Pain delays your ability to enjoy life, work, or pursue a relationship. Whether your pain is from cancer treatments, arthritis, or old injuries, you always have to find a way to manage your pain. Before taking any approach, you should first consult with your doctor and learn about the cause of pain and know which pain management plan is effective. Lenox Medical Clinic offers pain management strategies to improve your quality of life.
How pain Affects the Body
Pain is a protective mechanism and is an essential part of evolution, protecting the body from harm and danger. Your body has pain receptors that are connected to two types of nerves, which detect a threat. One nerve relays messages slowly, causing throbbing pain. The other nerve relays the message quickly, causing sudden pain.
Some parts of the body have more receptors than others. The skin has many of them, and it is easy to tell the type of pain and its location. There are few receptors in the gut, and it is hard to locate the position of a stomach ache.
Pain receptors in the skin are triggered by touching dangerous things, these nerves send alerts to the spine and spread to the thalamus part of the brain. The range sends a signal back to the muscle and makes them contract. This moves the affected part of the body away from the source of harm or danger. This is a reaction preventing further damage. It happens before you feel any pain.
Pain Treatment
Medications. There are a lot of pain medications prescribed. However, opioids and benzodiazepines might not be the best options. These treatments have some problems, and it is not recommended to use opioids for long periods for treating chronic pain. Some regular pain medications include steroids, anti-seizure drugs, antidepressants, and acetaminophen.
Therapy. Therapy is aimed at both mind and the body. Physical therapy is significant for any pain management program. Pain can worsen by exercise done wrong, and your therapist can show you the proper exercise for you. Good practice creates your tolerance and reduces pain. Cognitive-behavioral therapy allows people to understand better where the pain is from and what they can do to ease it.
Types of pain
Chronic pain. It is a type of pain that has been there for longer than six months and occurs every day. It might have started as acute pain, but it continued after the original event or injury has resolved or healed. Chronic pain can be severe or mild and linked with cancer, back pain, diabetes, and arthritis.
Acute pain. This type of pain comes suddenly and is caused by a specific thing. It lasts less than six months. It fades away when there is no underlying cause of pain. Some acute pain causes include broken bones, surgery, burns or cuts, dental work, labor, and childbirth.
If you are experiencing any pain and it’s becoming unbearable, contact your physician before prescribing yourself medication. Your physician can perform some tests to confirm the cause of pain and find a better treatment approach for you. To learn more about pain management treatment, schedule an appointment with Lenox Medical Clinic today.