What is Chronic Pain?

Chronic pain and overall body inflammation are at the root of any disease process, especially so in cases of pain. Inflammation is one of the main causative factors of disease. Chronic pain suffers can rarely get off pain medications until the inflammation is resolved. While inflammation is a protective mechanism, hanging around for too long after the healing process has completed will lead to scar tissue and inflammation remaining. This creates ‘congestion’ in the system which perpetuates the pain and inflammation, preventing the body from returning to a state of wellness.

How is chronic pain diagnosed?

Pain is varied in experience and can be stemming from several different etiological conditions. The whole person must be taken into consideration and evaluated to properly address the root cause as quickly and effectively as possible.  Chronic pain can be sharp or shooting, dull or sharp. It can occur in the bones, nerves, or tissues. It can be in the pelvis, abdomen, back, or joints. Chronic pain can take many forms.

Folks in pain can expect to feel sore when waking up with tight muscles, headaches, popping sounds in the joints, inability to touch ones’ toes, back aches, numbness, etc. These all stem from lack of circulation and blood flow, too much scar tissue, and inflammation in and around the ‘bull’s-eye’ areas of pain. Over time, scar tissue and adhesions that have formed from longstanding inflammation become ‘glue or cement’ like in the body prohibiting proper circulation.

The most humane thing Dr. Skip, O.M.D., can do for you in these instances is to recommend therapies and natural options to soothe inflammation, increase the circulation in your body and promote healing. Please remember never to stop any medications prescribed by your doctors. Dr. Skip is happy to coordinate care with your other providers and he is trained in both Western and Eastern modalities to help guide you in all of the options available to you. Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine, via the use of TCM Herbal Rx, have a tremendous success rate with all kinds of pain whether shooting, stabbing, burning or other.

If you are experiencing severe, complex, and progressive chronic pain due to an advanced disease process, then Functional Medicine may be an option to consider.  By identifying areas out of homeostasis, we can repair your foundation. For example, healing the gut, reducing inflammation, and boosting the immune system through this methodology can offer significant long-term health benefits and chronic pain relief.

Fatigue, hypertension, anxiety, anger, frustration, difficulty concentrating, insomnia and depression are also commonplace among people suffering in pain. This can be worse depending on the quantities of opioid based prescription meds needed to calm pain receptors. We make every effort to address these circumstances as aggressively as the pain itself.

Please remember while medications can be effective in controlling pain they do nothing to address any underlying issues such as the inflammation that could be perpetuating your problem and keeping you from healing. Please don’t forget the worst side effect is the very high addictive and abuse potential of these meds. These factors make them extremely unfriendly for anyone to use more than a few days or weeks as a stop gap.

Natural methods such as acupressure, acupuncture, chiropractic, physical therapy, massage and other manual therapies are by far and away much more beneficial to increasing circulation to the joints and muscles keeping them supple, lubricated and flexible. They just take time, tenacity, and consistency. Please don’t give up.

Inactivity for prolonged periods drastically increases lactic acid buildup, congested circulation and blocked lymphatic fluid, all contributing to increased incidences of pain and stagnation in the body. After a catastrophic diagnosis like cancer or after a major surgery, we tend towards laxity and instead of pursuing aggressive methods to facilitate the healing process. When the pain gets really bad, we don’t get the right kind of help to keep the inflammation under control which can also keep our joints and muscles mobile and working.

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