3 Ways to Tackle Chronic Pain Naturally

Chronic pain comes in many forms. Creaky knees. Aching back. Sore hips. Bum shoulders. From dull throbbing pain to searing jolts of discomfort, if we move the wrong way, living with chronic pain can be life altering and depressing. While some forms of chronic pain require surgery due to lifelong wear and tear or serious injury, less severe chronic pain can be treated or alleviated with a few simple strategies. Here are three proven ways to lessen day-to-day pain:

1. Adopt Daily Mobility and Flexibility Routines

As we age, our range of motion for certain muscle groups and tendons diminishes. Over time, we begin to compensate for this lack of movement and flexibility by shortening our motions and relying on other muscles. Along the way, we often pick up new bad habits that create new problems and wear out new muscles. It’s a cascading effect that often ends in decreased movement with increased pain.

But what if you could head all of this off at the pass? Wouldn’t that be better? You can.

By starting a proper routine to improve your flexibility and mobility, over time you can alleviate the pain you’re experiencing throughout your body. Most people think that after a certain age, the very idea of bending down without pain is impossible. Not true. All it takes is a concerted effort to slowly regain your range of motion. Yoga and Pilates are great options.

2. Harness Functional Medicine to Manage Weight Loss

One of the biggest causes of unnecessary stress on joints and daily movements is carrying excess weight on your body. If you’re more than fifteen-to-twenty pounds over your ideal weight, the added pounding that your tendons, joints and muscles are taking on a daily basis has serious repercussions over time. Not only can the added weight wreak havoc on your heart and energy levels, it can exacerbate issues you may be having on load bearing parts of your body; think: feet, ankles, knees, hips, etc…

If you’re carrying extra pounds, one of the most surefire ways to relieve chronic pain in your lower extremities is to lose weight and build muscle in your legs. This takes the pressure off of the areas of your body where you’re experiencing pain.

3. Relax

Stress and anxiety are double trouble when it comes to handling chronic pain. When you’re constantly in a stressful state, your body has a hard time healing. In addition, when you’re stressed, you release chemical cytokines in your body. These cytokines cause inflammation. As you know, inflammation causes damage on nearly every level of your well-being, including chronic pain.

One surefire way to help reduce chronic pain is to reduce stress. You can do this through breathing exercises, meditation, yoga or simply finding time to wind down and do things you enjoy. Reading. Walking. Crossword puzzles. Look for activities that you have fun doing and that take your mind off of whatever is causing you stress. Build these activities into your daily habits. As your stress levels drop, so should your pain levels.

To learn more about treating joint pain and injuries, click here to learn about regenerative medicine. For more about weight loss with functional medicine, click here.

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