Pain comes in many forms. You may experience lasting pain after an injury, or you may live with a chronic pain condition, including EDS, migraines, or arthritis. Your back pain, headaches, or joint pain can flare up repeatedly, creating a situation that needs careful, well-informed management.
Living with pain negatively impacts your personal and professional life so it’s important to take steps to reduce your chronic pain. You deserve effective pain management care. The right management approach and support can reduce the severity and frequency of your chronic pain.
At Alpenglow Pain & Wellness of Anchorage, Alaska, Dr. Nichelle Renk and Dr. Gavin Nixon provide comprehensive, holistic chronic pain treatment. We educate our chronic pain patients on non-pharmacological ways to keep chronic pain under control, as well as prescribing pain medications as needed.
You don’t want to rely only on medication management to handle your chronic pain. Why not? Medications often lose effectiveness with overuse and can cause health complications, as well. Additionally, pain patients may risk addiction.
For all of these reasons, you should have other tools in your pain management toolkit. Your provider at Alpenglow Pain & Wellness works with you to put together a chronic pain treatment plan that takes your long-term health and wellness into account.
Often, chronic pain patients experience limited mobility. It’s common to lose muscle strength and become easily fatigued. If your chronic pain impacts your joints, you face additional challenges when it comes to physical activity.
However, it’s also essential for people living with chronic pain to engage in movement and physical activity. Low-impact movement increases your strength and flexibility. You also benefit from natural effects of exercise on the brain including the release of endogenous opioids, relieving pain and improving function.
You may benefit from gentle approaches to movement including:
Listen to your body, and don’t push beyond the level of activity that triggers your pain. A slow and steady approach to physical activity gives you the most non-pharmacological pain relief benefits.
Depending on the cause of your chronic pain, specific dietary changes may help you manage flare-ups. For example, migraine headaches or digestive pain may occur due to consuming trigger foods. Or, if you have arthritis, you could adopt a Mediterranean or anti-inflammatory diet for fewer pain symptoms.
And, it’s also true that maintaining a healthy body weight benefits chronic pain patients. When your body has less weight to bear, your joints and muscles suffer less overall stress.
Talk to your provider at Alpenglow Pain & Wellness about your nutritional needs and dietary triggers. We provide high-quality dietary supplements and personalized dietary counseling.
In addition to nutrition and physical activity, specific nutraceuticals can support your body’s natural anti-inflammatory processes and reduce chronic pain. At Alpenglow Pain & Wellness, we often recommend evidence-based supplements that target inflammation at the cellular level:
Your provider can help determine which supplements are right for your needs, as well as the safest and most effective dosages.
Hormonal changes during perimenopause and menopause can increase inflammation and pain sensitivity, particularly in the joints and muscles. Women experiencing hormonal fluctuations may notice worsening of chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia, arthritis, or migraines.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can restore balance to estrogen and progesterone levels, reducing inflammation and improving tissue resilience. In addition to helping with sleep, mood, and energy, HRT can lessen the severity of chronic pain and stiffness that often accompany menopause.
At Alpenglow Pain & Wellness, we can facilitate individualized HRT evaluations and treatments for women navigating perimenopause and menopause, supporting both hormonal health and pain reduction.
Both hot and cold temperatures can help you rapidly manage pain. Use heat and cold therapy in the right way and enjoy effective, natural pain relief. Here’s what you need to know.
Heat helps with muscle pain, tension, and stiffness. Use heat therapy to increase blood flow and improve circulation, accelerating healing. Heating pads provide dry heat, while a hot bath or sauna immerses you in soothing damp heat. Extended exposure to heat offers you the most pain relief benefits. However, you shouldn’t use heat therapy if you have an open wound, bruising, or swelling.
Cold therapy reduces inflammation and swelling. That’s because cold slows the flow of blood in the treated area. Use cold therapy, or cryotherapy, right after a traumatic injury. If you have stiff muscles or painful joints skip cold therapy and instead apply an ice pack for no more than 20 minutes at a time.
Your provider at Alpenglow Pain & Wellness offers you expert advice and treatment suggestions for effective strategies to relieve your pain. For more pain-free days and less intense symptoms, contact our Anchorage, Alaska office online or over the phone today and schedule your initial consultation appointment now.
