Alternatives To Managing Pain Effectively

Alternatives To Managing Pain Effectively . When you’re affected by pain, the first thing that comes to mind is finding a medication to take it away, or at least lessen it to a more tolerable level. If you have a headache, you’ll probably reach for something over the counter, regardless of the cause. Likewise, with chronic pain conditions one of the first treatment approaches is to prescribe pain-relieving medicine in an effort to reduce the symptoms. While this seems logical, and can be an effective treatment, the use of medication isn’t a long-term solution to chronic pain. This is because unless the causes of the pain are addressed, you are only be masking the symptoms rather than addressing the reasons behind them.

The holistic approach

One effective approach to treating chronic pain is to take a holistic view; to look at all the influencing factors that make your pain worse. This is  a popular method that we use here at Piedmont Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and our patients have found it to be more effective than any singular approach. This method of treatment involves looking at every patient individually and assessing what other factors could be contributing to the levels of pain they are enduring. For example, if you have chronic back pain it could have several possible root causes, such as muscular injury, nerve damage, diseases such as osteoarthritis, or disc problems. As well as the root cause, there could be numerous other potential influences on your pain experience.

Physical influences

Because of the pain you may well be guarding the area, causing muscle tension and imbalances in posture and gait. Rather than helping your pain, these behaviors put strain on the rest of your body, which ends up making the situation worse. Perhaps you have become more sedentary, and fallen into poor eating habits that are causing you to gain weight. By not exercising appropriately, your muscles and connective tissues become weaker, and any extra weight you gain will add more strain to your weakened body. Learning how to look after your physical self by finding suitable forms of exercise, using relaxation techniques, improving your posture, and having physiotherapy will all help ease these additional problems.

Nutritional influences

Poor nutrition results in poorer health,https://piedmontpmr.com making you feel more tired and putting extra strain on your systems. Some foods such as those containing monosodium glutamate and glycerine can increase pain levels, and a deficiency of certain minerals including calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium can affect nerve function, again contributing to your pain.

Mental health influences

Chronic pain sufferers often struggle with mental health concerns as the physical symptoms, caught in a cycle of low mood and pain that isn’t easy to resolve. Stress and anxiety cause muscle tension, and depression makes it hard to find the motivation to look after yourself and follow a healthy lifestyle, all factors that contribute towards increasing pain levels. Psychological therapies and learning how to change your approach to living with pain can be invaluable for making a positive contribution to a reduction in pain.

Unless each of these issues is assessed and treated, they will add to your burden, or what is known as “total load”. The good news is that if you consult a specialist here at Piedmont Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, you will be offered treatments that will help with all the additional issues that are affecting your wellbeing. This means that your prognosis for pain reduction is greatly enhanced, as your care plan can be designed to include treatments that will reduce your total load and tackle the causes of your pain from every angle.

The holistic approach doesn’t exclude the use of other treatment options that repair, restore and help you body to heal.  In fact, they are complimentary.  Several options including nerve blocks, prolotherapy, platelet rich plasma, and other innovative regenerative treatments.  There are many more choices as well.  If you have chronic pain and are looking for new options to get well look through the links on this site to learn more about these options and feel free to call our office for a personalized consultation.