When Pain Won’t Go, Consider a Non-Invasive Treatment
By Sandy Schroeder
Gulping a painkiller and moving on with the day is an all too popular solution when pain occurs. But Harvard Health reminds us there are other, much healthier, pain options out there when pain just seems to hang on forever.
In a society that has turned prescription opioids into an epidemic, these are simple choices that require no invasive procedures or pills.
Going Natural
There's no chance you'll become addicted using these methods for pain relief.
- Cold or heat - Most of know the relief of collapsing on the couch with a heating pad when an aching back demands relief. Your chiropractor can advise you on the best versions of cold or heat to provide deep penetrating pain relief for muscle and tissue. Or you can simply make an ice cold pack or use a heating pad as a starter.
- Exercise - Being active may successfully interrupt ongoing patterns of pain and the limited mobility that arthritis and fibromyalgia can bring. Gentle exercises such as short walks, swims or biking may change the flow and generate relief, according to the Harvard Health advisers.
- Intriguing distractions - This is one that I would add to the Harvard list, having seen it work very well with an older lady I knew who suffered from severe chronic arthritis. Most days were miserable for her, but when a favorite niece showed up with new rose gardening information, everything changed. For awhile, as they sat talking, chronic pain was pushed into the background and relief was achieved with distraction.
- Mind body techniques - Meditation, mindfulness, and breathing exercises may help to restore a sense of control over the body, lowering the agitated fight or flee response that accelerates chronic muscle tension and pain. Take a meditation class or see a counselor for instructions on mindful meditation or breathing to find out how much these techniques offer.
- Yoga and tai chi –These exercises use breath control, meditation, and gentle movements to stretch and strengthen muscles. I can recommend both as an excellent pain and stress reliever. Take a class or visit a studio and find out how they may help you. Many find that they also reduce tension, strengthen muscles, improve balance and provide more mental clarity.
- Music therapy - Music is being explored as a way to relieve pain and classical music has proven to work especially well, according to Harvard Health. In a way, music may work as another pleasurable distraction that helps push pain out of first place.
See Your Chiropractor for More Help
Doctors at The Joint Chiropractic believe wellness and routine chiropractic care should be as basic to our lives as healthy diets and daily exercise. They offer the purest form of chiropractic care, providing full spinal adjustments using the diversified technique to check for subluxations, which are misalignments of the spine.
Subluxations are restrictions of one or more vertebrae in the spine and/or joints. When the "misalignment," as they are often called, is corrected, it may have far reaching effects on back, neck and sciatica pain. It may also help with allergies, TMJ, arthritis, headaches and migraines.
As a wellness clinic, the chiropractic focus is on daily stresses, aches and pain without use of medications or surgery.
If this direct focus on wellness sounds good to you, drop in at your convenience and start feeling better.
To learn more about your health, wellness and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Greenville, S.C.