Integrative Medicine for Chronic Pain: Alternative Approaches to Pain Management
Chronic pain can make your life miserable, keeping you from enjoying the activities you love. It can also lead to both physical and mental issues. Your integrative medicine doctor has new approaches to pain management and can help you. Dr. Jennifer Evans Scott and Dr. Brittney Epps at One Source Integrative Medicine in Florence, SC, provide a wide range of pain management services to help you live your best life.
How Integrative Medicine Can Help With Chronic Pain
Chronic pain is a pain you learn to live with and manage. Proper pain management is essential to your well-being and mental and physical health. When you are experiencing chronic pain, it can lead to:
High blood pressure
Heart stress
Weight gain
Depression
Anxiety
Sleep issues
Chronic pain is also a common problem, and it can be caused by a chronic medical condition like arthritis, a past surgery, an accident or injury, or another cause. When you visit the integrative medicine doctors at One Source Integrative Medicine, your doctor will:
Perform a comprehensive physical examination of the affected areas.
Record a complete medical history, including illnesses, hospitalizations, medications, and pain severity.
Your doctor may also order diagnostic imaging, including X-rays, CT scans, or MRIs. Laboratory testing may also be ordered to help determine if your chronic pain is caused by an underlying medical condition. After a thorough evaluation, your integrative medicine doctor will develop a customized treatment plan to help relieve your chronic pain. Treatment options may include:
Manual adjustment to help relieve pressure on muscles, tendons, and ligaments
Therapeutic massage to boost blood flow, aid healing, and relax and lengthen tight muscles
Thermal therapies to help reduce swelling
Electrical stimulation with a TENS unit to relax tight muscles
Your integrative medicine doctor may also recommend physical therapy, occupational therapy, and other disciplines to help improve flexibility and mobility.
Want To Know More?
To find out more about how integrative medicine can help you deal with chronic pain, talk with the experts. Call Dr. Jennifer Evans Scott and Dr. Brittney Epps at One Source Integrative Medicine in Florence, SC. You can reach them in the office by calling (843) 773-1444, so call today.
Your chiropractor can help with a wide variety of medical issues beyond back pain treatment. Your chiropractor can help enhance how you feel, reduce pain, and help you move. It all begins with a chiropractic adjustment.
How Chiropractic Adjustments Can Help You
Your body is interdependent. That means when one area is not functioning well, it can affect your entire body. Your bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments work together to help you function at your best. Even a problem as simple as poor posture can have a dramatic effect on your body.
A chiropractic adjustment uses manual manipulation to correct poor alignment and facilitate better posture. Your chiropractor may use hand movements or may use a table, rollers, or other devices to assist in the adjustment.
Let’s look at just a few of the ways chiropractic adjustment can help you. Consider that chiropractic adjustment can:
Correct your body alignment, to help relieve pressure on nerves, muscles, tendons, and ligaments
Correct your posture, to help you stand taller, look thinner, and enhance your appearance
Relieve both acute and chronic pain in your head, neck, shoulders, arms, back, spine, hips, and legs
Help correct how you move, to enhance your ability to stay active
Regular chiropractic adjustments are an excellent way to enjoy optimal health, prevent injury, and calm your body and mind. Chiropractic adjustments can also be combined with other important services, including:
Therapeutic massage boosts blood flow, promotes wellness, accelerates healing, and relaxes and lengthens tense muscles
Electrical muscle stimulation, using a TENS unit, to help relax tight muscles and relieve pain
Stretching and exercises to keep you strong and free of pain
Guidance to help reduce stress and stay healthy
Want To Know More?
To discover more about the benefits of chiropractic adjustments and how they can help you feel better, call your chiropractor today.
Dealing with back pain can often feel excruciating and you might not be sure how to find relief from your pain. You might find that it’s difficult to function and that you aren’t able to feel comfortable and relieve your pain. This is when you would want to turn to your chiropractor to learn about spinal adjustments. When you’re dealing with pain, your chiropractor can manipulate your spine and make sure that things are in the correct position. This can often give you relief from your pain and you might even start to feel a burst of energy from the relief.
Spinal Adjustments and Pain Management
Dealing with constant pain can feel exhausting and you might not be sure what your best options might be. When you’re dealing with back pain, it’s important to talk to your chiropractor to find out if a spinal adjustment can get you the relief that you need. Your chiropractor will first ask questions about your pain and your overall health. They will then perform a physical exam, paying attention to your spine and where your pain might be.
From there, they will place you in specific positions so that they can reach the area that needs to be targeted. Your chiropractor will use their hands to apply a controlled and sudden force to a joint and push it past the usual range of motion. Spinal adjustments can help relieve pain and any side effects that could be associated with the pain. This could include headaches and fatigue that you might have experienced.
You may need to get spinal adjustments on a regular basis to maintain your results, but you can incorporate spinal adjustments into your pain management treatment plan and start living without constant pain again!
Contact Our Chiropractor Today
Find out how you can start managing your pain. Contact our chiropractor to learn more about spinal adjustments and how they can help with pain management.
Sciatica is an issue that can affect your spine and can cause pain that radiates from your back into your legs and feet. This can cause extreme discomfort and you might be searching for relief from your constant pain. You might not be sure how to manage your pain best, and it’s important to discuss it with your chiropractor. They may suggest spinal adjustments to help relieve tension in your spine and get you the comfort you need to manage your pain regularly.
Managing Sciatica Pain With Spinal Adjustments
When you’re dealing with sciatica, you can experience pain throughout your back and even in your legs. Your spine becomes compressed, and you might start experiencing pain and irritation. When it comes to managing your pain with sciatica, you want to make sure that you discuss options with your chiropractor.
Often, your chiropractor may recommend spinal adjustments to help subdue some of your pain and provide you with an additional level of care. Your chiropractor will correct the placement of your spine through adjustments, and this can even provide instant pain relief for some patients. This relieves pressure put on the sciatic nerve and, with regular adjustments, can restore your spine's correct positioning.
When your spine is placed in the right position, it can correct the herniated discs that could cause your sciatica pain. Your chiropractor can also offer up stretches to help increase the range of motion in your lower back and hips to prevent further pain and injury.
Contact Our Chiropractor Today
Make sure you understand how to deal with the pain caused by sciatica and start living comfortably again. Contact your chiropractor to learn how spinal adjustments can provide pain management for sciatica and how it can help to benefit your life.
It’s important to remember that your body is connected and that much of your pain can originate in areas that you might not expect. Many people may not realize how a chiropractor can help you with various techniques to align your body and relieve pain and tension. Your chiropractor has various methods that they can use to manipulate different areas of your body and help you start feeling your best again. It’s important to understand how a chiropractor can help you and what the various treatments might look like.
Understanding Chiropractic Treatment
Your chiropractor has different methods that they can use to help relieve your pain and help you start feeling your best again. They will choose a method that works best for the issues that you’re dealing with and helps target your specific issues. Before choosing their preferred method, they’ll ask about your pain and what issues you might be dealing with.
The most common technique that chiropractors use is known as spinal manipulation. This is when your chiropractor uses their hands to apply a sudden force to different areas of your spine. This helps ease pain and relieve some of the tension that may build up in your spine. This also helps improve your mobility and restores the correct positioning of your spine.
Other common manipulation techniques include:
Flexion distraction
Gonstead technique
Activator method
Extremity manipulation
Each technique targets a different area of the spine and can help alleviate different types of pain. Your chiropractor will decide which method is best for your pain and target the specific area that is affecting you.
Contact Our Chiropractor Today
Make sure you understand what our chiropractor may be doing and how it can help you deal with your constant pain. Contact our chiropractor to learn more about different techniques and which may be the best option for you.
Your body is integrated, with all parts working together to keep you healthy. Holistic medicine treats your entire body, not just a set of symptoms. Chiropractic care is an important part of holistic medicine and can help you achieve optimal wellness.
What You Need To Know About Chiropractic Care as Part of a Holistic Wellness Plan
Holistic medicine uses the best techniques and tools available from chiropractic care, Western and Eastern medicine, and alternative therapies. Holistic healing pays attention to your:
Diet and nutritional needs
Physical exercise and fitness level
Lifestyle factors
Emotional and spiritual fitness
Environmental factors
Chiropractic care as part of a holistic healing wellness plan will tap into your body’s natural healing abilities. Chiropractic care follows many principles of holistic medicine, as outlined by the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine, or the AIHM. These principles include:
The use of safe and effective tools for diagnosis and treatment
Consideration of the underlying cause of poor health, not just the symptoms
Consideration of your characteristics as they relate to disease
Prevention of disease is more important than treating disease
Poor health is related to your whole person, not part of your body
Encouragement of a quality healthcare provider-to-patient relationship
Pursuing a quality life can lead to optimal health
Services your chiropractor may recommend as part of your wellness plan include:
Manual manipulation, to provide an increased range of motion and reduce pain
Therapeutic massage, to lengthen muscles, tendons, and ligaments, to reduce strain
Biofeedback training, to help identify problem areas and teach you to relax those areas
Physical therapy and stretching, to keep you mobile and active
Want To Know More About Chiropractic Care as Part of a Holistic Wellness Plan?
To achieve optimal health, you need to learn more about holistic medicine and how chiropractic care incorporates into a wellness plan. Don’t delay. Call your chiropractor today.
Shoulder pain is disruptive. It’s also a common problem that can continue for weeks, months, or years, affecting your quality of life. If you are searching for relief from shoulder pain, chiropractic care can help.
How Your Chiropractor Can Help with Shoulder Pain
Your shoulders perform a lot of important functions, including helping to support your neck and head, move your arms, and perform tasks requiring carrying, pushing, and pulling. Seeking out your chiropractor for shoulder pain offers many important benefits. Consider that chiropractic care is:
Natural, and can decrease reliance on pain medication and other addictive substances
Effective, and can restore full range-of-motion to your arms and shoulders
Long-term, and focuses on fixing the cause of your shoulder pain, not just your symptoms
You may be experiencing shoulder pain due to:
Arthritis or bursitis in your shoulder
Trauma from an accident or sports injury
Work-related overuse injuries
Your chiropractor may recommend some home therapies for mild shoulder pain. These include:
Placing an ice pack on your shoulder for 15 minutes several times daily to limit swelling
Applying warm, moist heat several times daily to relax muscle tension
Wearing a sling to allow your shoulder muscles to heal
Taking over-the-counter pain and anti-inflammatory medication to reduce pain, swelling, and inflammation
Your chiropractor offers several effective treatments for shoulder pain, and can help you get relief. Chiropractic treatments include:
Manual adjustment of your shoulder to help realign the joint and improve joint function and range-of-motion
Therapeutic massage to relax and elongate your muscles, tendons, and ligaments
Thermal therapies to boost circulation, reduce swelling, and decrease pain
Stretching and exercises, to increase flexibility and improve range-of-motion
Muscle relaxant, pain, and anti-inflammatory medication to ease painful symptoms
Want To Know More About the Benefits of Chiropractic Care for Shoulder Pain?
Sports are great, but they can also cause injuries, especially if you are a weekend athlete, or you begin a vigorous sport when you are out of shape. If you experience a sports injury, your chiropractor can help you heal, so you can get back to enjoying your life.
How Your Chiropractor Can Help When You Experience a Sports Injury
First, let’s focus on prevention of sports injuries. Remember to:
Always stretch and warm-up before any sports-related activity. Stretching and doing warm-up exercise help your muscles, tendons, and ligaments become more flexible and get them ready for activity.
Always wear the right sports equipment, especially the appropriate shoes for the sport you are playing. Having the right shoes can keep you stable, supported and protected while you are active.
Drink plenty of water, especially during the summer months. Water keeps you hydrated and energized so you can optimize sports performance.
Start out slow, especially if you are new to the sport or activity, you are out of shape, or if you have injured yourself previously.
If you experience a sports injury, you should visit your chiropractor, who will perform a comprehensive physical examination, which may include imaging studies. Depending on your injury, your chiropractor may recommend:
Chiropractic adjustments, to adjust and realign bones, tendons, ligaments, and muscles, to reduce pain and promote optimal healing
Ice massage therapy, also called cryotherapy, to minimize tissue damage, reduce swelling, temporarily numb painful soft tissue, and limit muscle spasms
Heat therapy, to boost circulation and relax muscles by dilating your blood vessels to enhance healing
Therapeutic massage, to boost circulation, relax muscle tension, and reduce muscle pain
Stretching and exercises, to reduce stiffness and promote healing
Want To Know More About How Your Chiropractor Can Treat Sports Injuries?
To find out more about how your chiropractor can help when you’ve experienced a sports injury, call your chiropractor today.
Neck pain can affect your quality of life, making it difficult to turn your head. This can impact your ability to drive, work at a computer, and perform daily tasks. Fortunately, your chiropractor can help you get relief from neck pain.
What You Need To Know About Neck Pain
Neck pain can develop suddenly due to:
A vehicular accident
A sports injury
Sudden trauma to your neck
Surgery on your neck
Neck pain can also develop gradually due to:
A medical condition affecting your spine, such as arthritis
An infection, causing swollen lymph nodes in your neck
Overuse of your neck muscles during work or leisure activities
Neck pain may cause you to overcompensate, using other parts of your body. This can lead to pain spreading to other areas including your shoulders, head, or arms.
For occasional, mild neck pain, you can try a few simple tips to get relief, including:
Applying ice and heat to your neck for 15 minutes several times daily
Resting and relaxing your neck
Taking over-the-counter pain and anti-inflammatory medications
Wearing a soft neck collar to support your neck and head
Doing gentle neck rolls to help relax muscles
Gently tilting your head from side to side
Rolling your shoulders
Gently rotating your neck in both directions
Gently bending your neck toward your chest
Visiting a chiropractor is an important step in treating and managing neck pain. Your chiropractor has several professional treatments to help you get relief, and may recommend:
Manual manipulation, to restore proper alignment to bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments in your neck
Sports chiropractic care is a specialized branch of chiropractic care that focuses on optimizing athletic performance, preventing injuries, and promoting overall well-being in athletes of all levels. With a tailored approach to musculoskeletal health and function, sports chiropractors play a crucial role in supporting athletes as they strive for peak performance. Sports chiropractors can help athletes reach their goals and perform at their very best each day. This can even be helpful for people who may only play sports on the weekends.
Understanding Sports Chiropractic Care
Sports chiropractic combines traditional chiropractic techniques with specialized knowledge of sports medicine and biomechanics. Sports chiropractors are trained to assess and treat musculoskeletal imbalances, joint dysfunctions, and soft tissue injuries commonly experienced by athletes. They utilize a variety of hands-on techniques, including spinal manipulation, joint mobilization, soft tissue therapy, and corrective exercises, to optimize biomechanical function and enhance athletic performance.
Sports chiropractic offers numerous benefits for athletes, including:
Improved biomechanical function
Enhanced performance
Injury prevention
Faster recovery
Individualized care
Athletes can integrate sports chiropractic into their overall wellness and performance care plans by scheduling regular appointments with a licensed sports chiropractor. These appointments may include musculoskeletal assessments, manual therapy sessions, corrective exercises, and performance optimization strategies designed to address the athlete's specific needs and goals. Additionally, sports chiropractors often collaborate with other healthcare professionals, coaches, and trainers to provide comprehensive care that supports the athlete's overall well-being and athletic success.
If you’re dealing with issues functioning and you want to push yourself to the next level in your sport, you may want to consider utilizing sports chiropractic care. You’ll be able to have your performance analyzed and your chiropractor can help you discover what may be holding you back.
Contact Our Chiropractor Today
Find out how you can start performing your best in every game. Contact your chiropractor to learn more about sports chiropractic care and how it could benefit you.
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