What is non-pharmacological pain management?
Beyond The Pill Box: Managing pain with an integrated approach
Being diagnosed with a serious, life-altering injury or illness, one of the first things they are likely to worry about is pain. Pain is unpleasant, exhausting, and depressing, depressing; the media has conditioned us to think we need to reach for a pill to feel better. The problem is that all medications have side effects, and often, the side effects outweigh the benefits of the treatments. By utilizing various methods and tools, including non-pharmacological therapies, to decrease pain without using more medicine; with creativity and listening to our patients and walking their path with them, we ether we get closer to achieving lasting relief from the pain experienced. Non-pharmacological therapies may help decrease your pain and give you more control.
What other therapies may help control pain?
Non-pharmacological therapies can be used on their own or in combination with drug therapies even if your condition requires long-term or even palliative care. Some of these tools are complementary therapies that focus on non-pharmacological management of pain without medications. These methods utilize ways to alter thoughts and focus concentration to better manage and reduce pain. Maintaining a comfortable, relaxing atmosphere around the patient goes a long way toward easing pain. What are some common therapies to help control pain? Heat helps decrease pain and muscle spasms. Apply heat to the area for 20 to 30 minutes every 2 hours for as many days as directed. Ice helps decrease swelling and pain. Ice may also help prevent tissue damage. Use an ice pack or put crushed ice in a plastic bag. Cover it with a towel and place it on the area for 15 to 20 minutes every hour or as directed. Use of Gel packs. These are simple packs that can be warmed or chilled and used to ease localized pain.
Hypnosis
With hypnosis, a certified practitioner guides you into an altered state of consciousness. This helps you to focus or narrow your attention to reduce discomfort. Methods for hypnosis include:
Imagery: Guiding you through imaginary mental images of sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and feelings can help shift attention away from pain.
Guided imagery teaches you to imagine a picture in your mind. You learn to focus on the picture instead of your pain. It may help you learn how to change the way your body senses and responds to pain.
Self-hypnosis is a way to direct your attention to something other than your pain. For example, you might repeat a positive statement about ignoring the pain or seeing the pain in a positive way.
Relaxation techniques can help you relax, relieve stress, and decrease pain.
Clinical hypnosis is a valuable adjunctive therapy, however, it is not covered by insurance and each session generally costs between $100 and $200 per session.
Relaxation & Yoga
Aromatherapy is a way of using scents to relax, relieve stress, and decrease pain. Aromatherapy uses oils, extracts, or fragrances from flowers, herbs, and trees. They may be inhaled or used during massages, facials, body wraps, and baths.
Deep breathing can help you relax and help decrease your pain. Take a deep breath in and then release it slowly. Do this as many times as needed. Tense your muscles and then relax them. Start with the muscles in your feet then slowly move up your leg. Then move to the muscles of your middle body, arms, neck and head.
Meditation, Pilates and Yoga may help your mind and body relax. They can also help you have an increased feeling of wellness. Meditation and yoga help you take the focus off your pain.
Biofeedback
Music may help increase energy levels and improve your mood. It may help reduce pain by triggering your body to release endorphins. These are natural body chemicals that decrease pain. Music may be used with any of the other techniques, such as relaxation and distraction.
Biofeedback helps your body respond differently to the stress of being in pain. Healthcare providers may use a biofeedback machine to help know when your body is relaxed. You will learn to identify the rhythm of your breathing and heart rate when in a relaxed state. When pain increases, you may practice getting your breathing and heart rate to those levels. This may help you feel more control over your pain. Education and psychological conditioning: Not knowing what to expect from any treatment is stressful. However, with education, our team can help you feel more prepared so your stress level will be much lower.
What is the Difference Between Biofeedback and Neurofeedback?
Because neurofeedback is a form of EEG biofeedback, there's a difference between the areas of focus for biofeedback and neurofeedback. Both treatments use technology to provide feedback to a patient about his/her bodily functions. However, there are 2 key differences in treatment goals and focus between the two therapies:
- Biofeedback provides information about the patient's physiology as a whole, while neurofeedback focuses on the electrical activity solely in the brain.
- Biofeedback is often used to treat conditions such as chronic pain. Neurofeedback typically hones in on improving cognitive abilities such as mental health, focus, memory, attention, sleep, and learning ability.
Who Can Benefit from Biofeedback?
Almost everyone can benefit from biofeedback therapy, but some individuals can find more benefit from this natural intervention. Some of the most common conditions treated by biofeedback include, but are not limited to:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Migraines
- Backaches
- Neck pains
- Leg cramps
- Fibromyalgia
- PTSD
- Insomnia
- Stress
Decrease Anxiety
To decrease your anxiety about treatment, consider the following:
- Ask for an explanation of each step of a procedure in detail, utilizing simple pictures or diagrams when available.
- Meet with the person who will be performing the procedure and write down answers to questions.
- Ask what you can expect as an outcome of the treatment.
- Comfort therapy
- Companionship.
Decrease Anxiety
Helping people to break the bonds of their pain by using a holistic approach, incorporating modern technology and the latest advances in science, experiential therapy and our caring staff. We believe that there are many roads to pain free living and we are committed to helping you and your family find a unique path to it by creating a safe, confidential, therapeutic community where are treated with respect and dignity.
Exercise
Physical and occupational therapy may involve the following:
- Exercises that focus on flexibility, strengthening or stamina
- Aquatherapy
- Desensitization
- Positioning Massage may help relax tight muscles and decrease pain.
Chronic pain
Chronic pain is isolating but you are not a diagnosis or a chart. You can control how you deal with the isolation by including others, being a part of something bigger will help you to focus your energy in a more positive direction.
Having visitors is helpful, but listen to your mind and body. It is not your job to entertain visitors, so if it is wearing you out, limit the numbers and times of visits.
Pastoral counseling. Having a spiritual mentor helps individuals dealing with the crisis of pain to deal with illness and/injury within the context of their faith system
Pet therapy. If you have bouts of pain that last 5, 10, or 15 minutes, trying to find something pleasant -- like petting an animal's soft fur -- to distract and relax yourself can be helpful.
Physical and occupational therapy If a person has been active before and is now confined to bed, even just moving the hands and feet a little bit can help. A therapist can teach you exercises to help improve movement and strength and to decrease pain.
Neurostimulation
Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stumulation (TENS) unit is a portable, pocket-sized, battery-powered device that attaches to your skin. It is usually placed over the area of pain. It uses mild, safe electrical signals to help control pain; these impulses start your body's own pain killers. The electrical pulses can release endorphins and other substances to stop pain signals in the brain.
A spinal cord stimulator
A spinal cord stimulator (SCS) is an electrode implanted near your spinal cord during a simple procedure. The electrode is connected to a stimulator (a small box). The stimulator sends mild, safe electrical signals to the electrode. Electrical signals help relax the nerves that cause your pain.
Acupuncture uses very thin needles to balance energy channels in the body. This is thought to help reduce pain and other symptoms.
Acupressure is acupuncture, except that it uses fingertip pressure instead of needles. By improving energy flow, acupressure is said to help with a range of conditions, from motion sickness to headache to muscle pain.
