In the United States, chronic pain is one of the most common reasons for people to seek medical treatment. Chronic pain impacts more individuals than heart disease, diabetes, and cancer combined. Like many other chronic conditions, chronic pain can present in so many different ways! Many people can present completely differently even when diagnosed with the same condition. A holistic approach to chronic pain involves addressing pain not just as a physical symptom but also considering its psychological, emotional, and social implications. A holistic approach considers the following:
1. Comprehensive Health and Wellness Assessment: This means working to understand your unique medical history, lifestyle factors, emotional state, and social environment to get a complete picture of your pain experience. This helps your wellness practitioner create a more individualized care plan for you and suggest more appropriate natural remedy approaches to help your body get back to where it needs to be. By considering all of the above-mentioned lifestyle factors, your practitioner can help get you back on track faster and more effectively. A good place to start is at a naturopathic doctor’s appointment. Naturopathic doctors work holistically, so they don’t look at just one set of symptoms at a time. Instead, they work to get to know you as an individual and work as doctor-as-teacher to get you back in the driver’s seat of your healthcare. A great way to find a naturopathic doctor in your area is by visiting naturopathic.org. Once you get established with your naturopathic doctor and have a wellness assessment performed, your care provider can help guide you through the next few steps and suggest a team of healthcare professionals you may want to visit. This multi-disciplinary approach involves getting in touch with and seeing doctors, physical therapists, psychologists, and nutritionists to address different aspects of pain management.
2. Mind-Body Techniques: Working to address chronic conditions, like chronic pain, can benefit from practices that emphasize and support the mind-body connection. These practices include meditation, yoga, tai chi, and other mindfulness exercises to reduce stress, improve coping mechanisms, and promote relaxation, which can help when working to manage pain perception.
3. Nutrition and Lifestyle Changes: Approaches to managing pain often emphasize adopting a healthy diet, regular exercise, adequate sleep, and avoiding substances like alcohol and tobacco, which can exacerbate pain. Usually, an anti-inflammatory diet is recommended to reduce certain pain-inducing reactions within the body. Making sure that you eat a diet full of fresh fruits and veggies in a variety of colors, is crucial to your everyday well-being, in addition to working to improve chronic pain. You can always be sure that the food here at the Market at Woodside Farms is some of the freshest and most nutrient-dense around. Additionally, exercise (being sure to talk to your doctor first to ensure it won’t exacerbate your chronic pain symptoms) reduces overall stress. Studies have shown that external emotional stressors may alter the vagus nerve activity to a point where systems like the heart begin to beat abnormally, showing us that our emotions play a significant role in our inflammation.
4. Infrared Sauna: Infrared saunas are beautiful therapeutic tools because they work superficially on the skin and the deeper tissues of the body. Saunas have been found to have beneficial impacts on mood, relaxation, stress management, immune system support, and, most notably, pain support.
5. Cranial Sacral Craniosacral therapy (CST) is a gentle, hands-on approach to relieving pain and tension in the body. It is based on the concept that the craniosacral system, which includes the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid surrounding and protecting the brain and spinal cord, has its own rhythm that can be manipulated to improve health and function. Craniosacral therapy is thought to help mitigate chronic pain by promoting relaxation, enhancing cerebral fluid movement, regulating the nervous system, and addressing and mitigating structural imbalances.
6. Acupuncture: Acupuncture is not a one-size-fits-all treatment approach. Though it’s safe enough for daily practice, it can also be spread out over a wider span of time. It is believed to be beneficial when dealing with chronic pain through several mechanisms. These include: the stimulation of endorphin release, the modulation of pain signals, the induction of anti-inflammatory reactions within the body, the improvement of blood flow, and overall stress reduction.
7. Psychological Support: At times, chronic pain can seem too much to bear, and it can really impact your mental and emotional well-being. Many individuals suffering from chronic pain have experienced life-changing benefits from seeing a mental health coach like a counselor or a therapist. These practitioners can help address additional symptoms such as anxiety, depression, or trauma, which can be both the cause and the result of chronic pain.
8. Education and Empowerment: So often, chronic pain can feel like it’s taking you out of the driver’s seat of your own life. This is why striving to learn more about your condition, treatment options, and self-management strategies is so important. A comprehensive and thorough education and explanation of your chronic pain symptoms can empower you to take an active role in your pain management.
By addressing your chronic pain through a holistic lens, you can mitigate the physical, emotional, and financial (and so many more!) symptoms of your chronic pain. Additionally, a holistic approach works to improve your overall quality of life, promoting long-term well-being and resilience.
