFC, I genuinely feel poisoned. Your body is what you eat, so eat well and you’ll have more healing, more energy and more sass for life!

2. Sleep – pain is exhausting so prioritize your sleep. I always travel with military grade ear defenders to cut out noise to help protect my sleep quality. When we’re tired life is so much harder. Scrolling on social media isn’t ideal at bedtime [unless you’re watching my YouTube obs 😉].

3. Supplements – if you have specific pain see what supplements might help you. My hip is bone, cartilage, soft tissue, tendons and ligaments so I take Active Collagen. I’ve been on it over 3 years now and it’s made a huge improvement to the elasticity and strength of my joints and body. I also notice an improvement in my athletic recovery and performance. I use their whey & collagen protein powder for breakfast on my rabbit food [oats] too. It’s a supplement I highly recommend – message me for details but this link gives you up to 20% off with code https://shop.u-perform.co.uk/r1m81 “UPVRUC10”

4. Physio – it sounds obvious but DO your physio, it might be painful and boring as heck, but it will help!! Find the energy now to make tomorrow easier!

5. Mindfullness – be more aware of your thoughts. Dwelling on your pain won’t help, it will just lead to upset, so instead focus on what you CAN do. Do you need to take a pain killer, do you need to stand up, sit down, walk, do physio, do you need to put on some music or call a friend to distract your mind. What CAN you do to change the moment you’re in either with something to help or distract. Being the victim will not help the situation, it will just foster emotion pain.

6. Don’t just ignore it and hope it will go away – ask for help! Especially if it’s mental health. Asking for help is a sign of strength!

7. Hugs and smile – never underestimate the power of a smile and cuddle so do it every chance you can!!! They’re free and unlimited

Let me know what helps you living with chronic pain, there is so much more to this complex existence with pain but I hope these few ideas might help.

If you’re new to my page – it’s more than just dirt bike riding and racing, I’m on a mission to prove that nothing is impossible if you want it bad enough. See more about my story plus read about my life changing accident, which started it all.

You can find me Vanessa, The Girl On A Bike over on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn and YouTube, and www.thegirlonabike.com.