What are the Treatments for Pain?

Pain is nothing more than a warning system that something is wrong with your body. So if a doctor treats the underlying injury or disease, this will usually relieve the pain or, at least, reduce it to more manageable levels. As a simple example, taking an antibiotic will usually cure the targeted bacterial infection, eliminate the infection and remove the pain. This highlights an important lesson. Analgesics or painkillers are intended to deal with the problems caused by the pain. They do not treat the underlying disorder causing the pain. Thus, doctors aim to diagnose the cause of the pain and treat it as best they can while managing the pain. In chronic conditions, the pain is increasingly treated as a disease in its own right, justifying separate forms of therapy from trained professionals specializing in pain management.

The research shows that a range of treatments not relying on medication produces good results. This includes massage and rehabilitation therapy designed to keep muscle tone and get the body moving again after injury or disease has reduced mobility. The benefits come both from the physical work done by the therapist, and also from the supportive bond that can develop between the patient and therapist. This can be allied with learning relaxation techniques and rediscovering swimming as an excellent form of exercise for the muscles not relying on joints overcoming gravity. Moving into the fringe world of technology, there is the long-running TENs machine and the newly emerging pulsed magnetic field equipment (which, as yet, does not have FDA approval). Such machines are said to produce significant relief among patients who believe in the power of the machines - not unlike acupuncture which also requires the patient to have confidence in the system. However, the best approach is cognitive behavioral therapy which teaches people how to maximize their mobility within the limitations imposed by the pain.

The point of these therapies is to avoid you becoming too dependent on the pill bottle for pain relief. If at all possible, you should keep drug costs under control and avoid the risk of a habit forming. That said, there are a number of analgesics or painkillers that can help you manage the pain. The strongest are the opiates. These are narcotic and should only be used in short bursts unless you are managing a severe pain following an operation or a terminal condition like cancer. The middle ground is held by opioids like tramadol which have fewer problems of dependence. The strategy is to slowly build up the dosage until you feel the best level of pain relief and the lowest level of side effects - most commonly constipation, nausea, vomiting and drowsiness. The problem with tramadol is that you also slowly build up tolerance, i.e. your body gets used to the drug and it has less effect. If you have been learning how to get a good quality of life with a cognitive behavioral therapist, this is not a problem. You should be phasing out the drug in any event. But if you have not been learning how to cope without medication, you may be tempted to increase the dosage. This is dangerous because you may end up dependent.Pain is nothing more than a warning system that something is wrong with your body. So if a doctor treats the underlying injury or disease, this will usually relieve the pain or, at least, reduce it to more manageable levels[...]