How to manage pain

Dealing with pain is one of the most uncomfortable aspects of many health conditions. Quite often it's the pain that makes it hard to address the initial health problem so it becomes more important to address the symptom rather than the cause. That's why we use painkillers like tramadol and other medications whenever there's pain involved. Still, in some cases conventional oral painkillers can be too potent or cause negative side effects. That's when people consider alternative pain management and get surprised by the abundance of methods that can eliminate pain with. Here are just some of the most popular alternative pain management techniques:

Physical therapy

Physical therapy is one of the oldest methods of pain management yet requiring a high qualification of the person perming it. Otherwise, the lack of necessary knowledge can make the pain even worse. Physical therapy involves manipulation and massage of the affected area with the goal to reduce inflammation in the damaged tissue and promote its faster recovery. This technique is most beneficial in cases of trauma, joint conditions, muscle sprains and other painful conditions associated with the muscular and skeletal systems. It can work both for chronic and acute pain but the actual effectiveness strongly depends on the qualification of the person performing it.

Herbal painkillers

Herbal painkillers have been around for thousands of years and with time they only got better and better. People observed analgesic properties of different herbs long ago and used them for different purposes. Today you can easily purchase different herbal painkillers without a prescription. Yet, don't expect them to be as rapid and effective as potent modern analgesics like tramadol. The body needs to adjust to the herb and you will probably have to take the drug for some time in order to observe certain effects. That's why herbal painkillers are suggested as an alternative to chronic pain management and aren't very well suited for acute pain relief.

Heat and cold

Another simple and well known method for pain management that can work both for acute and chronic pain conditions of mild to moderate severity. By applying moderate heat (a warm towel or water, not too hot though) to the affected area you will promote blood circulation that will reduce inflammation and eliminate the painful sensation caused by it. Cold on the other hand is known to achieve comparable pain management effects by numbing the nerves in the affected area thus working as an anesthetic. These methods are often used as first aid after trauma or for relieving chronic joint pain conditions, however it's best to ask your doctor first.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture has earned much recognition and popularity in the West in the last decade yet it was well known in different forms for ages in the Far East. It is claimed to be very effective for chronic pain conditions among the wide range of health conditions that are stated to be treatable through this technique. Acupuncture involves the application of very thin needles to specific points all over the body that are thought to regulate the circulation of vital energy through the organs and promote recovery. Traditional medicine leans towards an opinion that this technique triggers the release of body's endogenous painkillers called endorphins that provide the required effect. But no matter what opinion you stick too it was confirmed through numerous studies that acupuncture can be very beneficial for chronic pain conditions.