If you are feeling pain, any sort of pain, it is hard to be in a good mood, smile at the world, or even be civil to family and friends. Regardless of whether a person suffers from chronic pain or temporary pain, finding relief goes a long way toward making a day much brighter and more bearable.
In most cases, getting rid of the pain is not just simply treating the supposed affected part. Quite often (and usually) the pain is referred pain, which is where it comes from another source somewhere inside the body.
For example, you may have muscle pain in your neck, but the source may be deep down inside your shoulder. Therefore, massaging the neck isn’t going to make the pain completely go away, although it may still feel good in the short term.
Total Body Healing
If a patient is diagnosed with a medical condition that makes them suffer from chronic pain, holistic healing would prove to be beneficial. Holistic healing not only treats the pain, it also improves all aspects of their health and wellbeing.
Below are some holistic ways used to treat pain.
Anti-Inflammatory Diet
One of the first things you can do when treating chronic pain is to pay attention to your diet. There are certain foods that contain substances that may increase pain and inflammation. Increased inflammation can increase pain, therefore following an anti-inflammatory diet is certainly beneficial and recommended for people who are suffering from any type of pain.
An anti-inflammatory diet consists of whole foods; foods that contain no preservatives or artificial ingredients.
This diet will have a focus on consumption of low GI foods. Lean protein foods, healthy fats such as olive oil and salmon, are some of the important foods you can add to your anti-inflammatory diet. This diet does not promise instant relief from pain; however, the benefits are gradual and long-lasting, and that’s a good thing.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture has long been known to work well in providing pain relief. Sufferers of neck pain, tension headaches, muscular pain, low-back pain, migraine and osteoarthritic pain etc., have given positive feedback on the healing, holistic benefits. Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners believe that pain relief can only be achieved once the patient’s balance in their energy pathways is regained.
Naturally, acupuncture can help do this. When treating pain, acupuncturists will insert tiny, thin needles into the body, and not necessarily in the actual pain location! The area where the needles are inserted will be related to the ‘source’ of the discomfort and pain, rather than the referred pain site.
Exercise
Experts counsel that people suffering from chronic pain should include regular exercise into their healing program. This is because exercise has the power to boost the body’s production of endorphins and hormones that function as natural painkillers.
As a result, the increase in endorphin production gives an improvement in a patient’s pain threshold.
Endorphins are capable of interacting with the pain receptors in the brain, so that a person’s perception of pain is reduced. Consult your doctor first before starting any intensive exercise regimen, to ensure that you will benefit and not cause any harm to yourself. It is important to make sure your exercise regimen is tailored to your own medical and health status.
Meditation
Numerous studies have proven that meditation can help relieve pain, by changing a person’s perception of pain. Regular practice of meditation will help cultivate equilibrium and inner peace, and when in pain, being able to calm the mind and emotional state.
Grounding Therapy
Grounding therapy is based on the premise that the Earth’s surface has negatively charged free electrons. These electrons work to neutralize the free radicals in the body that have been positively charged.
Spending time walking barefoot on any natural surface, such as the grass, will allow your body to absorb the negatively charged free electrons. This results in a reduction of pain, as levels of inflammation in the body are also lowered.
Walk on any natural surface for at least 20 minutes a day, so that your body will have the chance to connect to the Earth’s healing energy. If you do you are helping your body heal holistically!
