How Stress Management Can Relieve Chronic Pain

Living with daily, constant pain is understandably distressing. You might feel like your pain holds you back and smothers your life’s potential. After all, mental health and physical health are interlinked. Stress is known to negatively harm one’s physical health. When you are stressed, you tense your muscles, leaving them tight and painful. A continuously active nervous system may lead to inflammation, which further contributes to your pain. You’ll notice pain appearing in other parts of your body, from leg cramps and regular headaches to back pain and neck stiffness. 

For people who are already dealing with chronic pain, stress just adds another layer to the problem. It can sometimes feel like a catch-22: stress amplifies and causes pain, and pain causes stress. How do you handle this situation? 

For many individuals, a combination of self-care techniques and holistic treatments offered at Integrated Health Solutions can reduce both your stress and your pain. Here’s how. 

Natural Pain Relief Heals the Mind and Body

Considering how stress damages your body, the solution is clear. You’ll want to lower your stress levels which will, in turn, make it easier to cope with your chronic pain. It’s not as simple as it sounds: you might find it difficult to turn off the stream of worries in your mind. Yet know that while stress reduction isn’t always a straightforward path, it’s ultimately rewarding. 

Just like how stress reduction can lower your pain, the opposite is also true. Treating your pain provides you with a sense of wellbeing, so you are more likely to feel at peace. However, the way you treat your pain matters. Many chronic illnesses require monitoring by a general practitioner or a chronic pain expert. Traditional pain treatments might make your stress worse as you battle unwanted side effects. On the other hand, natural pain relief comes with no side effects, which is one less thing to stress about.

Relaxing Treatments at Integrated Health Solutions

One of the benefits of our holistic treatments is how they heal your body and your mind. Massages, saunas, and other procedures are painless and relaxing. Pain medication doesn’t engage your body and mind the way these treatments do. By giving you space to release tension and unwind, the treatments benefit lowering your stress. 

• Massage Therapy: Massage therapy promotes circulation and serotonin production. Of course, since this is a form of pain relief, the procedure will involve more applied pressure than your average massage to effectively release muscle tension. However, in relation to other pain relief methods, massage therapy still stands out as a more relaxing experience. 

Let Us Help You Heal

Integrated Health Solutions offers ways to heal your mind and body as you deal with chronic pain. Trust our doctors to help create an individualized treatment plan that utilizes your body’s natural healing abilities. For questions or to make an appointment, call our office today.