Unlike other forms of illnesses which are usually short lived, pain is debilitating and can turn out to be your enemy -especially when it becomes chronic. For instance, pain can rob you off your energy, and thus reduce your productivity at work, make you unable to spend your quality time with friends, and deny you opportunities to enjoy other things. This therefore calls for proper management initiatives to counter the effects of pain.
How to manage pain without medication
When it comes to pain management, you can resort to various approaches. However, the use of drug alternatives seems to be on an upward trend. Here are some of the alternative pain management practices that do not entail the use of drugs:
- Mind and body therapies- Here, you can use therapies such as meditation, guided imagery, relaxation, laughter, hypnosis, biofeedback, and others. The main goal of these therapies is to change one’s mental/emotional state by utilizing physical movements to achieve mental relaxation, and thus reducing the amplification of pain perception.
- Chiropractic- This is another pain management therapy that helps treat pain in both skeletal and muscular systems. During chiropractic sessions, a chiropractor uses their hands to heal the body’s complaints, mainly by relaxing nerves and enhancing blood flow to the injury sites. This form of pain treatment is considered to be very safe, as it does not use any form of prescription drug. It instead relies on the body’s self-healing mechanism to achieve its goals.
- Acupuncture- This form of pain treatment has been in existence for over 2500 years. Here, your technician will carefully place needles into pressure points of your nervous system which can help dramatically reduce pain.
- Massage - Massage helps in chronic pain management, as it offers therapeutic benefits. Be it the deep tissue massage to gentler techniques, massage helps relax sore tissues and muscles and eases chronic pain. From a study by the Annals of Internal Medicine, it was found that the benefits of massage in easing lower back pain lasts longer than six months.
- Hot and Cold Therapy - Heat therapy increases the blood flow to those areas of the body which are in pain due to inflammation, thereby allowing muscles to relax. You can either apply a heat wrap or a heating pad, or relax in a hot bath for pain management, which is soothing for the body and the soul. Cold therapy is also found to be useful in managing pain. It slows the blood flow to a painful joint, due to which swelling is reduced and nerves are not able to send messages of pain quickly. Applying a cold wrap, ice, or a cold pack eases a flaring, painful joint.
- TENS Treatment – Electrical stimulation of the area where the pain is localized actually helps you alleviate it. TENS, or transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, is an electrical stimulation technique which is most often used in managing pain. Under this form of treatment, a small device is attached to the skin, which sends electrical impulses to the painful area and stimulates the nerves, resulting in the reduction of pain.
If you are looking for a chiropractor in Tustin for chiropractic treatment, contact us today. Our safest and effective treatments help you improve both physically and mentally.
