Be honest now, you're one of those people who pushes yourself as hard as you can to complete an activity, aren't you? And then suffer terribly from the pain? Well you are not alone. It's a common coping strategy for people who have chronic pain. And it's completely ineffective.

Chronic pain is much more common than most people realize. It can be caused by repeated back or neck injuries, arthritic change in joints, high level sports activity, road accidents, operations or illness. It can take over your life and make it so much less satisfying than you hoped.

If you answered yes to the question at the beginning you are a person who likes to get things done. A person who needs to finish things once they are started, who doesn't like loose ends. "I used to be able to.." will be a common theme going through your mind as you determine not to give in, not to be beaten. So when you have to get something done, you do it and hang the consequences.

And oh yes, there are consequences. Your pain is much worse for the rest of the day, a few days or a week. During this time you are limited in what you can do and feel frustrated at your inability to function in what you see as a normal manner.

This is the Over-Under Activity Cycle, where you swing from doing too little to doing too much, trapped in an endless cycle. It is a counterproductive behaviour which can make you more disabled with time.

And yes, there is a way you can break out of this cycle and reclaim some of your life. It's called Pacing. Follow these simple rules and you too will start to get your control back.

1. Choose an activity you tend to overdo and suffer badly afterwards. Choose your worst one.

2. Time (yes, with a watch!) how long you can do the activity before the pain comes on or worsens. You might need to do it a few times to get the average right.

3. Take 20% off that average time and record that as your quota.

4. Next time you do the activity, do not go over your quota. Stop when the time is up no matter where you are in the activity.

5. When you stop, rest for at least twice your quota time. Do another activity if you want, but not related to the original one.

6. Continue with your paced activity sessions until you have finished the task. Sometimes you may have to leave longer periods between sessions to avoid a pain increase. And you may not get it all done in one day.

7. When you can do the paced time without problems, decide to increase your quota by no more than 10%.

8. Always decide how much of an activity you are going to do before you start.

9. Stick to the times, not how you feel. Your emotions are a trap, don't let them mislead you.

10. Beware good days in particular, that's when you get overconfident and tend to push too hard.

Is this process easy? No! It's very hard to do and very annoying. It goes against all the ingrained habits you may have been brought up with. But my patients say it's the single most useful pain management strategy my team teaches them.

Yes I know, things have got to be done. And it is the Eleventh Commandment after all, that thou shalt not leave anything undone. Or at least it seems that way. However, you can find a better way, a way which puts you in control of your life. You do not want your pain in control. "I could never do that" people say. I know it's hard, but we all have the choice of how we behave and you can choose to do things the old way or try something new.

To be really good at pacing you need to accept the difficulties in your life. That's not the same as resignation to your fate. None of us are as we were, and we often have to accept the limitations which our pain or other difficulties place upon us. You cannot break through the Pain Barrier, it's too deep to get through. Work with, not against, your body and you will get results.

Pacing is a simple concept but a complex and difficult skill. There's a lot more to it but you can apply these principles today and improve your life. There's a lot more to it than I can cover in a short article, for further information see below.

Jonathan Blood Smyth is author of Secrets of Pacing and a Superintendent Physiotherapist in an NHS Hospital in the South-West of the UK. With over 15 years experience of managing orthopaedic conditions and looking after joint replacements, he now specializes in the management of chronic pain conditions. For more information on these and other subjects see The Physiotherapy Site. Copyright J Blood Smyth 2006.