Your Chiropractor Can Help You When You Have Chronic Pain

The American Academy of Pain Medicine cites that at least 1.5 billion people worldwide deal with chronic pain. Your doctor of chiropractic, is a specialist in neuromuscular conditions and diseases, and recognizes that chronic pain is the most common cause of long-term disability in the United States, affecting roughly 100 million Americans.

See Your Doctor of Chiropractic When You Have Chronic Pain

Chronic pain can cause limited mobility, opioid addiction, depression, anxiety, and a reduced quality of life. Approximately 20 percent of U.S. adults had chronic pain, and 8 percent had high-impact chronic pain. This contributes to an estimated $560 billion every year in lost productivity, disability programs, and direct medical costs in the United States.

Everyone experiences occasional aches and pains. Sudden pain is an important reaction of the nervous system when an injury occurs. Pain signals are transmitted from the injured area up your spinal cord to your brain.

Typical Pain Vs. Chronic Pain

Pain usually becomes less severe as an injury heals. Chronic pain, however, is different from typical pain. Chronic pain continually sends pain signals to your brain even after an injury heals. This can occur for several weeks to even years. Chronic pain can reduce flexibility, limit mobility, reduce endurance and muscle strength, making it difficult to complete daily tasks and accomplishments.

Chronic pain typically lasts at least 12 weeks. The pain causes a burning or aching sensation in the affected areas and may feel sharp or dull. It may be intermittent or steady, coming and going without an obvious reason. Chronic pain can occur in nearly all parts of your body. 

Chronic pain is usually caused by a primary injury such as a back sprain, pulled muscle, accident, or accident. The school of thought is that chronic pain develops after nerves become damaged. Nerve damage makes pain more long-lasting and powerful. In these cases, treating the underlying injury may not resolve the chronic pain. In some cases, people suffer from chronic pain without prior injury. The pain may be caused by an underlying health condition such as: 

• Arthritis pain
• Cancer-related pain
• Headache
• Lower back pain
• Neurogenic pain (pain caused by nerve damage)
• Post-trauma pain
• Postsurgical pain
• Psychogenic pain (pain that isn’t caused by nerve damage, disease, or injury)

Who is at Risk for Chronic Pain?

• Although chronic pain can affect people of all ages, it’s more common in older adults
• Besides age, other factors that can increase your risk of developing chronic pain include:
• Being female
• Being overweight or obese
• Chronic fatigue syndrome exemplified by prolonged and extreme weariness that’s often accompanied by pain
• Fibromyalgia with widespread pain in the bones and muscles
• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) including a class of conditions that causes, chronic painful inflammation in the digestive tract
• Suffering an injury
• Temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ): a condition that causes painful popping, clicking, or locking of the jaw

Treating Chronic Pain – Ways Your Doctor of Chiropractic Can Help with Chronic Pain

Chiropractic treatment can be an applicable way to manage chronic pain. According to the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, chiropractic patients with acute and chronic pain experienced better outcomes in terms of pain, patient satisfaction, and functional disability. 

The goal of any recommended treatment plan is to reduce pain and increase or restore mobility in order to resume daily activities without pain. The frequency and severity of chronic pain differs among individuals, which is why doctors of chiropractic will create tailor made pain management plans for each person. Your personal pain management plan will depend on underlying health conditions and any symptoms you have.

Chiropractors may incorporate lifestyle remedies, changes in posture, therapeutic exercise, and manual spinal adjustments to provide the desired pain relief. 

Ways for You to Manage Dealing with Chronic Pain

• Avoid alcohol – Pain makes sleeping difficult, and alcohol can make sleep problems worse. If you’re dealing with chronic pain, drinking less or even quitting the use of drinking alcohol can improve your quality of life.
• Exercise – You can boost chronic pain relief with the natural endorphins from exercise. Endorphins are brain chemicals that help improve your mood while blocking pain signals. Exercise strengthens muscles, helping prevent re-injury and further pain. Exercise can also reduce the risk of heart disease, help to keep your weight down, and control blood sugar. 
• Quit smoking – Smoking worsens painful circulation difficulties and increases the risk of cancer and heart disease.

• Reduce daily stress – Destructive feelings such as anxiety, anger, depression, and stress can amplify the body’s sensitivity to pain. Taking control of stress in your life may relieve your chronic pain.

Chronic pain affects more Americans than heart disease, diabetes, and cancer combined. Low back pain is the most common chronic pain patients deal with, with a lifetime frequency of 85 percent. From 1994 to 2004, Medicare expenses for low back pain in the US rose 629 percent for epidural injections, 423 percent for opioid medications, 307 percent for MRI’s and 220 percent for lumbar fusion surgeries, all without improved outcomes for these patients. This emphasizes the need for more successful pain management approaches, such as holistic chiropractic care. It is also intensified by the fact some of the most commonly used treatments for chronic pain are prescription opioids despite the growing opioid epidemic.

Call Your Chiropractor at Texas Spine & Sports Therapy Center to Treat Your Chronic Pain

Chiropractic care has a high patient satisfaction rate, and provides positive results. A recent study found that older patients with multiple chronic conditions who used only chiropractic manipulative therapy during their chronic lower back pain episodes had shorter episodes of lower back pain, and lower overall costs of care, than patients in the other treatment groups, which included conventional medicine treatment.

If you are battling with chronic pain, Texas Spine & Sports Therapy Center can help. We offer a variety of treatment options that are specifically designed to relieve your pain. Contact us today by calling (512) 806-0015 or contact us online to make an appointment.

Our goal is to provide solutions and personal care for a better, more productive pain-free life for our patients.