Best Life: Treating chronic pain naturally

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) - Can writing be an alternative to surgery when treating chronic pain? One orthopedic spine surgeon believes it can be.

Ivanhoe has details on his findings and some other natural ways to relieve chronic pain.

One in five adults in the US suffers from chronic pain. Medications, medical devices, and surgery have been used by doctors to treat chronic pain, but at least one doctor thinks there is a better way.

“So, the misnomer is that there’s always something structurally wrong. And the real answer is there’s rarely something structural wrong,” said David Hanscom, MD, Orthopedic Spine Surgeon.

Doctor Hanscom is an orthopedic spine surgeon and believes that doctors should treat chronic pain by treating the root causes like lack of sleep.

“Forty percent of Americans don’t sleep. We know that actual lack of sleep actually causes chronic back pain, causes it. It’s not the result of chronic pain. It causes chronic pain.” said Doctor Hanscom.

He also believes in a technique called expressive writing, where you write down your thoughts and then tear them up.

This method is a form of meditation in that it helps people separate from their negative thoughts, which add stress to the body causing pain.

“I would say within four to six weeks after people started express writing, started getting better sleep, symptoms would drop down dramatically,” said Doctor Hanscom.

Some experts say what you eat also helps. Studies revealed that turmeric, cloves, capsaicin, ginger, and fish oil could all improve chronic pain.

In fact, one study from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center found more than half the patients with neck or back pain who participated could stop taking prescription painkillers after being on fish oil supplements for 75 days.

Hoping you can live pain-free naturally.

Essential oils could also help with chronic pain. A study from South Korea found that eucalyptus oil reduces pain, swelling, and inflammation for patients after knee replacement surgery.

Contributors to this news report include: Milvionne Chery, Producer; Bob Walko, Editor.

Click here to sign up for our newsletter!

Click here to report a spelling or grammar error. Please include the headline.