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From the Battlefield to Biopsychosocial Healing: My Pain Story

A Canadian military veteran shares their journey of living with chronic pain, highlighting the impact on their life, family, and identity. They discuss strategies learned through personal experience and resources like the Power Over Pain Portal and the Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence for Canadian Veterans. As a former member of the Lived Experience Advisory Committee, they emphasize the importance of accessible, vetted tools and resources to support pain management for individuals and their loved ones.

My Pain Story - (A VETERAN’S PAIN STORY) 

I don’t even know when my pain started. I was in the Canadian military for 18 and a half years, did two combat tours, three humanitarian tours, including some domestic operations. And this was natural, right? We're taught as a soldier, part of the military identity, that pain is weakness, and so you leave the body. I was one of those guys and instructors in the story. I just thought it was normal. I didn't realize how much it was affecting everything biopsychosocial until I couldn't even walk. And then someone said, “Hey, you see those benches on the walks, those are for you now.” It's like, no way. I still went to the gym and worked out hard. And they're like, how's that working for you? Then I wouldn't hit a gym for a month or two. When I returned, they were like, “You've got to use those lighter weights”. I realized that pain was a fact of life, and there are ways that you can increase the pain or decrease it, you know, rest early, rest off and rest before you need to, so that you can keep doing things. You can keep going to the gym and hit those light multicolored weights. Pain gets worse as you get older, and you learn to start living with it. You learn to know your limits and stay within them. 

What I do with pain flares

When I flare and the pain is worst, I practice breathing techniques and pacing, and this lessens my pain. When I flare, it's because of something I'm doing (or not doing). It’s a reminder for me to return to my pain management strategies. It's just a fact of life now. 

Lived Experience Advisory Committee of the Power Over Pain Portal 

I was asked to join the Lived Experience Advisory Committee (LEAC) before the Portal went live. We are a group of people with different life experience and different experiences of pain; we worked for almost one year providing feedback on everything from the design of the Portal to each resource. For example, someone might say, “Here’s a great video on meditation. Give us your opinion on it,” and I try it and notice that the background noise (my auditory system) triggers a PTSD response. I offer feedback on resources from a veteran perspective and offer my opinion if I think it’s beneficial for veterans. The meditation video might be good for someone else, but not for veterans. You know how you can doom scroll on the internet to try to find something that will help your pain? Not on the Portal. Everything you see can help; everything you see has been vetted, and everything you see are resources that people can use – they offer tools, and tips and tricks to help manage your pain. As someone who lives with pain, and as a past member of LEAC, I tell people that the Portal is a great place to start and learn more about understanding and managing chronic pain. It keeps growing, improving – for example, we’re now on the 3rd iteration of the Portal. New videos get added, including new workshops, and resources keep getting added. It’s there when you need it – you may not need it every day, but when you do, it’s there for you, and it’s free! I also suggest to people that if you know someone who lives with pain, pass it on. It helps. It’s safe. It’s vetted so you can trust it. 

Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence for Canadian Veterans

I’ve also learned pain management strategies from the Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence for Canadian Veterans (CPCoE), a resource available on the Portal. Working with CPCoE was quite interesting, because I was in the military, there was a few other military people. And there were some civilians, there were some first responders, but it was interesting, there was a common reoccurring theme, right, even though some were single moms, some were single women, widowed men, some were young guys, even younger than me, and I noticed that there were some communalities in each person’s stories. And even though I couldn’t relate to each story (each person’s experience of pain including pain management), I saw how we each learned differently, how we each applied strategies differently, but most of all, and like my wife reminds me regularly, pain doesn’t just affect the person living with pain. 

The Power Over Pain Portal meets people where they are

Pain effects everyone. Just like being a member of LEAC, hearing everyone’s feedback on resources is interesting and important – you see how everyone learns differently, is affected by pain differently, and manages it differently, and on the Portal there are different types of resources, like a podcast, a video, or a course, that meets people where they are. Everyone benefits from this including my three awesome kids and my wife. It isn’t only people living with pain that benefit. Everyone touched by pain can benefit. Both (CPCoE & the Portal) offer resources where you can get some tips or tricks that can almost be for anyone who's in pain at all different ages, levels, sex, including nonbinary people.