photo credit: shootingstarr(is a blur)
Do you have aches and pain that are interfering with your happiness? If pain is making sad or mad and popping pills has you stuck in chronic pain, try some alternative therapies to break the cycle.
No "Body" Knows the Pain I've Known
Depression stemming from chronic pain can be caused by fatigue, poor sleep quality and loss of a prior active lifestyle. Anger can be a powerful diversion to muscle tension; it can also energize you if pain has you in a blue mood. Pain is a signal of physical threat to your well-being and the fight (anger) or flight (depression) are normal reactions to this danger.
Unfortunately, neither sadness nor madness will relieve your chronic pain. Both can contribute to the body's decline with dis-eases of their own creations such as increased blood pressure, heart disease, eating and thought process disorders and stress related problems such as ulcers and skin rashes and brain damage.
Chicken or the Egg?
Both anger and depression increase muscle tension and can cause even more pain. So is your pain the chicken or the egg and does it matter since the cycle of pain, anger and depression becomes its own monster feeding off itself? Obviously in the case of chronic pain, which is such an emotional condition, knowing where the physical dis-ease ends and the reaction dis-ease begins is critical on the road to recovery. Studies show that people who suffer from chronic pain are three times more likely to suffer from psychiatric problems. The monster is chronically hungry.
Chronic pain is in your head but not your imagination. Studies at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine reveal that a portion of the cortex, where memory, attention, awareness and thought reside, never shuts up in the chronic pain suffer's head. Never at rest, the constant over firing of neurons in the brain cause connection alterations and can even result in permanent damage.
Stop the Cycle
Go to the doctor and get a pill. The acceptance of drugs as the solution to pain has staunch supporters despite the cost to the patient's overall health. It's important to understand that the true purpose of anti-depressants and pain-killers in treating chronic pain is to regulate the perception of pain. While effective in doing this, the side effects of most all medication are a serious concern especially for an aging body and mind. When you need immediate relieve from chronic pain symptoms or are so enmeshed in the anger, depression, pain cycle, prescriptions are a welcome ally. When you want to stop the cycle, you must stop the body's and brain's response to pain. Consider these alternative treatment methods or just incorporate them into your medical pain program for added relief.
Biofeedback
Popularized in the 1970's Biofeedback allows the patient to alter the physiological response to chronic pain by using the body's own signals. With the help of the machine and the clinician, the patient is granted access and understanding to the the internal bodily functioning and learns to control even non voluntary functions such as blood pressure, heart rate, mostly importantly, brain activity. Sessions last 30-60 minutes and cost between $40-90. How many sessions you will need depends on how quickly you learn to control and relax your brain; ten sessions are generally recommended.
Virtual Reality (VR)
No not a TV show; VR is a technology that allows interaction in a computer-simulated environment. Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle, via use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), show drops of 50-97% in pain related brain activity when participants engaged in "SnoWorld" a VR world involving snowballs, igloos, robots and penguins. Used as application in Biofeedback therapy, VR's ability to distract the overactive cortex with sensory involvement can help break the intensity perception of chronic pain. Sessions and costs are similar to other Biofeedback techniques.
Acupuncture
How can sticking needles in your body relieve pain? Acupuncture, the oldest healing practice in the world, involves insertion of hair-thin needles that stimulate anatomical points on the body along pathways known as meridians. Pain in the procedure is non-existent or minimal. The science of the practice lies in maintaining the body in a balanced state. An unbalanced state leads to blockage in the flow of Qi or Chi, the body's life force. Sessions usually last 60 minutes and can involve other modalities such as Moxibustion (cupping), which removes stagnation and toxins and activates the lymphatic system. Acupuncture costs range from $70-150 per session and several bi-weekly treatments may be necessary.
Hypnosis and Meditation
Relax. Not easy when all you do is hurt but techniques to focus the body/mind connection can keep pain signals at bay. Hypnosis, guided imagery and meditation tapes are a low cost, convenient and easy home remedy. Research at the University of Iowa showed that hypnosis alters brain activity by blocking pain signals from getting to the parts of the brain that perceive pain. A study at Duke University Medical Center found that chronic back pain sufferers had significant improvements in pain and distress by practicing an anger releasing meditation.
Try this guided meditation now and say goodbye to chronic pain the natural way.
You Might Also Like to Read
