Is pain something you have been living with for a long time? Are you on the verge of a nervous breakdown because strong medicine seems to be the only thing keeping intense and terrible pain at bay?
Keep your hopes up, because there are things beyond what modern science has proved and accepted.
There are ways that have been practiced for centuries and millennia and have helped thousands of people manage or eliminate pain from their lives.
Pain: Subjugate or Eradicate?
Pain is something that can definitely be managed. From the time of the Sumerians and opium to the modern-day painkillers, the management of pain has been the subject of extensive study.
In every age and every civilization, man has studied pain in great detail: how to cause it and how to remove it. Our concern here is man’s interest in eliminating or subjugating pain to his will.
To subjugate something means to control it and reduce its impact. Pain is very much a phenomenon that can be subjugated. This is the first level of pain management – masking it so that it does not impede normal life any more.
This is also the level at which medication works. Medication of any kind does not remove pain – it merely blocks the recognition of pain by the human brain.
Pain is a very unique experience in that unless the nerves are able to carry the “pain message” to the brain and back to the affected part, it doesn’t exist, for all practical purposes. This concept has been used since time immemorial to control the sensation of pain – not the presence of pain itself.
To eradicate something means to eliminate its very existence from a given system. Pain medication cannot and does not do this. Surgery does, and so do other pain management therapies that remove the cause of pain rather than reduce or take away the experiencing of it. Physical therapy also falls in this category.
By altering the affected body part through manipulation, exercise, healing or other means, the root cause of the pain is removed, leading to complete health in that part.
Alternative Pain Therapy to the Rescue
If you’ve tried traditional medical methods to eliminate pain and it hasn’t worked, then alternative therapies are still an option. The word “alternative” only means “not conventional”, which refers to Western medicine.
There is actually nothing alternative about any of the healing methods practices around the world, including chiropractic (which is closer to “conventional” medicine than other forms of therapy), yoga, acupuncture and many more.
Each of these healing and wellness methods approaches pain from a different perspective, although there may be overlaps. Some focus on physical manipulation of the body, others focus on mind-control and yet others focus on body posture and various positions to achieve holistic health with no invasive intervention.
In every case, the primary objective is not just to eliminate pain in that area, but to remove the cause of the pain itself by normalizing the functioning of all parts of the body relating to the affected part.
This is why treatment for back pain may be done on the arm or the leg rather than on the back itself, as is the case with acupuncture.
Alternative therapies are quickly gaining popularity in developed nations because they have a lower chance of adverse side effects, are mostly natural in origin and do not involve extensive hospitalization or medication for prolonged periods.
In fact, many of these therapies, once learned, can be self-administered at home. It’s only natural that such solutions increasingly become the preferred choice for those suffering from all kinds of pain.
Pain Management is about Attitude
Your attitude about how to deal with pain generally determines the success you have with a particular method. That might be a broad, sweeping statement, but it’s quite true. Healing experts know this only too well, which is why they find that it is important that the patient be convinced about the therapy before it can work effectively.
Someone who undergoes therapy against their will or conviction has a very small chance of success. Modern medicine, too, faces this same dilemma. How else can you explain a “miraculous” remission of cancer in a patient with a will to live when that same treatment failed miserably for someone else who had already given up on life?
Attitude affects the mind, but it equally affects the body. There are hundreds of books on positive thinking because it works. It’s not just a feel-good theory that somebody came up with during a drunken evening with friends. Positive thinking and the right attitude have been espoused for centuries, if not millennia.
The Christian concept of forgiveness is born from having the right attitude about being wronged. Buddhist path of right attitude is based on positive thinking. Every religion has its version of positive thinking and proper attitude towards self and others.
From a pain perspective, it is vital that you have faith in the therapy you are about to try, whether it’s a proven scientific method or an untested but well-attested approach to healing.
The Final Call is Yours to Make
The decision on how you intend to deal with your pain is entirely yours to make, and make no mistake about it. It is your body and mind you are dealing with, and you are the best judge of what to do to it and for it.
Although taking advice is certainly good advice, make sure you get the information from the right source. In other words, you never ask a salesman whether his products are great – you ask him if, why and how they would be great for you.
The internet is a useful place to search, but be wary of whose advice you are taking. “Expert” websites are easy to create and easier to promote, so genuine information can be hard to come by.
Do the research, get the data you need, analyze the therapy against your objectives and choose the one you think will work best.
