Natural Pain Relief
Article by Lorna Harvey
If you experience chronic pain from migraine, arthritis, fibromyalgia, pelvic or lower back pain, TMJ, then you know how it can interfere with even the most mundane daily tasks, like showering or shopping or holding down a job.
When battling recurring pain, you may have turned to analgesics such as acetaminophen or oxycodone with side effects like dry mouth and the risk of dependence and addiction. But there’s another way, a drug-free way that relieves pain and requires only that your mind and body work together to help you take back your life.
Promising research suggest that we have more control over our perception of pain than we might think. In a ground breaking 2005 study, subjects watched their own fMRI brain scans and experienced how peaceful thoughts caused the pain centers of the brain to calm down. Pain is part of our fight or flight response and techniques liked paced breathing (often used in childbirth) will help slow down the heart as well as lower your blood pressure while helping the body to relax to the pain response.
There our several cutting-edge techniques that can be used in lieu of medication or, if your doctor recommends it, in conjunction with a traditional medical approach. One of those techniques is called Guided Imagery.
Guided imagery exercises can help alleviate all kinds of pain by recalibrating the mind, reminding it that peaceful qualities that exist outside of pain are still accessible. This technique will also help your body relax and help reduce stress. Try it:
1. To start the technique, find a comfortable place to sit or lie.2. Allow a relaxing, peaceful image to form in your mind. This could be outside or indoors. You might want to choose a meadow, a stream, or a quiet sun filled beach. What is important is that the image needs to be a place that you find personally relaxing.3. It is important that you encourage your senses to notice sounds that are part of the environment as well as feeling the temperature, breathing in the aromas. Also try to observe the quality of light and colors. Not only does engaging the senses make the image more real and vivid, but it also engages the more intuitive right hemisphere of the brain, which increases relaxation.4. Once you have fully imagined your environment, notice how you are feeling.5. You will want to do this technique for at least 15 minutes.
If you can modulate your pain significantly, then you may need to use fewer analgesics or get more relief from the analgesics that you are using, or not have to use them at all.
About the Author
Are you looking for interesting health and wellness information? Visit Small Steps to Wellness for lots of great posts on health and wellness.