Chronic pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and the percentage of people with different types of pain issues is only increasing. As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 20% of American adults had chronic pain in 2016; among them, 8 % were living with high-intensity pain.
The most common cause of chronic pain can be a result of an injury or an underlying medical condition. If the pain lasts for more than 3 months or more than the usual healing period of a particular injury, it is deemed as chronic, which then is treated with a combination of medications and therapy. While conventional medications are the typical solution for chronic pain, there are other effective ways to manage the severity of pain, helping you live a better life.
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Physical Techniques for Pain Relief
Different types of physical techniques can help reduce the intensity of chronic pain. Here are some of the most common ones:
- Hot and Cold Therapy: It is the easiest and yet most effective way to manage pain. Hot therapy helps relax the muscles and dilate the blood vessels, which promote healing after an injury. On the other hand, cold therapy can help blood flow and reduce inflammation that often causes pain.
- Physical Therapy: It includes different types of physical techniques like massage or exercise plans to strengthen and stretch the muscles throughout the body or in a specific area. This increases the blood flow and helps the patient feel relaxed.
- Other forms of techniques include acupuncture and deep massage.
Relaxation Techniques
Chronic pain lasting for more than six months can be stressful and affect your quality of life. Patients should try different relaxation techniques to ease muscle tension, muscle spasms, pain, and aches throughout the body. While it may not directly reduce pain, it will surely promote deeper relaxation and sound sleep, which will eventually help you cope with chronic pain. Some of the common techniques include deep breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, and calming activities.
Try Natural Herbs
If you’re in your initial stages of chronic pain, you might not want to rely on pharmaceuticals for pain relief. Many patients with pain seek cannabis products, especially CBD here in America, to manage the intensity of their pain. Even many studies have supported the efficacy of cannabis in relieving neuropathic pain.
Exercise and Eat Healthy
Moving your body and engaging in different forms of exercise, including stretching, is a great way to manage your pain. Don’t be too excited to hit the gym or start doing intense exercises; rather, you can try yoga or even tai chi to keep your body flexible to easily try different asanas or techniques. Yoga also strengthens the mind-body connection, which boosts your mental stamina and encourages you to recover faster.
Final Thoughts
Living with chronic pain can be difficult at times. From work and social life to your personal life, enjoying everyday things can seem like heavy tasks. Instead of choosing life, you can decide to take small steps to at least control the severity of your pain, which can further help you enjoy your life.
Tiffany is a Medical Student and also works as a fitness coach in part-time. She is also a writer and writes on health and fitness articles. Tiffany loves to engage with users and help them provide various useful information on General Health. She provides researched-based information and also featured on various blogs and magazines.