Sunflower's advice was very good. Although I'm not on painkillers, I am on benzos for anxiety. I also had to make that decision between quality of life and whether I wanted to be on addictive substances.
Benzos do not give me any kind of rush or high or euphoria. I feel perfectly normal on them, just not so agitated all the time. If you can find a pain killer which makes you feel 'normal' but without pain, then I would definitely use them.
There was a friend of mine who's brother was in a horrible explosion, and was severely burned. To be able to do all the skin grafts they needed to do, they put him into a morphine induced coma. He was in that state for multiple months while he went through surgery after surgery. When the surgeries were done, they did a slow withdrawal on him, using other types of pain meds to keep the pain tolerable.
As long as you are being regularly medically monitored, then I don't think you're setting yourself up for any problems. I've been on benzos for over 3 years now. I was a one dosing for about a year, dropped down as my anxiety levels decreased, and recently, due to major stressors in my life, was told by my doctor to up the dosage a smidgeon. All of my changes in dosing have been done under close watch by a doctor.
You may become "dependent" (not addicted - addiction is when you keep wanting more and more, and you lose control over how much you're taking etc) upon the drug, but dependency isn't always a bad thing. In my case, it makes my life livable. Physiological dependence does not always correlate to a psychological dependence or even to a psychological problem.
And I am in STRONG agreement with Sunflower that no one else knows what you are experiencing. Only you know that. So don't listen to what all the people who want to fear-monger you are saying. Make the decision that is right for you, the decision which gives you quality of life both physically and emotionally.
As a side note: I used to practice Judo (before I ripped my shoulder up). One of the black belt Senseis (instructors) was missing both of his kneecaps, and he could still take a person out in a blink of an eye. It took him a while to recover, but he did and he continued on with his lifelong love of Judo (which is more like wrestling than like Karate, it's a knee intensive sport).