If you suffer from pain, you know how much it can interfere with your everyday life. Pain often keeps you from doing what you love, not to mention your daily chores and activities. Medication helps some people, but it also comes with some risks. If this situation sounds all too familiar, don’t underestimate the power of alternative pain treatments. In fact, you may be surprised by how effective they are at managing pain without the harmful side effects.
With that in mind, More Natural Healing discusses some natural treatment alternatives that everyone should keep in mind.
Supplements That Reduce Inflammation
Inflammation plays a role in many different types of pain, whether you’ve had an injury or have a medical condition like arthritis or fibromyalgia. Reducing inflammation is one way to manage pain, and a natural supplement like CBD oil is an excellent option to consider. Many people don’t realize that taking CBD supplements is a safe way to get beneficial cannabinoids into your system that doesn’t make you intoxicated. The anti-inflammatory property of CBD is one of those amazing benefits, which is what makes it so effective at relieving pain. Of course, you should talk to your doctor before you begin researching CBD oils.
Amethyst
Complementary medicine practitioners and crystal healers have used amethyst for healing for centuries. From myth and legend to actual use, many people swear by this purple-hued quartz when treating generalized pain as well as anxiety. While the science is still out on these claims, the use continues. Some people carry a small amethyst in their pocket or purse or as a jewelry accessory, while others decorate their homes with amethyst crystals or geodes.
Yoga
Of course, a popular natural way to relieve pain is yoga. To understand the connection between pain and yoga, it helps to understand how chronic pain works. Chronic pain is just as real as the acute pain you experience when you get injured, but chronic pain is also impacted by your brain in different ways. Because of this, you can use yoga to change your brain’s response to pain through relaxation and increased bodily awareness. Yoga International explains how the movements and breath focus of yoga help you “unlearn” pain by switching your body (and mind) from a pain-focused response to a healing-focused response.
Yoga also reduces pain in more immediate and obvious ways. For example, if you have arthritis, yoga gives you a wider range of movement in joints that can lower or even eliminate pain. The relaxation of muscles eases tension, and the strength and flexibility you gain through yoga also help with all types of pain. You can find poses that target any area, like these poses for hip pain.
Meditation
Focusing on your breath while going through a yoga flow is one way to experience the benefits of meditation, but you can also use different types of meditation throughout your day to help relieve pain. The Cleveland Clinic describes meditation as “focusing your attention on one thing for a period of time.” They explain how the intentional focus of meditation leads the body to stop releasing stress hormones and start releasing endorphins, which are hormones that make you feel good. These hormones, along with relaxed muscles, lower your body’s sensation of pain
Body scan meditation is especially helpful for people who suffer from pain. It involves focusing on parts of your body individually, identifying specific feelings in each area. This increased awareness of your body is a powerful way for your mind to gain control over pain.
Acupuncture
Along with things like yoga and meditation that you can do yourself, getting alternative therapies such as acupuncture is another natural way to reduce pain. Acupuncture is a safe treatment that works by releasing chemicals and hormones into your tissues to help your body’s natural system of healing work more efficiently. Many people find this to be highly effective, especially when it comes to relieving neck and back pain.
Diet and Exercise
You probably realize by now that you have a good bit of control over pain, but you may not realize just how much everyday lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise can make a difference. When you’re in pain, being active may be the last thing you want to do, but physical activity — even simple indoor exercises like stretching and walking — can actually make you feel better. It also helps to eat a healthy diet overall and focus specifically on getting anti-inflammatory foods like tomatoes, broccoli, and green tea.
It’s easy to think of pills or medication as the first option for feeling better, but what happens when they wear off? The great thing about eating right, practicing yoga, and trying other natural solutions like More Natural Healing’s line of herbal supplements is that it’s an overall lifestyle shift. These natural lifestyle practices lower your pain and lead to overall wellness, which has only positive side effects.
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Our blog post is a collaborative effort by the founders of More Natural Healing in conjunction with Editors of Renewed Health Alliance, and our board of advisors including doctors, herbalists, and experts in using natural herbs and supplements to enhance our daily lives. We only provide information that has been researched, validated, and vetted for our posts and includes validation from experts in the herbal community. A person of interest on this post is the talented writing ofSheila Olson of fitsheila.com. Sheila is a contributing writer and blogger for More Natural Healing & Renewed Health Alliance