Chronic pain can be challenging, affecting your body and your mind. Living with chronic pain can lead to depression, anxiety, weight gain, loss of mobility, and loss of self-esteem. Your osteopathic doctor can help you get relief from pain, so you can go back to enjoying your life.
What You Need to Know about Osteopathic Pain Management
Your osteopathic doctor takes a different approach to pain management. These are just a few of the benefits of the osteopathic approach:
- Less reliance on medications for pain management, and more natural alternatives to reduce and manage pain
- Safe treatment, with less worry about side-effects from medications
- Restoration of proper function of body structures and systems
- A focus on promoting and developing the body’s natural healing properties
Osteopathic medicine uses several techniques to manage pain, including:
- Manual treatment using rapid force for brief periods to release restriction of muscles, tendons, ligaments, or joints
- Muscle treatment using the patient’s muscles applied against a counterforce to release myofascial tissues
- Direct myofascial release, engaging the myofascial tissue with force to initiate the release of tissue restriction
- Lifestyle modifications including proper posture, body alignment, and movement
- Electrical stimulation helps relax tense muscles, tendons, and ligaments and relieves pain
- Interventional injections, to help reduce swelling, boost healing, and reduce stiffness
- Therapeutic massage relaxes tense muscles, ligaments, and tendons, and promotes an overall feeling of wellness
- Therapeutic ultrasound boosts circulation and improves your body’s natural ability to heal itself
Your osteopathic medicine doctor may also combine therapies from other disciplines to give you the help and pain relief you need. Other therapeutic disciplines may involve:
- Chiropractic services, to help increase flexibility, range of motion, and function
- Physical therapy, to help increase mobility, strength, and function
Want to Know More?
To learn more about the benefits of the osteopathic approach to pain management and how it can help you, call your osteopathic doctor today.