Chronic pain can be acquired in so many ways. Some of it may come from aging, illness or injury. Chronic pain often affects, if not the whole body, at least many parts of the body; however more often than not it is the back that is usually affected. Chronic back pain needs to be taken care promptly because if left untreated it can be a cause for more intolerable pain in other parts of the body. Your emotional and mental well being may just be affected by chronic back pain and it may lead to depression and other emotional problems. Happily, there are quite a few ways to treat this type of pain. A patient may do some trial and error experiments on themselves to discover what the best chronic back pain treatment is for them.
Consult your doctor first before trying out different types of chronic pain treatments. The doctor needs to know what type of pain you are suffering in and where the pain originates. This is the first step to help effectively treat chronic pain.
For an overwhelming number of people, prescription medications are their first choice in battling chronic back pain. The drug market offers a wide spectrum of pain killing medications, some are over the counter drugs and some are prescription drugs. Over the counter drugs include ibuprofen and acetaminophen. They are relatively effective when back pain arises. The other kind of drugs, prescription drugs include among others muscle relaxants, corticosteroids and antidepressants. These drugs all have transient terms and need to be taken over and over again daily until forever. These drugs all have serious side effects that range in severity. Many patients know this and are trying out other options that are safer and more effective and if possible, natural.
After an injury a person should rest. Rest is essential as it allows a person to quickly recover from the injury. People usually rest one to two days from a minor injury. After rest, a little exercise is vital to tone back those injured muscles and enable them to regain flexibility and strength. Exercise also helps improve the other body systems apart from the muscular system. This includes the cardiovascular, circulatory and immune system among others. Exercise is also a way to relieve body and emotional pain.
For treatments that are more natural, herbal treatments along with Saratoga Springs acupuncture can provide substantial relief from your chronic pain. Both modalities have been used for over thousands of years in China and the Far East particularly in the treatment of painful conditions. Acupuncture was in fact introduced in the United States as a treatment for pain. This treatment is quite effective for chronic pain that has been unsuccessfully treated by other conventional and non-conventional methods. We can say acupuncture can be a treatment of last resort for some chronic pain sufferers.