Holistic pain management

Alternative pain management is an evidence-based form of treatment for ongoing pain. Your doctor can choose from among many treatment options, such as:

• Acupuncture. Acupuncture is a critical component of traditional Chinese medicine that helps relieve pain using thin needles placed through the skin at strategic locations around the body. Some practitioners believe that the stimulation of muscles and other tissues boosts your body’s natural painkillers.
• Homeopathic trigger point injections. As an alternative to steroid injections or opioid medication for pain management, homeopathic trigger point injections contain natural solutions injected into a trigger point or acupuncture point. The injections, widely used in Chinese medicine, trigger the body’s natural response to promote healing.
• Prolotherapy. A form of treatment for muscle and joint pain, prolotherapy involves injecting a dextrose solution into a muscle or joint to stimulate controlled inflammation. This result promotes increased blood flow, nourishes the tissue, removes damaged cells and causes the body to regenerate tissue at an accelerated rate.
• Hyaluronic acid injections. Injecting hyaluronic acid into your painful joint, like a knee, is a form of treatment for osteoarthritis. Your doctor injects a thick, gel-like substance to lubricate and cushion the joint.
• Ozone therapy. This therapy triggers the multiplication of cells in a weak or damaged body area, which helps relieve pain while strengthening and regenerating structures such as muscles, ligaments, tendons, joints and cartilage.
• Neural therapy. Designed to repair the functioning of the autonomic nervous system, neural therapy treats disturbances in your body’s electrical system.
• TECAR therapy. TECAR therapy is a non-invasive radiofrequency treatment that promotes healing by creating heat inside your body that stimulates its ability to repair itself.
• Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and stem cell therapy. PRP therapy uses your own platelets to stimulate the activation of stem cells, which reduces inflammation and promotes a healing response in nearby tissues.
• Intra-articular laser therapy. This form of laser therapy helps relieve pain by penetrating the skin deeply enough to reach joints or spinal discs. This therapy is often used in conjunction with PRP therapy.

Debilitating pain interferes with your ability to work, sleep and enjoy life. Fortunately, there are many forms of alternative pain management treatments that may help you experience relief from chronic pain. Strong medications with unpleasant side effects with the potential of addiction aren’t your only options for finding relief from chronic pain.
If you’re living with chronic pain, you’re not alone. Don’t give up on finding a form of treatment that’s effective for you in reducing or relieving discomfort and pain.