People with medical conditions like fibromyalgia in Ada, Michigan, are often troubled by chronic pain. In fact, any person who feels pain that lasts more than 12 weeks can make a case that they have chronic pain. For many people with chronic pain, medication is the most commonly used treatment. If you’re looking for chronic pain management techniques that are natural, here are three options that you should consider.
1. Low-impact cardio
Although it may not seem like it, one of the most effective chronic pain management techniques is to keep moving. Many people tend to move less when they’re feeling pain. However, this only causes muscles and joints to become stiff and lose flexibility, which can actually increase your pain. To help yourself get moving again, try incorporating some low-impact cardio into your day. Exercises in this category include options like walking and swimming. These exercises place a minimum amount of stress on your joints, but they also help strengthen and stretch joints and muscles. You don’t have to spend hours working out; simply adding at least 20 minutes of low-impact exercises to your day can help you manage chronic pain.
2. Dietary changes
Seek out dietary changes that reduce inflammation within the body, which will help you manage your chronic pain. Many people eat a diet that’s high in fried foods and carbs, but this diet has been shown to increase inflammation in the body. This is an issue for people with chronic pain because higher inflammation tends to increase pain.
For example, you can add more green leafy vegetables to your meals. Remember when your parents used to tell you to eat your spinach? Well, it turns out they were right. Spinach, kale and other leafy greens contain high amounts of antioxidants like vitamins C and E. By eating more antioxidants, you can help your body decrease inflammation naturally. This is because antioxidants help the body trap and get rid of free radical molecules that cause inflammation.
3. Physical therapy
Physical therapy is another technique you can look into for better chronic pain management. At Advent Physical Therapy, our team in Ada can help you find many techniques to treat chronic pain. For instance, we offer manual therapy, and this hands-on therapy technique allows a therapist to stretch and improve blood flow to painful areas of the body.
This is just one technique we can include in your personalized therapy plan. Check out some additional treatment techniques we may utilize in your personalized plan:
- Cupping
- Instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM)
- Pelvic floor rehabilitation
- Kinesiology taping
Take the next step to reduce your chronic pain with our supportive and knowledgeable team. Contact us today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.