Alternative Methods of Dealing with Back Pain

If you are one of the billions of people around the world who is dealing with back pain, visiting a pain management center may be the way to go. They may be able to diagnose your condition or tell you what might be causing your chronic pain. They will also likely give you ideas for things you can do to alleviate the pain you feel so that you can continue on with your daily life as much as possible. Here are some of the things that a medical professional might suggest.

Biofeedback

Biofeedback is an extremely interesting method of pain management that can actually work for many other things as well such as incontinence, migraines, and anxiety. Biofeedback involves becoming aware of what is going on in your body so that you are better able to control involuntary processes in your body such as heart rate, skin temperature, and blood pressure. 

Meditation and Relaxation

Relaxation techniques such as deep breathing are a huge part of effective biofeedback, and relaxation and meditation on their own can significantly reduce your chronic pain symptoms. Your pain management therapist can help you identify ways to reduce stress and relax and may be able to suggest means of meditation such as yoga and deep breathing that you can use to alleviate your pain as well.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Ultimately, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) involves controlling one’s feelings about something—in this case, chronic pain—to alter negative thoughts and behaviors. When a person experiencing chronic pain can change their negative thoughts and behaviors about pain, they will be less aware of the pain even if the pain does not lessen or go away at all. 

If you are experiencing chronic pain, you have many different options. While biofeedback and CBT might not be for you, there may be other things that you can do such as increase your meditation and reduce stress.