How to Naturally Manage Your Chronic Pain

The Effect of Chronic Pain

When chronic back pain interferes with both your work and personal activities, you may become preoccupied with the pain leading to depression and triggering excessive irritability. In turn, depression and anxiety often lead to insomnia and lack of energy, thus triggering more depression and despair. This situation usually affects the entire family as well.

Common causes of back pain include common disorders like scoliosis, sciatica, spinal stenosis, herniated or bulging discs, and muscle tension.

The most effective treatment for chronic pain

This includes both a variety of traditional medical and complementary techniques. In addition, many hospitals and clinics have specially targeted programs to specially treat chronic back pain.

The best approach is to create your own pain “toolkit” with a combination of several self-management techniques.

First, try to continue working at your current job if possible. Research shows that people who don’t work are less active and more depressed, leading to even more chronic pain. Working also helps distract you from your pain.

Get adequate sleep. Use pillows to make yourself as comfortable as possible in bed. Experiment with different positions and avoid sleeping on your stomach.

Hot and cold packs may bring some temporary relief. Ask a physical therapist if a “TENS” stimulation unit that delivers brief pulses of electricity to nerve endings under the skin would be helpful for YOU.

Seek advice from a physical therapist on how to get out of bed and sit or climb stairs. In addition, occupational therapists can give you advice about adapting your work environment for your unique situation.

Be active every day. Walking is one of the best exercises you can include in your toolkit. If you suffer from arthritis, explore low or no-impact movements like Tai Chi. Yoga is a well-rounded movement practice that not only reduces muscle tension but also improves flexibility and strengthens your core muscles. Depression and anxiety will also improve. Retraining your body alignment so that your muscles operate efficiently and the bones are aligned as nature intended will help reduce your back pain.

Improve your core strength. These muscles are responsible for spinal stability and carry the entire weight of the body.

Also, breathing exercises often improve chronic, nonspecific low back pain. For example, in one study, breathing exercises performed two to three times per day for four to eight weeks frequently reduce back pain and improve lung function.  (Learn breathing techniques: Three Dimensional Breath Technique and Ascending Descending Breath)

Behavior change is another technique that may improve your pain. Keep a journal noting each date and time and what you were doing at that time. Also, rate the pain from ‘1’ being LOW to ’10’ being the HIGH.

Try visualizing yourself as pain-free and active. Give yourself permission to be less active on your bad days and be more active on your good days.

The path to a healthier, pain-free life starts with nutritious food, adequate hydration, exercise, meditation or reflection, adequate sleep, and complementary and traditional medicine.

Everyone’s experience with pain is unique, and so will be your individual path to improvement. Natural pain relief interventions may give you relief from pain with few adverse side effects. If you suffer from chronic pain, consult your medical doctor of choice to determine which natural pain management approaches are best for YOUR situation.

Bottom Line: Create your own pain toolkit by implementing the particular techniques that work for YOU.