Older People’s Perceptions of Remaining Physically Active and Living With Chronic Pain

Abstract

Active aging, using the conventional sense of activity, might be difficult to achieve for people with chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP). Given that a large number of older people will develop CMP, it is important to consider a broader conceptualization of activity and how this might fit into discourses of aging. We report findings from a study of the experiences of chronic pain in the daily life of 60 older people. In this article we focus on the role and meanings of physical activity for those older people. We develop a typology of styles-deliberate, strategic and natural-to show how people approached physical activity and how its meaning differed for individuals in different contexts and across their life course. We suggest a more balanced perspective of aging in which "slowing down" might also be a desirable outcome for some older people with CMP, but is not incompatible with well-being.

The Understanding of Pain by Older Adults Who Consider Themselves to Have Aged Successfully

“…In regard to the latter, maintaining independence and keeping active emerged as important (Grime et al, ; Sofaer‐Bennett et al, ). Moore et al () argued that such coping strategies may reflect a process whereby individuals are able to normalize their symptoms within their own biography, thereby limiting their impact and sustaining a sense of successful ageing. Such strategies also reflect the notion of adaptation within the selective optimization with compensation model of successful ageing proposed by Baltes and Baltes ().…”

Interpreting intracorporeal landscapes: how patients visualize pathophysiology and utilize medical images in their understanding of chronic musculoskeletal illness

“…Study 1 investigated older adults’ experiences of interference from chronic pain in later life [46,47]. The study used semi-structured interviews to explore older adults’ (aged 55 and over) experiences of different pain states, with the aim of examining how older people can best be helped to age well in the presence of musculoskeletal pain.…”

“…A purposive sample of 60 people was selected using maximum variation sampling [48]. A full account of the methods for this study is provided elsewhere [46,47]. Study 2 was a nested qualitative study within a large clinical trial (Benefits of Exercise for Knee Pain: ISRCTN 93634563) that compared three physiotherapy-led exercise interventions.…”

“…While such references were not common to all participants (nor directly elicited within the initial interview schedule), they appeared to be indicative of how a proportion of the participants from both studies understood their pathophysiology. Further details of the primary analyses for the original studies are provided elsewhere [46,47,49,50].…”

Pain that does not interfere with daily life—a new focus for population epidemiology and public health?

“…The 'disability paradox' states that the degree of disability does not equate to disease severity, such that a good quality of life includes acknowledging impairment, having a degree of control, being able to fulfil roles, having purpose and meaning in life, and engaging in reciprocity [2]. Accordingly, living well with chronic pain can also be attributed to physical and social activity and involvement, within one's capabilities, and with flexibility to adapt [44], alongside the meaning that such activity and involvement hold within the person's life [35].…”