How to manage pain effectively

If you are an older adult you are more prone to pain which could be anything from a dull ache to a sharp stab. Fortunately, there are effective pain management routines that could help elevate the pain and make your life comfortable. Dr. Dev Sen in Fredericksburg is a pain expert who could help develop a clinical pain management plan to complement your home pain management remedies. You should know the cause of the pain first and how it affects your body, before developing home pain-relief remedies and taking pain medications.

Dr. Dev Sen in Fredericksburg

What Could Cause Severe Pain?

Chronic pain could occur after an injury to the joint’s tendons, muscles, and connective tissues, and body bones. Medical conditions like cancer, back problems, and arthritis could cause pain. You can better manage pain if you know what causes it, and it could be prudent to treat other underlying conditions to effectively manage the pain.

How Pain Affects You

Although pain is a protective mechanism against danger, it could reduce the quality of life. Almost all parts of the body have pain receptors but the skin has lots of receptors that tell the location of the danger. Pain could numb the muscles reducing the movement of joints and thus reduce motion and ability to do everyday activities.

Home Remedies for Pain

You could adopt different non-medicine home remedies to manage your pain at home which includes:

  • Heat therapy uses either cold or hot pads to relieve you from mild and severe pain. Ice packs could reduce swelling and inflammation soon after an injury. It also numbs the area reducing more damage to the muscles and tendons thus reducing the spread of infection. Heat packs, on the other hand, help improve the blood circulation to the affected area which leads to the supply of nutrients and oxygen on the injured part and removal of toxins.
  • Physical therapies that incorporate mild movements on the joints could help improve movement. You could stretch slowly, walk, do aerobic exercises that help reduce pain and elevate your moods. It could help if you increased the pace and impact of the exercises slowly to gain complete motion and healing on the joints.
  • A massage could also help reduce pain as it is better suited for soft muscles, but you should avoid it on the pain in the joints. Although it cannot be recommended as a long term solution to pain, it helps increase motion and release muscle tension.

Pain Medications

When you have mild pain you could opt for over-the-counter medications that could relieve the pain. If the pain persists after the over-the-counter medications, you could seek the services of a pain expert. They could recommend non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, opioids, local anesthesia, and antidepressants depending on the type of pain you have.

The Bottom Line

Pain could impair the ability to accomplish everyday activities and it could help if you learned how to control the pain effectively. A pain expert could help develop home remedies that could work for your condition. They could also recommend medications and surgeries that work well for your pain.