There are many noninvasive approaches to pain management that are worth using. Certainly, not all of these will work for every person, but they are worth considering as part of your pain management plan.
Exercise works for many people who deal with chronic pain, as it increases strength and flexibility. Exercise can include water therapy, stretching, aerobic routines and many other ideas. It’s always a good idea to consult with your pain specialist like Dr. Harvey Finkelstein before starting any program. But exercise just might be the thing to boost your mood and add energy to your life.
While you might be tempted to keep your pain to yourself, this can actually be detrimental to your health. Talking about your pain and sharing your experience with others can make a difference in how you cope with your issues and move forward. While not all of your friends may want to hear about your pain all the time, you can certainly find some outlets for sharing what you are going through. These outlets might include:
1. Your doctor: Speak to your pain specialist like Dr. Harvey Finkelstein and keep him in the loop about the pain you are experiencing.
2. Your therapist: Many people who deal with chronic pain choose to hire a therapist. This can be a valuable tool for talking through your frustrations and emotions.
3. Support groups: There are many chronic pain support groups that can help you.
4. Another sufferer: Find one person who understands your pain and who doesn’t mind listening to you discussing yours.
One of the most common complaints that chronic pain sufferers express is exhaustion. They are extremely tired, and can’t identify where their exhaustion comes from, or how to get rid of it. A doctor will probably ask a number of questions to get to the root of the issue. Questions could include: Are you pregnant? Have you started a new exercise or diet program? Have you changed your work schedule? Do you have new stressors in your life like the death of a family member of teenager rebellion? Are you on new medications?
These are all the types of questions that a pain specialist like Dr. Harvey Finkelstein or a family doctor may ask. Exhaustion often comes from one of three places: sleep problems, mental health or medications.
The more honest you can be in answering the doctor’s questions, the more likely you’ll be to get to the bottom of the issues. It’s often helpful, as well, to keep a log of your exhaustion. When are you the most tired during the day? When do you have more energy? These can help a doctor to unravel some of the mystery surrounding your condition.
There are many ways to cope with your chronic pain. Certainly, a pain specialist like Harvey Finkelstein can offer important recommendations and advice. One piece of advice that could prove very helpful is to seek out the assistance of a physical therapist. This person can teach you ways to strengthen your muscles and improve strength and endurance.
Physical therapists often have specific suggestions that can help you to strengthen key muscles and to keep your pain in check. For example, researchers who looked at 289 overweight adults with knee pain wanted to figure out how best to help them. They looked at three key ideas: weight loss, knee strengthening exercises and a combination of the two. Published in the British journal BMJ, their results concluded that the knee-strengthening exercises created the greatest pain reduction over a two-year period.
One important thing to know about headaches is how to head them off. Many people who put in long work weeks will relax on the weekends – too much. As Lisa Mannix, MD, medical director of Headache Associates in Cincinnati said, “So many of my patients tell me that they can work all week in a high-stress environment without a problem, but the minute they start relaxing, they get a migraine.”
She explains that, when tensions go down, stress hormones decrease and can cause a rapid release of neurotransmitters. These can create migraines. Doctors, like Dr. Mannix or Dr. Harvey Finkelstein, recommend that you not sleep for more than eight hours on the weekend nights. In a study by the National Headache Foundation they found that 79% of headache suffers wake up with a headache after sleeping for more than eight hours.
In addition, if you usually have a cup of coffee at the same time each day, try to do so on the weekend as well. Try to create a consistent fitness program into your routine as well, exercising three times a week. This small amount of exercise can reduce headaches by 50%.
People may say that they are experiencing chronic pain and that they need to see a specialist like Dr. Harvey Finkelstein, but are they really experiencing chronic pain? Chronic pain and acute pain aren not the same thing, and it’s important to understand when acute pain becomes chronic and to know what the actual definition of chronic pain is.
Here, Beverly Thorn, PhD, from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, explains what chronic pain really is and what you need to know about it.
In a fascinating new study, a team from the Northwestern University in Chicago with lead scientist Professor Vania Apakarian has determined that a patient’s emotional state can explain their reaction to their pain. Looking at 40 patients and their reaction to back pain, the researchers found that the emotional response that patients had to their initial pain influenced their subsequent pain.
As Professor Apakarian explained, “The injury itself is not enough to explain the ongoing pain. It has to do with the injury combined with the state of the brain.”
Learn more about these findings and their implications.
Many people who have chronic pain focus on the large things they can do to reduce the pain and stress in their lives; they don’t often think about the little adjustments that can be made, however. As a pain specialist like Dr. Harvey Finkelstein can explain, there are many small adjustments that can make a large difference in the pain levels for the patient.
When driving, for instance, the driver should make sure that the seat is adjusted for the person’s comfort. Move the seat’s lumbar support so that it will curve the lower back. This helps to bring the driver pain relief while driving. Similarly, the driver can even purchase a lumbar support seat cushion that enhances the support that the driver receives while driving. Learn more tips for reducing pain by seeing a pain specialist like Harvey Finkelstein.
Certainly, when you are dealing with pain management, there are many ways to deal with your pain. A pain management specialist like Dr. Harvey Finkelstein can offer advice for dealing with the pain. Another suggestion is using reflexology, which can offer stress relief while relieving the pain.
During reflexology, the practitioner will put pressure on a key area of the feet that relates to a part of the body. As Drake Ewing, MS Lac, an adjunct faculty at Bastyr University in Seattle explained, “Reflexology is a type of health care that has been used for thousands of years.”
The feet, he explained, have about 7000 nerve endings, and reflexology can help to stimulate these nerves and the central nervous system. This can help to alter the way that the patient feels pain.
Learn more about reflexology for pain relief and about other pain management methods offered by Harvey Finkelstein and others.
Migraine headaches can sometimes be so excruciating that they can be debilitating. If they happen often enough, migraines can severely impinge on someone’s quality of life and ability to function. But there is hope. Pain management specialists such as Dr. Harvey Finkelstein have helped many migraine sufferers improve their quality of life, by alleviating some of the harshest attacks.
For those afflicted with migraines it is important to do the following. First, get an accurate diagnosis (as early as possible). This means one needs to present the practitioner with a very detailed history of attacks. The more information a specialist such as Dr. Harvey Finkelstein has, the more effective the symptoms can be treated. Second, the practitioner should provide a list of various possible treatment options to be discussed with the patient, to work out what option would be best. A course of treatment can always be modified later on, but working out a basic plan initially is important. Third, there are often dietary supplements – or specific foods within a diet that should be avoided – that can help. Fourth, one should discuss with their pain management specialist the specific triggers and how to avoid them if possible. Fifth, the migraine sufferer might want to look at various drug treatments or alternative medicinal options as well.
Once the basics have been covered, it is important for one to follow up with their pain management specialist. How are the drugs working? Has a change in diet helped? Are alternative treatments – or keeping fit – beneficial? The more information someone like Dr. Harvey Finkelstein has on the case, the more likely it is that the migraines will be treated effectively.
