If you suffer from chronic pain you are not alone. According to the CDC up to 40% of adults in the US suffer from chronic pain. It’s obvious by now that opioids are not the answer! Let’s explore some solutions to successfully treating chronic pain. 

Here are a few posts I’ve made related to chronic pain….

Headaches, Fatigue, Anxiety, Fibromyalgia

How to Flip the Switch on Your Pain

Pain is NOT the Problem!

Hold on for a minute and hear me out. I understand that chronic pain is having a tremendous effect on your life. It is impacting your ability to be present with family and friends, limiting your physical activity, causing fatigue, interfering with sleep, and reducing your ability to perform your best in all areas of your life. 

So, how can pain not be the problem?

Here’s how I approach chronic pain. It’s different from traditional medicine and that’s good because you have plenty of options when it comes to pain medications, anti-inflammatories, injections, nerve blocks, steroids, and even surgery. 

After all Research shows that medical error is the third leading cause of death worldwide so might it not make sense to start with the least invasive, least dangerous approach first? You can always opt for dangerous medications, invasive injections, or surgery. But, if those approaches cause damage there is often no way to reverse the damage. 

What is the problem?

Pain is your body communicating to you! Symptoms are the language of the body. Sometimes they are simply alerting you to slow down and nurture yourself. Other times they are communicating damage. 

In our culture we’ve been told in many ways that symptoms are to be shut down at all costs. In medicine that typically involves medication and surgery. But, simply turning off symptoms does nothing to address the reason why they are there.

Another Way to View Pain!

Pain is an indication of a number of possible things…

• Irritation, pressure, tension in some tissue
• Nerve tension and interference
• Imbalance in the structure of the body
• Imbalance in chemistry or physiology of the body
• Damage to tissue

The goal is to restore as much balance as possible, remove as much tension, pressure, and interference, and bring as much ease to the body. 

My Journey with Chronic Pain

Many, many years ago as a teen I was involved in a head on collision in which my head struck and broke the windshield. After getting sutured up and resting for a week I thought I was fine. Months later I found myself experiencing headaches, neck pain, back pain and difficulty concentrating due to brain fog and fatigue. 

I’ve spent the past 38 years exploring, researching, and refining my approach to helping chronic pain sufferers overcome their pain and return to more active and fulfilling lives. The tools I use in practice are the same approach I use for myself.

The 4 Essential Legs to Successful Chronic Pain Treatment

As I said, you have plenty of more dangerous and invasive treatment approaches available to you. Very rarely do they offer a significant long term reduction or elimination of pain. Here is an approach that works with the body to reduce the source of pain and allow you to regain control of your body and your life.

1. Nervous System Tension and Interference: ALL pain is communicated by your nervous system so the single most powerful approach is to reduce or eliminate the cause of tension, irritation, and interference to the nervous system.

Chiropractic care helps remove nervous system tension and interference by restoring proper movement and balance to the joints of the spine and pelvis. The primary focus is on the most densely innervated tissues in the upper neck and pelvis.

2. Restoring Balance to the Structure of the Body: If you put new tires on your vehicle but did not balance the wheels or align the front end what would happen? The tires would wear out in a fraction of the time that they should. Why? Because of imbalance in the structure of the vehicle and wheels. 

The same thing happens in your body. Imbalance causes a couple of effects. It puts more stress on joints, nerves, and soft tissues. This alone can cause pain. It also accelerates the degenerative process of the joints of the knees, hips, and spine. The CDC estimates that Osteoarthritis affects 32 million adults in the US .

By restoring balance to the body we can prevent or slow down that process. With more balance there is much less pressure and tension on sensitive tissues and…..less pain!

3. Balancing Physiology of the Nervous System: Your nervous system can drive up tension and pain, but it can also bring greater ease and relaxation. Unfortunately, the experience of pain tends to promote a self-perpetuating imbalance that increases pain rather than reduce it. 

There are two divisions of your nervous system that have opposite effects on your level of pain. The Sympathetic System, commonly called the ‘Fight-or-Flight’ system is activated by injury and pain. It drives up muscle tension, interferes with healing, disrupts sleep, and increases inflammation.

The Vagus Nerve of the Parasympathetic System promotes ease, relaxation, rest, recovery, and healing. The Vagus Nerve has the ability to greatly reduce your pain level.

In my practice we discuss a number of approaches to improve the tone or activity of the Vagus Nerve to reduce pain. Some of these approaches are…

• Postural shifts
• Sleep Hygiene
• Conscious Breathwork to activate the Vagus
• Chiropractic Care

4. Improving and Maintaining Structural Balance: I’m sure you’ve heard the adage use it or lose it! With chronic pain comes a natural alteration in how we move, the range of our movement, and a progressive loss of motion and strength. 

This natural progression ends up perpetuating and worsening the pain. After removing nerve tension and interference, and restoring structural balance it is critical to reinforce this balance by activating what I call your antigravity muscles. These are the deep muscles of the pelvis and spine that help to counteract the damaging positions and postures of modern life.

This program requires no equipment and can be done in the comfort of your home. In a short time you will experience profound changes in your posture and how you move. These movement practices help lock in improved function and return power to you to control your body.

I’ve yet to encounter someone with chronic pain for whom we could not make a significant improvement in their pain and function. I have patients under care who have received injections to manage their pain for years, yet with proper care to return ease and balance no longer require medical intervention.

Your body is self-healing. If you are experiencing challenges like chronic pain that are not resolving it is because something is interfering with your body’s ability to restore balance and heal. It doesn’t need more medication. What it needs is less interference!

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