Managing Pain

Managing Pain

Pain can be debilitating and demoralising. Pharmaceutical pain-killers can be helpful but they can sometimes have significant side effects on your mood, sleeping patterns, digestion, liver health, and can even cause chronic pain. 

What causes pain?

Pain can be caused by many things. Some physical, some neurological.

·       Physical trauma such as a cut, bruise or break.

·       Repeated muscles use: Sometimes your body will create pain by holding tension unnecessarily. Clenching tension when stressed is a common cause of neck and shoulder pain. Taking painkillers will numb this pain but it won't tackle the problem and so this pain will continue, potentially creating an even worse situation.

·       Inflammation: The body uses heat and swelling to create an environment where damage can be protected and healed, which causes discomfort or pain.

·       Emotional trauma or blocks: This is pain commonly felt as heart ache or nerves that make your stomach feel like it's being wrung out. Emotions are felt in the physical body and sometimes stressed emotions can cause physical pains in the same way that stressed muscles can.

·       Nerve damage: This can cause pain that is being triggered by damaged or malfunctioning nerve pathways rather than by the point at which the pain is felt. Calming or supporting the nervous system can help with this.

·       Heightened sensitivity: Your response to pain will affect how much pain you feel. A sense of panic will cause the awareness of pain to be heightened, as will being tired or unwell. Women often find that their sensitivity is increased during certain times in their menstrual cycle. Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean that your body is subjected to more pain, it means that your brain is interpreting pain as being more significant and less manageable.

Once you have identified the type of pain you have, it's useful to have some natural solutions up your sleeve to help reduce the effects of pain and to tackle to the cause of the pain. 

Natural Solutions for Pain Relief

Physical Exercise

There are many studies that prove that certain types of exercise can reduce back pain significantly, but you need to make sure that you choose the right exercise. Yoga or Pilates can be great if you do it with awareness and ensure you talk to the teacher about what pains, injuries and physical issues you currently have so that you can be guided appropriately. I work with a model of movement therapy called Somatic Movement which encourages you to take control of habitual patterned movement and build awareness, strength, mobility and flexibility through beneficial alignment. I have helped many people to recover injuries, build strength and significantly reduce muscular pain through doing Somatic Movement and Somatic Yoga.

Relaxation

Physical pain triggers a pain response which releases stress hormones. When you’re in pain, your body is in a constant state of alert, preventing you from switching from "fight or flight" mode into "rest and digest" mode. If your body cannot rest, then your ability to absorb nutrients and eliminate toxins is diminished. This causes a vicious cycle because tiredness and stress on your body causes more pain sensation; more pain prevents your body from recovering...

Meditation

Having a meditation practice can help. You can start a meditation practice by simply sitting comfortably and bringing your attention to your breath. Alternatively, practice mindfulness by doing something to take your mind away from the pain, allowing yourself to KNOW that you ARE OK, such as painting, writing, colouring, singing or listening to calming music. Divert your mind to a mental activity in a way that brings you a sense of calm and peace and try to let yourself focus entirely on your activity. Watching TV is not in this category! Sorry! Although it is distracting, which has it's short-term benefits, it's also equally numbing and very stimulating in different ways. Distraction techniques are not as beneficial in the long term as practicing mindfulness or mediation practices.

Anti-inflammatory Foods

Consuming anti-inflammatories can be very beneficial, depending on the cause of the pain.

Turmeric is great as an anti-inflammatory agent. It also helps with many systems in the body. Magnesium - a magnesium supplement can help with muscular aches and pains and can also help to aid sleep. Foods that are high in magnesium include spinach, almonds and raw cacao. Omega 3, found in supplements or in oily fish, can help target the source of arthritic or joint pain by reducing inflammation.

In addition, avoiding too much of any inflammatory foods can be a game changer. This can be different from one individual to another, but some common triggers would include sugar, high fructose foods, highly processed foods, red meat, foods with trans fats such as biscuits, pastries, fried foods and ready meals.

Essential Oils

Essential Oils can help relieve pain. Not only by targeting and treating the cause, but also by affecting the brains response to the stress caused by being in pain. The power of smell can invoke a sense of calm, inducing the release of endorphins and other happy-making hormones that reduce the sensation of pain. Frankincense / Boswellia - is proved to be a powerful anti-inflammatory and helps with rheumatoid arthritis. Lavender - acts as an anaesthetic, reducing the sensation of pain. Also has a calming effect which helps to reduce panic that magnifies pain.

Natural Health Practitioners

Try visiting your natural health practitioner. I speak as a Systematic Kinesiologist, but talk for all natural health practitioners when I say that we can help with many problems that you think that no one can help you with! If you have any pain - identified or unidentified - we can help. If you don't already have a natural health practitioner then find an Acupuncturist, Homeopath, or Systematic Kinesiologist, who will be able to help you to identify what specific remedies, nutrition and solutions will help your personal set of circumstances.

Contact me directly if you’d like further guidance or would like to book a session to assess what exercises would be best suited for you or if you would like to see what holistic natural therapies can do to help the health of your lungs.