subject: Drug Free Pain Management Techniques [print this page] Pain management is a technique that is used to help improve the lives of people living with pain. The most common method of treating pain is administering of pain drugs. Pain drugs do provide relief although the effects may be short lived and further doses of the drug may have to be taken. However pain management clinic personnel have devised other pain management methods that dont require the use of drugs and yet are also effective. The following are some methods that can be used at a pain clinic for management of pain.
Acupuncture
This pain management method involves the use of needles. Needles are inserted into specific parts of the body causing therapeutic relief of pain.
Behavioral Therapy
Medical personnel at a pain clinic understand that the brain plays a crucial role in masking pain, thus they are specially trained to administer cognitive behavioral therapy to patients that suffer from chronic pain. Cognitive behavioral therapy is effective in managing pain such as headaches, musculoskeletal and abdominal pain. Behavioral therapy helps change a patients mood such that they are able to mask pain and the benefits are long lasting as compared to treatment using drugs.
Hypnosis
Hypnosis has been discovered to have a positive effect on chronic pain. A patient suffering from chronic pain can be hypnotized and they will be in a better mental state to deal with pain.
Massage therapy
Massage therapy can relax the brain causing it to release hormones that can mask pain. The release of such chemicals changes the mood of a patient thus allowing them to live a life that is less painful.
The above procedures are not used as substitutes to prescribed drugs for pain management but they can be used in conjunction with drug therapy for better results. For instance a patient suffering from chronic pain can be prescribed non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and antidepressants and at the same time go for cognitive behavior training. A combination of two treatments is helpful for it tackles the chemical aspect of pain while also tackling pain from the psychological side.
Pain management techniques are continuously being improved for there have been widespread reports of inadequate treatment of pain for cancer sufferers, in emergency departments and intensive care units. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been lobbying for health practitioners to correctly administer pain treatment to patients suffering from chronic pain, as pain drugs and pain treatment are not expensive and leaving people to suffer with pain is a form of abuse.
