Pain is frustrating and debilitating. Not only can it disrupt your mood and deplete your energy, but it can also be indicative of serious health conditions. When we feel pain, we resort to different management, ranging from medicines to various other techniques. These techniques or ways are called pain management.

Pain management is essential as you may suffer from any type of pain at any point in time and at that moment, you have to decide what works best for you. This is in terms of treating and improving the inflammatory situation.

Thus, in this article, you will learn different pain management techniques that have powerful anti-inflammatory effects. But before that, it helps to better understand pain and pain management.

Understanding pain and pain management

The feeling of pain is the worst. It affects your overall health and might also lead to cognitive problems like anxiety and depression. Thus, if you experience extreme pain, visit your doctor immediately.

There are two types of pain that you are likely to experience. Acute pain and chronic pain.

Acute pain occurs suddenly and resolves within hours, days, or maybe a few weeks. On the other hand, chronic pain can continue for more than a month.

To treat pain and improve pain, there are numerous pain management methods that you can use. This ranges from OTC medicines to surgical procedures to home remedies. Let’s take a look at different pain management techniques in detail.

What are different pain management methods?

You can either use medicines (prescribed by a doctor or over-the-counter medicines) or home remedies. Surgeries are rare—mainly when your doctor finds something suspicious in your body.

Improving pain with medicine

People use different pain-relief medicines to lower inflammation. The types of pain medicines that you must have used to lower your pain are:

• Antidepressants
• Paracetamol
• Local anesthesia
• Aspirin
• Opioid medicines
• Anti-epileptic
• NSAIDs (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs)

Each medicine mentioned above works differently. NSAIDs and Aspirin help reduce pain and fever. They reduce inflammation by preventing prostaglandin secretion. Prostaglandins are chemicals that cause swelling, extreme pain, and make nerve endings sensitive, leading to greater inflammation.

However, prostaglandins help protect your stomach from stomach acid. This is the reason why NSAIDs drugs or aspirin can cause bleeding and irritation in some people.

Thus, it is best to take your doctor’s guidance on medicine. OTC medicines can be helpful but there are possibilities of side effects.

Pain management with the help of home remedies

Apart from using medicines, there are several other ways to manage pain and inflammation. Below are the suggestions that you can try to relieve pain.

Cold or heat therapy

Depending on the type of pain, you may use hot or cold compress to relieve pain without using any medicine.

Use either a cold pack or warm water compress on your swelling or on the area of inflammation. Cold or hot pack suppresses pain and provides relief.

Cold therapy numbs the area and reduces tenderness, while warm compress promotes circulation while also easing sore or tight muscles.

Avoid cold therapy if there is a risk of cramping and steer clear of hot compress if the area is already red or hot to the touch. Do not use either forms of therapy if there is an open wound.

Physical therapy

Simple stretches, walking, or aerobic exercises may help reduce pain and lift your mood. However, while working out, you must do it slowly to prevent overstretching or overdoing.

Before using physical therapy, you must ask your doctor to suggest pain-managing workouts. This helps to prevent inflammation from getting worse and provides faster relief.

Massage as a pain management method

Massage is beneficial for soft tissue injuries and relieves pain in the best way possible. However, avoid massage for joint pain. Although certain doctors suggest massage to relieve pain, it is not recommended for long-term therapy.

It is best that you ask your doctor about massage for pain management. Know its pros and cons before using massage to relieve pain.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)

CBT is a form of therapy that can help you learn how to think and feel about pain. Also, this therapy helps you to learn ways to behave while in pain. This therapy is one of the most effective strategies where you learn self-management in chronic pain.

Get complete information about cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) from your doctor before using it as pain relief.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is one of the traditional Chinese medicines to relieve pain. Acupuncture involves inserting needles into specific areas of the skin, commonly known as ‘specific points’.

This traditional Chinese technique aims to restore balance in the body and motivates endorphins, natural pain-relieving compounds in the body, to heal the pain.

Acupuncture is one of the most commonly recommended pain management methods to relieve pain.

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) therapy

In this therapy, minute electrical currents pass through your skin via electrodes, promoting a pain-relieving response in the body.

However, there is not enough research that supports the use of TENS for chronic pain conditions. Therefore, it is best to use this therapy after your doctor’s recommendation.

These are medicinal and non-medicinal techniques to relieve pain. Use these pain management methods to treat body discomfort.

But, keep in mind that managing pain might not be so easy that it seems to be! Therefore, as a suggestion, read the following section to know ways to manage pain that cannot be easily relieved.

Ways to manage pain that cannot be easily relieved

There might be times where the pain will be prolonged and might not easily be relieved. It’s okay to be stressed or frustrated, sometimes fearful or sad when in pain. Here are a few suggestions that you can use to handle persistent pain.

• Keep yourself updated. Know about the condition, intensity of the pain, ways to treat, etc. This avoids stressing or worrying unnecessarily.
• Perform some activities when in pain that lower the pain or prevent it from getting worse.
• Take help from your family and friends, who can support you in such inflammatory situations.
• To avoid body pain, apart from injuries or medical conditions, ensure you are physically fit. Eat nutritious food and adopt a healthy lifestyle.
• In case of frequent body inflammation, take help from the nearest doctor or therapist.
• It is best that you are mentally prepared to know that flare-ups may occur. It is best that you keep your health top-notch to avoid frequent body pain.
• In case you are suffering from psychological pain or stress, it is best to talk to your friends and family about it. Also, you can seek professional medical advice to relieve mental pain and stress.
• Avoid using excess medicines over acute pain. Try to relieve pain with the help of home remedies.

Take note of this guide on pain management to help you in the future. And remember you can seek help from your doctor for better pain management suggestions and treatments.

With the help of these pain management methods, and professional medical advice, you keep acute or chronic pain and flare-ups at bay.

Learn more helpful general health advice here.