Pain Awareness Month

September is designated as Pain Awareness Month, and for those suffering from chronic pain, this is the time to be more aware of the different pain treatment options available.

Most doctors, including pain specialists, often limit the options they tell patients about to surgical and pharmaceutical options. However, pain is not a surgical or pharmaceutical deficiency. It is an alarm from the body that something is wrong. It could be a nutritional deficiency, muscle imbalance, emotional trauma, or chronic stress. Numbing the pain with medications does not solve the issue.

There are other alternative treatments, including herbal medicine, hands-on therapies, nutritional medicine, energy therapy, mind-body techniques, and much more that your doctors probably haven’t mentioned. This article will guide you through the options and provide the information you need to help you decide which approach is right for you.

Hands-on Therapies

Hands-on therapies, such as chiropractic, massage, and physical therapy, rely on one-on-one contact to relieve pain and support your overall well-being. 

• Chiropractic is a medical treatment system that uses spinal manipulation, manual therapy, pressure, and stretching to restore and maintain your musculoskeletal system. Clinical studies have shown that chiropractic is safer and more effective than other pain treatments, such as opioids, for addressing chronic pain. Back and neck pain, Fibromyalgia, and tension headaches are some of the few conditions that chiropractic can help. 
• Massage therapy is divided into four groups: gentle bodywork, structural bodywork, deep tissue bodywork, and movement therapy. Each technique uniquely reduces pain by controlling soft tissue or subtle energy. Massage therapy treats neck, shoulder, and knee pain. 
• Physical therapy involves stretching and strengthening the body to improve mobility. Exercise is a type of physical therapy that incorporates core strengthening, stretching, walking, and weightlifting. Physical therapy can help reduce knee pain and arthritis.

Mind-Body Therapies

Mind-body therapies are healing techniques focusing on the interactions between the mind and the body and how emotional, social, spiritual, and mental factors can influence your health.

• Meditation trains your mind to focus and redirect your thoughts to reduce stress. Some popular forms of meditation include loving-kindness meditation, mindfulness meditation, breath awareness meditation, and Transcendental Meditation. Studies have shown improvements in depression, pain severity, and quality of life due to meditation. 
• Energy Psychology is unprocessed emotional energy from trauma and stress stored in the body and can cause physical and mental illness. The EP technique diffuses this energy to promote fast healing. 
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is talk therapy that focuses on changing dysfunctional thoughts and behaviors. Studies have shown that CBT improves numerous health conditions like back pain. 

Nutritional Therapies  

• Diet eliminates foods that trigger inflammation. Neuropathy, Fibromyalgia, and arthritis are some conditions that respond very well to dietary changes. 
• Nutritional supplements replace nutrients lost through illness and depression. Nutritional supplements such as Vitamin D, Magnesium, Vitamin B12, and many others can reduce chronic pain.

Herbal Medicine 

Herbal medicine has been used across different cultures for thousands of years for every illness imaginable. The use of herbs is firmly established in modern wellness practices. 

• Cannabis (Marijuana and CBD) are natural treatments for back pain, muscle spasticity, anxiety, and more. It can help promote healthy sleep and reduce migraine headaches. 
• Kratom has traditionally been used for pain, fatigue, muscle cramps, and diarrhea. Kratom provides a safe alternative to opioids for those with chronic pain and is also an effective sleep aid.  

Energy-based Therapies  

Health consists of an uninterrupted and natural flow of solid energy through the body, while illness is due to imbalance, blockage, or stagnation of these energies. Each energy therapy method approaches this concept from a unique understanding of the body’s energetic structure.

• Reiki is spiritually-directed life energy. During a Reiki session, a practitioner holds their hands just above the patient’s body to transfer energy. Reiki is thought to bring about physical and emotional healing. 
• Acupuncture is the practice of inserting thin needles into the skin at specific points along energy channels. Studies have shown that acupuncture triggers changes in levels of brain activity and helps regulate the body’s neuro-endocrine-immune network. Acupuncture is recommended for over 100 medical conditions, such as headache, sciatica, neck pain, back pain, sprain, cancer pain, postoperative pain, Fibromyalgia, and much more. 
• Light therapy involves applying specific wavelengths of light to the affected area, and it is usually administered via an infrared LED light therapy device or a laser. These therapies have undergone many studies which found positive results for reducing neck and back pain, osteoarthritis pain, and other conditions.

Watch YouTube Video: September is Pain Awareness Month. The video below features a new interactive website that could help you create a personal pain plan during Pain Awareness Month.

I’m Ed Smith, a personal injury attorney. If you were hurt in an accident in Sacramento County or elsewhere in California, we could help you during this difficult time. Our Sacramento law firm has handled many injury cases like yours. Call our legal team at (916) 921-6400 or (800) 404-5400 for a free no-obligation consultation. Our injury attorneys are available to offer free, friendly case advice.

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