So many patients come to me for pain erasure. Most wait to seek treatment until the pain is so bad that they are disabled by it. There are many approaches to take to minimize or eliminate pain depending upon the cause of it.
In Western Medicine pain is defined as: pressure, lack of blood supply, and cell death. In Eastern Medicine pain is defined as: Qi stagnation (dull aching pain), or blood stagnation(sharp, stabbing pain). Both definitions speak of the result of some obstacle to the flow of liquids, gases, and electrical energy in the body. This obstacle or obstruction is what I seek out. Even if a nerve is pinched, there is the place of obstacle that is pinching it.
I use pressure, friction, heat, blood moving herbs, homeopathic anti-inflammatories and natural topical pain relievers of both herbal and homeopathic origing which are absorbed into the skin combined with acupuncture strategically placed to move the blood and Qi directly thru the area of pain. 90% of the time the pain is relieved significantly.
The only time it may not be significantly relieved is when a nerve is pinched for an excessively long time and has become inflammed. This chronic inflammation of the nerve, usually at the root close to the spine, creates a signal to the muscles that the nerve is innervating to maintain contraction. This then becomes peripheral entrapment of the nerve by the muscles it is innervating. The muscles then pull on the nerve, causing irritation and continued inflammation at the root. A cycle of pain must be broken. The muscles chronically spasmed must be manipulated enough to get them to let go sometimes so the nerve root can heal. The nerve root must be treated to decrease the inflammation and stop firing the signal to the muscles to contract. It takes a continuous, frequent treatment to break this cycle.
Pain caused by the physiology, or organs is usually decreased by changing the chemistry of the blood. Herbal treatment along with acupuncture and some vibration of the organs will move the tissues to create a change in the physiology.
And then there is the final work of changing our minds about the pain. A patient may have become so used to chronic pain that bearing it has become the new “normal” and the cause of it is removed there is still the sensation of it for the patient. In some ways it is habit. This can be worked with in many ways. Sometimes just repetition of the experience of pain relief will create a new “normal” gradually. Sometimes some coaching of noticing details of change can reset the mind to the unfamiliar state of pain free.
Freeing ourselves of pain is important, as it drains our energy, demands our attention, and causes a downward turn in our thoughts. Paying attention to it and treating it appropriately is always the best choice. In some ways, pain lights the way to discover things about ourselves and the way we are living that will cause an evolution of our lives in order to resolve the pain. A growth of person and character can often be the result of discovering the cause of pain while removing it.
Whatever the result, it is a worthy endeavor to pursue being pain free. You will get the best and fastest results if you seek treatment early upon discovery of pain, rather than waiting to see if it will go away. Of course a few days of watching to see if it decreases and will eliminate on it’s own is OK. But, noticing an increase of pain each day is a strong signal to seek treatment immediately. The sooner treatment begins, the faster the practitioner will be able to succeed at relieving it entirely.