Holistic pain management is where you combine different therapies in order to address pain from a variety of angles. Whether that’s through diet changes to mind-body practices or chiropractic care, these various angles at which you address and manage your pain might be more effective than going down just one, singular path.

With that being said, here are some helpful tips for holistic pain management and making use of it for your benefit this year.

What are the benefits of holistic pain management?

There are many benefits to opting for holistic pain management over any other method. These include:

Reduced side effects

Holistic approaches often come with very minimal or no adverse effects. Being able to reduce any side effects when it comes to resolving problems with your health is certainly worth doing where you can. The holistic methods that are mentioned in this article will hopefully help you to reduce those side effects from happening.

Provides long-term relief

With the use of holistic methods, you’ll find that they provide long-term relief, as opposed to some methods that might only curb the pain for so long before it flares back up again. Holistic methods help to reduce the recurrence of pain.

Less risk of addictions

Some traditional treatments and medicines can lead some people on a path to addiction. One of the benefits that comes with holistic methods is that it doesn’t entail the same risk of addiction as the traditional treatments available to most people.

Improves quality of life

Improving the quality of your life is important when it comes to finding what treatments work best for you and your body. With holistic pain management, it can help to improve overall well-being, particularly when it comes to mental clarity.

Delivers a tailored treatment

Being able to have a tailored treatment is something that might not be so common when it comes to traditional treatment methods. Holistic pain management can be tailored to your particular condition which might be a rare or unique one.

5 methods for holistic pain management

While there are some emerging methods of holistic pain management - mentioned at the end - here are a few methods that are currently being used and are proving successful for those who try it for their own conditions.

1. Chiropractic care

Chiropractic care is perhaps considered one of the most popular options for natural pain relief. It focuses on the spine’s alignment and nerve health in order to ease discomfort so that you’re not relying on medication to numb or rid yourself of the pain.

By realigning or adjusting the spine and joints, it helps the nervous system to accurately manage the pain signals throughout the body. As a result, the frequency of pain signals might be minimized through alignment or adjustment. All of which can be provided through chiropractic care.

2. Acupuncture

Acupuncture is one method of holistic pain management that works with the body’s energy flow. Not everyone has the same belief when it comes to the body and the ‘energy’ that is has but it’s an ancient method - referred to as Qi - that involves stimulating specific points on the body.

These points on the body help to balance energy and reduce inflammation. A lot of those who have chronic back pain, migraines, and joint pain, see a noticeable difference to the pain over a series of sessions.

When there are parts of the body that are in a lot of pain due to inflammation, it’s worth giving acupuncture a go.

3. Mind-body practices

There are a number of mind-body practices that are worth knowing about in order to help with pain management. Such practices include yoga, tai chi, and meditation to help with stress relief and provide a degree of flexibility to the body that might not currently be there.

Aligning your meditation with alternative medications can also be helpful for your wellness and chronic pain. Techniques that help to connect the mind and body together are another method of pain relief that has proven to have some impact on those who’ve tried it.

These gentle movements for the body are often great for improving flexibility, focusing on breathing techniques as well as helping to reduce pain.

4. Diet

Diet is something to be mindful of when it comes to your body and it’s also one of the holistic methods used when managing pain.

Eating food that’s high in anti-inflammatory properties like turmeric and omega-3s can certainly be beneficial when tackling the pain within your body.

There are certain foods and natural substances worth knowing about that can help lower inflammation and reduce pain. Such foods include:

CBD products
Salmon
Chia seeds
Tumeric

It’s worth getting to know what foods can be good for you and to incorporate these into your diet where possible.

5. Massage and Heat/Cold therapy

There are a number of benefits that you can get from looking into massages, as well as heat/cold therapy. This can be useful when it comes to targeting muscle pain and injuries in particular.

Along with massages, temperature-based therapies can be helpful in offering relief quickly to certain pain types. For example, heat therapy is often used for chronic stiffness and muscle discomfort like arthritis.

Cold therapy can be useful for acute injuries whether that’s a bruise or sprain. Massages in general can be helpful for relieving tight muscles or bodily pain that’s muscle-related in general.

Other emerging treatments to know about

There are a number of emerging treatments that are also used for holistic pain management and that are worth exploring.

Laser and SoftWave therapies are becoming increasingly popular for tackling chronic pain relief. This can help to reduce inflammation and promote recovery in the cells. Many patients have found that they’ve experienced relief in a minimum of three sessions, although it’s recommended you do more in order to see clear results.

With SoftWave, acoustic waves are used to stimulate deep tissues that would encourage the body’s natural healing processes. Suffice to say, there is plenty to try out.

Tracking the results of holistic pain management

It’s important to try and track the result of your holistic pain management and the methods used over time. That way, you can see what results are actually apparent which might determine what you continue on with and what you leave behind in search of something different to try.

To track the results of your holistic pain management, you might want to work with healthcare providers who can provide you with the resources needed to track your pain volume through the measuring of daily activities, quality of life questionnaires, etc.

You can also look at tracking your own pain management through a journal or diary so that you can stay on top of what holistic methods seem to have the most effect whether it’s immediately after the treatment or some time after it’s happened.

There are plenty of mobile applications that help to track and log pain levels which might be more beneficial than noting it down on pen and paper.

Regardless, it’s important to set a baseline measurement of pain before starting any holistic treatments for pain management. That way, you’ve got something that you can measure against as you try each and every one of the methods mentioned above. Consistency should be apparent when record-keeping but also when going for healthcare follow-ups.

Ultimately, when it comes to pain, everyone experiences it differently and one person’s pain might vary greatly to another. That’s why it’s important to explore holistic methods to see if any work for you and your specific pain or health conditions.

The Ultimate Guide to Holistic Pain Management