There are many different ways in which you can control pain with your mind and a really interesting article shared the following suggestions:
Altered focus
This powerful technique involves focusing your attention on any specific non-painful part of the body (hand, foot, etc.) and altering sensation in that part of the body. For example, imagine your hand warming up. This will take the mind away from focusing on the source of your pain.
Mental anesthesia
This technique, also very powerful, is done by imagining an injection of numbing anesthetic (like the Novocain a dentist uses) into your area of pain. Similarly, you may then wish to imagine a soothing and cooling ice pack being placed onto the area of pain.
Mental analgesia
Building on the mental anesthesia concept, this technique involves imagining an injection of a strong pain killer, such as morphine, into the painful area. Along the same lines, you can focus on imagining your brain producing massive amounts of endorphins, your body’s natural pain relieving hormones, and having them flood into to the painful parts of your body.
Transfer
Use your mind to produce altered sensations, such as heat, cold, anesthetic, in a non-painful hand, and place the hand on the painful area. Envision transferring this pleasant, altered sensation into the painful area.
Pain movement
Mentally move your pain from one area of your body to another where you think the pain will be easier for you to handle. If you can’t take another minute of your leg pain, for example, mentally move the pain up from your leg and into your lower back. Or you can move your pain out of your body and into the air.
Source: spine-health.com
I have used each of these before, but I love the way they are so succinctly described.
The article suggests practicing the techniques 30 minutes 3 times per week. I would suggest trying them all and find which ones are best for you and practice those ones, this way you extend on your strengths and I believe get better results from your pain management.
Some other techniques to consider can be found is the post called “The A’s and D’s of pain management”
