Patient was instructed today regarding practicing distraction technique for pain management as follows:
- Distraction is an alternative pain management technique of shifting the attention away.
- Distraction can help with masking and reducing the experience of pain, by consciously training the mind to focus on an activity, but does not completely terminate the pain.
- Practice distraction technique by doing some art work, such as, painting. You can try different colors and shades, to make the painting look better. You can also try other art works, such as, knitting, designing, and decoration. If you try room decoration as a distraction technique, you can rearrange the furniture and paintings, to see if it would appeal better.
- While selecting art work as a distraction technique, choose an option that has room to explore and experiment. Focusing on novelty, excellence and minute details of the craft, can help shift your focus from the pain and distress.
- Since shifting the attention from pain could be difficult when the pain level is high, start practicing distraction when the pain level is manageable and gradually move on to practicing it with high pain levels, as you gain more control on practicing the technique.
