Everybody feels bodily pain in different ways. However, not everyone suffers from body pain the same way as other people.
Some experience pain only occasionally and very faintly at that. With a gentle massage and some pain reliever, such pain easily goes away.
Others, however, deal with lingering pain that can oftentimes be excruciating and even debilitating. It typically lasts anywhere between three to six months or longer and it’s a condition called chronic pain.
Around a quarter of all people suffering from pain would go on to develop chronic pain syndrome, which is an illness that affects a lot of people in the US and in many countries around the world. It is chronic pain usually coupled with anxiety and depression — a state that often causes people to lead disrupted lives.
Back in 2019, some 20.4 percent of all adults in the US reportedly suffered from chronic pain according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics.
Such facts only underscore the importance of addressing chronic pain the soonest time possible to avoid serious consequences such as depression and anxiety attacks.
Here are the best non-invasive techniques to treat and manage chronic pain:
Chiropractic care
Chiropractic care is among the most popular methods of alleviating chronic pain without putting the patient under the knife. In the hands of a skilled chiropractic doctor, it’s easy to enjoy chronic back pain relief and similar other types of pain treatment.
Such a non-invasive pain management technique is perfect for various types of pain caused by car accidents, sports injuries, and other events. The chiropractic professional performs different adjustments to the patient’s spine over several sessions to correct issues that cause the pain. Once the treatment is done, the patient is given pain relief that lasts — minus the trip to the surgical table.
Physical and occupational therapy
Physical therapy involves undergoing a series of exercises that are meant to sustain or beef up mobility and body strength. Meanwhile, occupational therapy is designed to help a patient do various physical activities that do not cause undue pain aggravation.
Both of these pain alleviation and management methods are widely used due to their proven effectiveness. There are plenty of physical therapists and occupational therapists out there that you can reach out to for help on your situation. They’ll be more than willing to accommodate you and provide you with a personalized treatment program to address your unique pain problem.
Mind-body exercises
These exercises aim to tap into the patient’s psychological state to help alleviate the pain that is being felt. It’s a sort of mind over matter approach whereby the mind is taught to command the body to behave in ways that minimize the pain of the patient.
Among the mind-body techniques that you may explore are breathing exercises, mindfulness, and meditation such as yoga. There are a lot of YouTube videos that you could watch and imitate, so these are pretty COVID-safe activities that you can do at home for free.
Therapeutic massage
Another proven and well-loved way of alleviating chronic pain is therapeutic massage. Through skillful application of pressure to different parts of the body, the massage therapist helps release built-up muscle and joint tension, relieves stress, and basically counters the pain by introducing a different feeling, albeit one that is pleasant and pleasurable.
Getting a therapeutic massage should be easy since there are plenty of massage therapists who are licensed and skilled in this non-invasive pain management method. You can book a session at a local massage clinic or inquire if they offer home service, so you won’t need to leave your house.
Heat and cold treatment
By strategically applying superficial cold or heat, a therapist can help relieve the patient of lingering body pain. The therapist may use hot packs or cold packs, as well as diathermy and ultrasound to alleviate the pain that the patient suffers from. This is a pretty straightforward and inexpensive pain management method that you should try out soon.
Electrotherapy
This technique is also called transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation or TENS. It is a technique that uses low-voltage electric stimulation of the patient’s sensory nervous system. This is primarily meant to help people with back pain problems.
These are just some pain management techniques that do not require a surgical procedure. There are other methods out there, so you should just do your research and explore them, too. Don’t hesitate to explore them to see which ones would truly give you or your family member the pain relief that you need.
