Relieve Chronic Pain Without Conventional Medicine

Chronic pain can range from annoying to debilitating and, if left unchecked, it will certainly decrease your quality of life and can even immobilize you and inhibit your ability to care for your family, earn a steady income and take care of everyday responsibilities. Chronic pain has many possible causes including repetitive injury or use, muscle damage, connective tissue damage, skeletal imbalance, nerve irritation or compression, energy imbalances or blocks and unrepaired acute trauma. Unless an acute trauma occurred, discovering the root of the pain can sometimes be a challenge, but if possible, determining the root cause of chronic pain allows us to better determine which treatment methods will be the most beneficial and effective.

The most popular options for improving mobility and decreasing chronic pain often don't address - and sometimes don't even attempt to determine - the root of the issue, and are only temporary fixes for a problem that will not go away on its own. Western medicine tends to focus on two methods of pain relief - surgery and prescription pain medication. However, nearly all of my clients and friends who have had surgery to address their pain issues found it to be a less than effective method of treatment. Most of them began to experience pain soon after recovering from the surgery, if the pain was even dispelled at all. Even after numerous surgeries intended to relieve chronic pain, most folks seem to still experience enough pain to affect their day to day lives.

Surgery may be effective - and, indeed necessary - to correct specific chronic pain issues, such as a trauma related injury, removal of scar tissue or some repetitive use injuries. However, most chronic pain sufferers seem to find more effective pain relief from non-surgical methods.

Perhaps the most used conventional treatment for pain is prescription pain medication. I have been offered a prescription for pain medication for everything from muscle aches to a headache to a twisted pelvis while in the office of a medical doctor. From my experience managing my own chronic condition and my conversations with clients and friends, it certainly appears that prescription pain medication is the primary means by which conventional, allopathic healthcare providers treat pain - particularly when there is not a definitive, recognizable cause that can be addressed through additional medications or surgery. (And even then pain medication will still likely be prescribed as well.)

Unfortunately, while prescription pain relievers may offer short term relief and increase mobility, they only serve to mask the symptom (the pain) without reversing or repairing the damage that has caused the pain. In fact, pain medications can worsen the root cause by decreasing the pain to the point where one might partake in activities and movements that cause further damage. Pain is a message that something is wrong. If we simply turn off the message without addressing why our bodies are sending the pain signals, we are doing more harm than good in the long run.

Pain medications can also leave you feeling groggy or affect cognitive abilities in a way that may leave you no more functional than if you simply were dealing with the pain. Not to mention that many pain medications can be addictive, thus creating an additional issue to be managed.

Therefore, while some chronic pain conditions may call for surgery or prescription pain medications, there are many options for naturally relieving and managing chronic pain that are often overlooked.

For chronic pain that is related to muscle injury, repetitive injury, connective tissue damage, nerve compression, skeletal imbalances or misalignment chiropractors and massage therapists might be the best option for long term correction and pain relief. Particularly in combination, these two holistic treatment options might be the best bet for effective, long term pain relief. Professional massage therapists and chiropractors manipulate the body to bring it back into alignment and are often able to pinpoint exactly where the root cause of the pain is located.

Acupuncturists and energy healers (which include Reiki practitioners) are also often able to find the root cause of the chronic pain and work with the body's energy system to bring it back into alignment and to address energy blocks and areas of stagnation.

Some health insurance plans cover chiropractic care, massage therapy, physical therapy or acupuncture, which are all effective means of treating chronic pain. If you have insurance, be sure to check your policy to see if these holistic pain relieving therapies are among the chronic pain management options covered by your provider.

Other effective means of chronic pain management include yoga, meditation, stretching, walking, Epsom salt soaks and performing exercises specifically designed to strengthen your problem areas. Even diet can decrease pain - particularly pain caused by inflammation - and should be considered as a viable option in a multi-pronged natural treatment plan for chronic pain management.

Finding a yoga instructor, personal trainer or physical therapist with the knowledge and experience to design a program specific to your needs or a nutritionist who can offer an eating plan that will reduce inflammation will greatly improve your ability to strengthen your body and bring it back to a place of health.

Stretching, walking, soaks and meditation are effective means of pain management that you can do at home and that won't cost you a dime. Look online for information on stretching routines and proper walking posture, or invest in a DVD or book that will teach you all you need to know to begin to manage your pain effectively.

You can read more about guided meditation and meditation for pain management at my website, reddoorwellness.com or by conducting a search online using the terms guided meditation, pain management meditation, chronic pain management meditation or meditation for health.

Information and practitioner directories for natural remedies and holistic therapies for chronic pain relief and chronic pain management are readily available online. Talk to your healthcare provider about complementary therapies that you are considering so that she or he can assist you in developing an effective treatment plan that will decrease your pain and improve your quality of life. If your conventional doctor shuns natural therapies that might work better for you than prescription pain medications, consider finding another doctor or consulting with a naturopathic doctor to broaden your options.