The Purpose of Pain
Pain is a fact of life. It’s a survival mechanism your body uses to warn you when something you’re doing is causing harm, such as touching a hot stove or stretching a muscle too far. These are examples of acute pain. Other types of pain aren’t as easy to identify or treat, such as fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis. When your pain is constant, you must take steps to manage it so you can enjoy life again. Learn more about the purpose of pain and the best ways to treat it.
What is Pain?
You probably think of pain as physical discomfort, but chiropractors have a different perspective. Since their goal is to promote the health of the nervous system, chiropractors see pain as vital feedback that indicates something is malfunctioning and needs to be addressed.
Eliminating Pain vs. Treating Pain at the Source
No one wants to be uncomfortable. However, wiping out pain isn’t the right answer if it fails to address the underlying problem. For instance, if you’re a runner, and you twist your ankle, you could argue that all you need is a painkiller. With a numb ankle, you can run in your upcoming race without incident.
The problem is just because you can’t feel anything doesn’t mean your ankle has healed. In fact, continuing to run on that ankle, whether you can feel the pain or not, will only make the problem worse. That’s why pain exists in the first place—to discourage you from using a part of your body that needs time to heal.
This is why simply masking your pain isn’t enough—you need to work with a healthcare professional who understands what your pain is trying to tell you so the cause behind it can be treated correctly.
Natural Pain Management Techniques
It’s possible to take a natural, non-surgical approach to heal many musculoskeletal and nervous system problems, including spinal disc injuries, joint pain, neuropathy, sciatica, pinched nerves, and many more. Some of these natural approaches include:
- Chiropractic care: The goal of chiropractic adjustments is to promote healthy nervous system function, which in turn minimizes or eliminates many sources of pain.
- Massage therapy: Muscle tension is a significant cause of pain, and massage therapy can help.
- Cold laser therapy: The ability to reduce inflammation makes cold laser therapy effective for treating everything from osteoarthritis and chronic knee pain to tennis elbow and muscle tension.
- Trigger Point Injections: This injection targets knots in your neck, shoulders and back with a nontoxic, plant-based anti-inflammatory to provide relief and discomfort.
- Acupuncture: This pain-free treatment is designed to improve the flow of energy in your body to promote natural healing.
- Whole-body vibration: This combination of therapy and exercise helps reduce back pain, improves muscle strength, and slows degenerative bone loss.
Here at Effective Integrative Healthcare, we offer these and other natural pain management techniques to treat your condition at the source rather than masking it with pain pills. For help discovering which treatments may be right for you, please schedule a free consultation with us today. We have offices in Millersville, Crofton, and Lanham, MD.