7 Ways To Use A Chiropractor To Help With Managing Chronic Pain

50 million adults in the US suffer from chronic pain. That’s a lot of missed days of work, missed social events, and abandoned hobbies and dreams, all due to pain.

Chronic pain can make it difficult for even simple everyday tasks to be completed, like showering, dressing, or, in some extreme cases, even going to the bathroom.

These debilitations are not limited to merely the physical. Chronic pain can take an enormous toll on your mental health as well. Depression, anxiety, cognitive impairment, and irritability are all symptoms.

But there is hope! Chiropractic care can help ease these symptoms and make managing chronic pain easier. Keep reading below to learn about the benefits of going to a chiropractor today.

1. CHRONIC MIGRAINES

Migraines can be extremely debilitating, often leaving you in a dark room for hours or even days. Chronic migraines occur 15 days out of a month and 8 of those days include the following symptoms:

• Nausea
• Sensitivity to light
• Throbbing or pulsating pain
• Pain in side of head

The thought of a chiropractor twisting you for relief may seem counter-productive. However, chiropractors often use massage and acupuncture for migraine relief.

While there is no known cure for migraines, loosening of tight muscles and the freeing of pinched nerves may help to ease some symptoms.

2. NECK PAIN

While we’re discussing headaches, neck pain can cause severe discomfort, often resulting in headaches. These headaches are often a result of pressure or tightness in the muscles of your neck.

Tight muscles can force the joints in your neck to lock in place, move out of alignment, or pinch a nerve. Since the symptoms of neck pain often result in headaches, the treatment is like what you’d receive for migraines.

A chiropractor may also provide you with homework. They may give you several stretches and low-impact exercises to be completed at home. This will help to ensure the techniques they use last and you’ll require fewer visits.

3. SHOULDER PAIN

Shoulder pain can affect your daily life in ways you never even considered: from getting dressed, showering, and eating, to driving a car, lifting heavy items, and even opening doors. Our shoulders are the most used and vulnerable joint we possess.

A chiropractor may use a variety of compression techniques to help relieve shoulder pain, which can also cause headaches and inflammation of the neck. A chiropractor may also address these areas to help the relief last.

4. LOWER BACK PAIN

If you suffer from lower back pain and spend most of your time sitting at a desk, you could have 1/3 of preventable back injuries.

And it all comes down to workspace. A poorly designed workspace can create poor posture, incorrectly pressuring the spine. This causes muscles to stiffen, tighten, and knots to form.

A chiropractor can help relieve the pressure on the spine through non-invasive joint manipulation, massage, and acupuncture. A chiropractor may also address your pelvis and hip flexors, which may also be inflamed because of the lower back injury.

5. LEG/SCIATICA PAIN

Sciatica pain is often associated with lower back pain. As the lower back becomes compressed, it can apply pressure to the sciatica nerve. This can cause achy to sharp pain through the thigh down the leg, numbness and tingling in the toes, and loss of feeling.

Since the pain is caused by compression of the sciatica nerve, a chiropractor will manipulate the spine to relieve the pressure. Spinal manipulation can help to realign out-of-place vertebra that could be pinching the nerve.

Often, home exercises and stretches will help keep the body loose and stretched. This will prevent the compression of the sciatica nerve from repeating.

6. SCOLIOSIS

Chiropractors can help with managing the chronic pain of scoliosis. Through the use of non-invasive massage techniques and minor spinal adjustments, a chiropractor can help to relieve some of the pain.

A chiropractor may also refer a scoliosis patient for myofascial massage therapy. This type of massage specifically concerns the connecting tissue that supports the muscles and bones. This can assist with physical therapy in helping to achieve a more natural position for the spine.

7. SPORTS INJURIES

Old sports injuries are probably the biggest source of chronic pain in the world. Too often in our younger years, we walk it off when we shouldn’t and pay for it later.

A chiropractor may attempt to identify the specific injury you sustained, but because of the time since the injury, they may just begin treating symptoms, starting with the most severe first.

The goal is to ease pain and discomfort as quickly as possible to localize the cause. As illustrated above, each area of the body can affect the other. A neck injury can cause headaches and shoulder pain, which can then lead to lower back pain and sciatica pain.

Because of this, a chiropractor is not limited by not knowing the specific injury, but can get to work offering relief for immediate and severe symptoms.

HELP MANAGE CHRONIC PAIN

Managing chronic pain can be, well, a pain. There is no easy, universal fix for all chronic pain, but a chiropractor can offer relief in a variety of ways through soft tissue massage, spine manipulation, fitness coaching, and even dietary advice.

Chiropractors can use these techniques to help with all kinds of chronic pain, from migraines to an achy old sports injury that won’t stop acting up.

If you’ve had enough of living in pain, contact our team at Integrated Pain Consultants and pre-register for an appointment today!