Use of prescription opioids for pain relief has rapidly devolved into an epidemic of abuse in the US, with reports of over 11 million cases of abuse in 2016 alone. Statistics from the CDC indicate that over 1,000 people are treated in American emergency rooms daily for misuse of these prescriptions, and that number continues to climb. Many patients with chronic pain conditions are looking for healthier alternatives to these highly addictive medications, and are finding relief through alternative treatments like massage, physical therapy, and chiropractic treatments. How can chiropractic care provide a safe alternative for pain relief and healing?
How the Body Responds to Injury
Whether pain in muscles or joints is the result of chronic conditions, acute injury, or repetitive actions, the body will naturally work to avoid or alleviate the feeling of pain. Pain itself is an indicator of injury, and acts as an alert to the body that something isn’t right. To avoid the sensation of pain, we may become sedentary, change the mechanics of our movements, and even develop muscular and positional imbalances to work around it. Although the source of the original pain might have been on its way toward healing, the secondary conditions we created in the body just serve to perpetuate it. How can chiropractic treatments help?
Get in Line
Chiropractic treatment uses hands-on manipulation to bring the joints in your spine and body back into alignment. If you’ve experienced changes in your posture or gait to compensate for pain, adjustments toward natural alignment will alleviate physical strain and compressed nerves to improve functionality in the body.
Muscle Maneuvers
Pain in the body can be unbearable, and in many cases muscles will tense around an injury as we experience the physical, mental and emotional stress of it. Tense muscles tend to hold the body out of alignment, and they also restrict blood flow into and out of an injured area. Chiropractic treatment offers a natural alternative to opioid use for pain relief by giving the body the resources it needs for healing through improved blood flow to the area.
Chiropractic Restores Function
While rest is one of the first things recommended for recovery from an injury, it can very quickly change from something restorative to something that prevents healing. Joints that don’t move don’t heal, and stiffness and swelling in the body lead to lasting pain. Regular chiropractic treatments help to restore mobility in injured joints and muscles, improving the body’s mechanical movements and providing lasting pain relief and prevention of future conditions. Restoration of activity in the body is so important that a study published in the British Journal of Pharmacology opined that exercise itself should be considered as a drug for its benefit of improved pain control in patients.
Are you Ready for a Medical Team that’s on your Side?
At B3 Medical, it’s been our mission to offer patients an innovative and compassionate model for care that lets them feel comfortable and confident pursuing quality treatment. By offering the most advanced technologies and a caring team of medical professionals, we empower patients to find genuine healing without the need for invasive surgeries or addictive opioids for pain relief. Contact us today to learn more about how our pain relief options can help you get on the path to a healthy, active, and pain-free life.
