Pain Management Techniques: Current Trends

Chronic pain sufferers all over the world have over the ages managed pain through a variety of techniques. These include drugs, non-invasive therapies like exercise, yoga or massage, other native healing methods like hot-springs, hot stone massages, various types of herbal oils, hypnosis, deep-relaxation techniques and finally invasive therapies like injections and surgery. However, as people move from traditional occupations to more sedentary ones and as longevity increases, there is a great need for exploring newer pain management techniques.

In places like Lexington, Kentucky, where a traditionally rural community with a long tradition of horse-rearing, now moves increasingly to an urban life-style, pain and stress have become more common.

There are several pain-management centers, hospitals, nursing-homes and healing centers, spas and wellness centers which offer both long and short-term relief from pain. The underlying causes of pain could be a variety of factors: muscular damage, psychological factors, anxiety, chronic diseases like diabetes which results in diabetic neuropathy, cancer, a host of other diseases and organ failures, migraine headaches, pain due to accidents, sports-related pain, injuries, age and stress.

It is important to keep abreast of current discoveries and trends in the area of pain management.

Massage: Though one of the oldest methods of dealing with pain, massage is still being re-discovered and re-invented. Traditional massages like Swedish and Asian massages, reflexology and massages with healing oils, hot-stone, Hawaiian, African, chiropractic treatments, acupressure etc are some of the old yet newly discovered massage techniques offered in many pain management centers.

Mind-Body: Yoga, meditation, stress-management, biofeedback, counseling, treatment of conditions like depression and anxiety, hypnosis, guided imagery and visualization, exercises, weight-loss and relaxation techniques are very useful in long-term self-healing programs.

Virtual reality: Using a range of emotion and cognitive based techniques, pain sufferers are taken into a virtual world where they are guided through a series of non-invasive interventions like hypnosis and biofeedback to manage their pain. Music, visuals, mood-creators and suggestions often combine to create a world where the sufferers see themselves as completely free from pain and once the session is concluded they are able to transfer some of these emotions into their daily lives and hence manage their pain.

TENS: Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation techniques supply minute electrical charges to the skin that lies above the painful areas and stimulates the patient's own circulation and pleasure-centers to combat the pain.

Drug Pumps: These are installed close to the spinal cord to supply small amounts of pain-killers and relieve the symptoms. Spinal cord stimulation through small devices installed similar to pace-makers is also one of the emerging trends.

Alternative Therapies: Reiki, Distance Healing, Pranic healing, therapeutic touch etc are some emerging therapies that are being explored.

Dietary: Using food as therapy to combat pain, fasting, consuming anti-depressant herbs and foods, anti-inflammatory oils and herbal remedies and nutritional supplements are also effective new methods of pain management.

Looking for an exclusive massage studio!

and find Voted Lexington's Best Massage by

.

Also visit

and

This is your sidebar. The sidebar is a handy place for secondary information such as contact information. Replace this text with words of your own.