One of life’s most difficult challenges is dealing with chronic pain. Millions of Americans face the Herculean task of waking up every morning overwhelmed with discomfort in their body. Pain makes it nearly impossible to lead a happy, successful life. Today’s blog reviews several pain management techniques and explains key essentials for dealing with chronic pain.
Resolving Pain at the Root Level
Ideally, the best form of pain management is to fix what’s causing the pain in the first place. For example, sciatica often comes from a muscle or disk pushing on the sciatic nerve. If you can resolve the muscle spasm or get the body to reabsorb the bulging disk, you can resolve sciatic pain permanently. Acupuncture excels at finding the root cause of chronic pain and treating the source. We treat over 100 conditions in this way.
Another example of treating the root involves chronic migraines. Many people struggle with debilitating head pain multiple times a week. Acupuncture can often identify the underlying imbalances responsible for the pain and address them, leading to significant pain relief. Chinese medicine recognizes twenty different types of headaches, and a skilled practitioner can find which one is the culprit. This process is called pattern diagnosis. We have helped thousands of patients over the years in this fashion.
Physical therapy, chiropractic, and massage are other beneficial pain management therapies to address health issues at the root level. In addition, many times, alternative therapies work well in tandem. For example, I have a patient who likes to get a massage before her acupuncture as it loosens up her tight neck muscles, enabling the acupuncture to work at a deeper level.
Other Root Treatments
Talk therapy, including cognitive behavior therapy, is an excellent way to treat the root cause of emotional distress. In addition, we have successfully used acupuncture to reduce anxiety, depression, stress, and worry. In Chinese medicine, emotional issues are due to physical imbalances. Therefore, the emotional symptom can be resolved or relieved by correcting the imbalance at the organ level.
Sometimes the only way to resolve the root problem is to have surgery. You see this with severely herniated discs and joint replacements. However, it’s always a good idea to try resolving the pain first with a less invasive therapy. For example, most sciatica patients find excellent relief from acupuncture, but about two percent of individuals don’t respond because a lumbar disc is pushing into the sciatic nerve. In such cases, the patient will need surgery to correct the problem.
Remember, the first rule of pain management is treating the root whenever possible. When that approach fails, it’s time to find other ways to manage the pain.
Taking Pain Medication
In America, the primary form of pain management is pharmaceuticals. Undoubtedly, life is great when pain medications work as designed. In such a case, you take a minimum amount of the drug, and it brings relief from pain. In many instances, the strategic use of pain meds can bring relief for days or weeks. So what’s the downside? Unfortunately, many analgesics don’t work as advertised. Here are some of the problems that typically occur:
- Many pain medications have adverse side effects, including stomach pain, constipation, headaches, fatigue, and foggy thinking.
- Some analgesics work for a short time but then cause rebound pain.
- Pain meds often stop working after a certain amount of usage.
- Others need an increased dosage to receive the same benefit.
- In addition, there is the chance you can get addicted to the pain medication.
In all of these cases, pain management with prescription pharmaceuticals will not be a viable long-term solution.
Opiods – The King of Pain Medications
One of the most potent classes of pain medications is opioids. Examples include hydrocodone (Vicodin), oxycodone (Percocet), methadone, codeine, and morphine. Opioids bind to specific receptors in the body, reducing the brain’s recognition of pain. Opioids are a good choice for managing severe pain when other pain medications fail to work.
For example, I have a patient who struggled for years with debilitating RLS (restless leg syndrome), significantly impacting his sleep ability. Acupuncture was able to ease his symptoms by 50 percent. But he still struggled to get enough sleep. The go-to medication for RLS is Trazadone, but that drug was ineffective for my patient. So finally, his doctor agreed to let him try methadone. Sure enough, the combination of acupuncture and a small dose of methadone each night completely relieved his symptoms and restored his sleep.
The Problem With Opiods
However, as with other prescription pain meds, many people develop a tolerance to opioids over time, requiring higher and higher doses to get the same effect. In addition, you have to be extremely careful monitoring dose levels because taking too much of the medication can lead to an overdose where you stop breathing. Furthermore, a person can become physically and emotionally addicted to opioids, making it extremely difficult to ween from them. The drugs not only ease pain, but they elicit an unnatural sense of well-being (feeling “high”), which can lead to overuse. Stopping the drug often leads to unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.
So what can you do if you’re unable to resolve pain at the root level? And what if alternative therapies ease your condition but don’t completely resolve them? Furthermore, where can you turn if prescription medications either don’t work, work only temporarily, or have too many adverse side effects? Luckily, there are other excellent pain management options to explore.
Calm the Mind, Calm the Body
Stress is the ultimate pain enhancer. In other words, chronic pain will often flare when a person is under stress. So, pain levels will naturally decrease if you can reduce stress, excess worry, and anxiety. This type of pain management is not a “fix” for chronic pain but a potent natural analgesic.
One of the best ways to calm the mind is to take intentional breaths. Breathe in slowly, hold for a moment, then exhale. We breathe all day long to stay alive, but this action is automatic – we don’t think about it. Autonomic breathing will keep you alive but won’t reduce stress. Intentional breathing, on the other hand, calms the mind, eases anxiety, and reduces stress.
Smokers and Meditators
You often hear smokers say that smoking reduces stress and clears the mind. I have no doubt that is true, but I’m not going to start smoking because it damages the lungs. However, I believe the most significant benefits experienced by smokers don’t come from the cigarette but rather from the intentional breathing that accompanies the act of smoking. Every time smokers light up, they begin a 5-minute ritual of deliberate breathing. They also spend five minutes outside, in the fresh air and sunlight. No wonder they feel better!
We can benefit from the calming effects of smoking without ever having to light up. Just take a few minutes to intentionally breath. Meditation is nothing more than intentional breathing. Anyone can “meditate” by taking four to five intentional breaths.
Distract the Mind, Fool the Body
As we all know, time flies when you’re having fun. So when we engage in tasks that require concentration and focus, we tend to forget about our surroundings. And that includes our physical bodily sensations like pain and discomfort. Research has found that staying busy is an effective form of pain management.
From personal experience, on days when I have a headache, the pain eases when I’m busy at work. However, as soon as I return home, the pain comes back. Luckily by then, I can lie down and rest, or better yet, sleep. Distraction works well for people with mild to moderate pain but will not help much for those with severe discomfort levels. But it’s worth a try, no matter your situation.
Distraction Takes Willpower
It takes willpower to motivate yourself to start an activity when you’re not feeling well. In my case, the motivation is that I have responsibilities at work. A young mother is motivated by a sense of responsibility toward her children. Similarly, a truck driver finds motivation to keep going despite the pain because he’s got deliveries that depends on him.
Distraction is a good pain management tool once in a while, but it grows old if called upon too frequently. So please keep it in your arsenal for infrequent use, as an alternative to pain medications on challenging days.
Other good distractions include:
- Watching a movie or TV show.
- Getting together with a friend.
- Helping someone with a project.
- Busying your mind with a hobby.
- Taking a walk.
- Playing a sport.
Sleep It Off
Sometimes, sleep is an effective form of pain management and a reset for chronic pain. For example, an aching back will feel better in the morning after decent rest. Likewise, emotional distress often eases after a good night’s sleep. Furthermore, since fatigue tends to worsen the pain, getting a good night’s sleep is a natural analgesic. Of course, sleep will not resolve your pain long-term, but it’s a helpful reboot for folks who deal with daily discomfort.
Unfortunately, many types of pain preclude our ability to sleep. For example, severe migraines, restless leg syndrome, and acute pain from injury (sharp, stabbing) anywhere in the body can all make it nearly impossible to fall asleep. In these situations, the strategic use of pain medications is beneficial. Not only will you get temporary relief from the pain, but sleep allows the body to tap into its natural healing mode, helping you recover from injury.
In addition, anyone who suffers from emotional pain will tell you that sleep seems to refresh their mind. So while anxiety may seem like a raging lion at night, it often calms to a lamb in the morning. Unfortunately, this relief is also temporary. But when dealing with chronic pain, interim pain management is an essential strategy for survival.
Pain Management Take-Aways
People with chronic pain need a toolbox of options. This blog highlights some techniques we share with our patients at Raleigh Acupuncture. Pain management is like corporate management – you need a strategy for success. Furthermore, if you struggle with chronic pain, remember that you’re not alone. And while no one solution will likely provide the key to long-term relief, you can incorporate several techniques simultaneously to improve your quality of life.
We often remind our patients that life is a battle, and it’s our job to wake up each morning and put on our armor. In Ephesians 6:10-18, the apostle Paul talks about putting on the armor of God to fight the spiritual battles in life. While we did not discuss the role of faith in managing chronic pain, it plays a significant role. Check out our post entitled “Does Faith Ease Pain?
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What our Clients are Saying
I’m a golfer and started having trouble with my left shoulder over a year ago. My doctor wanted to do surgery, but I wanted to try other alternatives first. So I tried acupuncture. The folks at Raleigh Acupuncture were very professional, reasonably priced and did excellent work. They resolved my shoulder pain completely. I use them now for other pains in my post-50 body! Thank you Raleigh Acupuncture.
I’m a dentist and over the last 20 years the nature of my work and positions required by my work had resulted in chronic neck pain. It affected my sleep, limited my ability to exercise, and was just a real pain in the neck! A friend at church recommended Raleigh Acupuncture and I gave it a try. I have to say that I was a bit skeptical, but gave it a try because I had tried a number other therapies with no success. I’m glad I did. They resolved my neck pain completely!
All of my joints were hurting. I’ve got fibromyalgia and it effects me by making my joints hurt. The pain would move around from place to place, first the hip, the next day the shoulder, then the knee, etc. The practitioner at Raleigh Acupuncture explained that the best way to treat my kind of moving joint pain was to treat me holistically. Instead of treating the hip one day, the shoulder the next, they treated the root of the pain. They said this type of treatment would also improve my mood and my sleep. Right on all counts. I started feeling better after the second treatment. It’s like all of the joints just settled down and stopped giving me trouble. I had less flares and the intensity of the pain went way down. My sleep is better, not just because I have less pain. I’m more relaxed and less stressed. I’ve made this treatment a regular part of my life. I’m very grateful.
I suffered from low back pain for years and tried many different remedies. When I came to Raleigh Acupuncture, they really listened to understand my issues. I can honestly say that they cured my chronic back pain. I didn’t think it was possible, after all these years. I highly recommend this practice. The doctors take the time and do good work.