"Natural" Pain management

[WillBrink]

In some cases, some "natural" techniques can help with pain management:

Yoga, Acupuncture Can Help Some Pain, Studies Find

Some "natural" techniques can help ease pain, including acupuncture, yoga, tai chi and massage, government researchers said Thursday.

A review of high-quality studies shows these approaches rarely cause any harm and can help people with lower back pain, headaches and arthritic knees, the team at the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health found.

They found evidence that:

Acupuncture and yoga can help back pain
Acupuncture and tai chi can help osteoarthritis of the knee
Massage therapy gives short-term relief for neck pain
Relaxation techniques can ease severe headaches and migraine.

The study found weaker evidence that massage therapy and techniques offered by chiropractors such as spinal manipulation, as well as osteopathic manipulation, may help some back pain.

Relaxation approaches and tai chi may help people with fibromyalgia, the team reports in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

"Back pain, joint pain, neck pain, and headaches are among the most common types of pain experienced by U.S. adults," the team, led by Richard Nahin at the NCCIH, part of the National Institutes of Health, wrote.

"National surveys going back more than 25 years have consistently found that these complementary approaches are used by about 30 percent to 40 percent of the U.S. public in a given year."

Cont:

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health...s-find-n641361

See also NIH:

https://nccih.nih.gov/research/resul...ful-conditions

[T2C]

If you had to pick one discipline to maintain flexibility and ease back and joint pain, which would you choose? Would you suggest Yoga or Tai Chi?

[HCrum87hc]

I haven't tried Tai Chi, but I do enjoy some yoga every once in a while. I've had issues with tightness in my hips and upper back due to sitting at a desk most of the day. I can definitely tell a difference when doing yoga. It does require a lot more strength than most people suspect.

[b2dap1]

Yoga is great! I knew it would be hard and it was but I didn't realize how great I would feel after!! I roll jiu jitsu 5 days a week so these days all I do is pain management! I would be very interested in tai chi!!

[WillBrink]

If you had to pick one discipline to maintain flexibility and ease back and joint pain, which would you choose? Would you suggest Yoga or Tai Chi?

Probably yoga but I have limited experience with Tai Chi. Yoga (and there's many different types) seems to have more of a focus on flexibility than Tai Chi. There's also far more studies on benefits of Yoga. Having said that, always wanted to try Tai Chi. Don't forget my review of Kokoro Yoga HERE.

[tb-av]

I used to study Tai Chi. My teacher had very strong opinions about a lot of Tai Chi teachers and even styles of Tai Chi.

To me Yoga seems more like a static meditation type deal where as Tai Chi is moving meditation that can be speeded up for self defense application and slowed way down to near static meditation.

He also had this expression.... "Tai Chi Burns" . When you watch it, it seems like it would be totally pain free but it's not. Not like getting face pounded in the ground but it's not as passive as it appears.

This is the guy I studied with and a few video snippets are online as well. It's a long slow process full of nuance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dlq4CBgGEA

[yellowfin]

Add more mint, ginger, garlic, hot peppers, and turmeric to your food when you cook.

[Evel Baldgui]

When I add 800mg of Advil to supplement yoga, tai chi, green tea, natural whatever cure, they all seem to work better!

[JulyAZ]

I work with patients needing pain management daily, while the seasoned patients are usually depended on narcotics, most patient who have not had long time exposure to the opiates will normally find relief with some sort of physical therapy or aquatic therapy. Aquatic therapy normally gets the fastest results (for the patients that are actually seeking relief of pain, and not just drug addicts).

There's also spinal injections to help with back pain, but those have to be repeated on regular intervals. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation also see results but not a road most want to do for some reason or another. People just don't want to see the benefit. Unfortunately the pain management field for anesthesiologist is ran by patients that can best be defined as drug seekers.

So I highly recommend that people try aquatic therapy i.e. Swimming if you don't want formal pool therapy. (Ps not a doctor, but in the medical field.)

[T2C]

Probably yoga but I have limited experience with Tai Chi. Yoga (and there's many different types) seems to have more of a focus on flexibility than Tai Chi. There's also far more studies on benefits of Yoga. Having said that, always wanted to try Tai Chi. Don't forget my review of Kokoro Yoga HERE.

I treated my body like a wrecking ball for over 40 years and it's starting to show. I am averse to using prescription drugs and only use vitamin supplements for damage control. I have been considering Yoga for pain management and to maintain flexibility. The $4,000 question is which form of Yoga.