What are the chronic pain relief methods?

From the perspective of clinical practice and implementation for the general population, there is no universal relief plan for chronic pain. It must be selected based on the triggers of pain, frequency of attacks, and personal tolerance. Usually, those with mild to moderate pain and infrequent attacks are given priority to try non-invasive home intervention methods. If they cannot control it, they must be evaluated by a pain doctor in time, and then drugs or interventional intervention methods can be upgraded.

Not long ago, I treated a girl who works in new media operations. She had chronic pain in the lumbosacral region of her lumbar protrusion for 2 years. She took ibuprofen when the pain first started. After taking it for more than half a year, she suffered from acid reflux every day, but the pain did not get much better. Later, I adjusted her daily habits. When sitting, put a supportive lumbar support behind your waist. Don’t sit slumped. Every 40 minutes after sitting, get up and hold the table, shake your hips and twist your waist. There is no need to do complicated stretching, just move for two or three minutes. Use a hot water bottle at about 40 degrees Celsius before going to bed. Apply to the painful area for 15 minutes, not using anything too hot to avoid burns. In addition, she practices gentle core training such as dead bugs and glute bridges at home twice a week. After 3 months, the number of pains has dropped from five or six times a week to the occasional soreness for half a month. She has basically never taken any painkillers.

Of course, not all chronic pain can be cured by adjusting habits. Nowadays, many people on the Internet say that plasters and moxibustion are useful. In fact, it depends on the situation. If it is chronic soreness and pain caused by muscle strain, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory plasters or mild moxibustion done by regular institutions can indeed be relieved by many people. However, if it is neurogenic pain, such as bandaging For post-herpetic neuralgia and diabetic peripheral neuralgia, ordinary plasters are basically useless, and people with diabetes and hypoesthesia should not moxibustion at home. I met an old man last year who had knee arthritis pain for several years. He did not control the temperature of moxibustion at home, and he got an ulcer on his calf, which took almost a month to heal.

If you try to adjust yourself at home for a month or two, but the pain does not improve at all, or even gets worse, use a pain score of 0 to 10. 10 is a pain that is so painful that you can't move at all. If your pain is usually above 4 and it affects your sleep and work, don't bear it. , hurry up and go to the pain department. The doctor will prescribe targeted drugs according to the situation. Not just ordinary analgesics. For neurogenic pain, drugs that specifically regulate nerve discharge will be used. If the drugs are not effective, there are also methods such as nerve blocks and minimally invasive intervention. The intervention effect is much better than trying to deal with it yourself.

To be honest, many people think that chronic pain is not a disease and that it will pass if you tolerate it. In fact, this is not the case. After pain for a long time, the nerves will become sensitized, just like the original pain switch that has to be pressed hard to light up. After sensitization, blowing on the breath can trigger the pain signal. It will be much more difficult to intervene at that time. Don’t wait until it becomes serious before taking it seriously.