These practices are based on the interconnectedness of mind and body, and the power of one to affect the other. They’ve shown to help control chronic pain by reducing stress, tension and depression, factors that intensify pain. Mind and body therapies also help promote an overall sense of well-being.
Biofeedback translates information about your body into visual or audio cues. You are connected, usually by electrodes taped to your skin but sometimes by handheld thermometers, to computers and monitors that allow you to “see” muscle tension as a pattern on a screen or “hear” your temperature as a series of beeps. Over time, you learn how to control these body functions by paying attention t the feedback and experimenting with ways to manipulate it. After you’ve figured out how to relax your muscles or raise your body temperature or change some other aspects of your physiology in the practitioner’s office, you can duplicate the effect on your own. Electromyography (EMG), is the most popular biofeedback which teaches you to control muscle spasms (learn about EMG). Biofeeback has been proven to reduce headaches, chronic muscle tension, anxiety, TMJ, and insomnia.
Biofeedback Certification institute of America
10200 West 44th, #310
Wheat Ridge, Colorado 80033
Phone: 303-420-2902
www.bcia.org
By slipping into a trancelike, highly suggestible state, patients can learn to control body functions that are usually involuntary. They can reduce their blood pressure, heart rate, and level of stress hormones, and possibly even change how the brain activates during a pain sensation.
When you’re under hypnosis, your mind is in a state of deep concentration and is receptive to suggestion. A therapist can use this mental state to offer you alternative, relaxing responses to pain. For example, she may suggest that upon feeling pain, you lower your blood pressure instead of raise it; or she may use imagery instead, suggesting that you imagine that your pain is controlled by a dial that you can turn down at will. Your therapist should be certified by either the National Board for Certified Clinical Hypnotherapists or the American Council of Hypnotist Examiners.
American Council of Hypnotist Examiners
700 South Central Avenue
Glendale, California 91204
Phone: 818-242-1159
www.hypnotistexaminers.org
We're all pretty good at thinking. The problem is that most of us are unable to stop. You know the feeling, your mind plays one particular worry or though over and over, in an obsessively running loop. Or maybe it chatters away at you about a thousand different things.
Meditation is a way of quieting that chatter. By bringing your focus to your breath, a mantra, or the like, you give your mind something simple to hold on to as you gradually let go of the world. By controlling your attention, you’re accomplishing something deeply therapeutic. You begin to feel more relaxed, more at peace with yourself. This feeling usually lasts far beyond the meditation itself, so that when stress comes flying your way, you have the psychic resources to deflect it. For people with nerve-related pain in particular, meditation is often more effective than any other therapy at turning down that nerve noise and letting you get on with your life. Go to Mindfulness Meditation.
What makes yoga so powerful for back and other kinds of pain? When you practice yoga, you use physical exercises, breathing and relaxation techniques, and meditation to help you integrate these different aspects of your being. Such integration has a strengthening effect on your whole self, and fortifies your resistance to pain. Yoga helps you become more accepting of your body and of your pain, less judgmental and reactive. With time, you’ll also become an expert on your body; you’ll know what makes it feel worse and how to coax it into balance.
Finally, the poses themselves can ease your pain. They make you stronger and more flexible, improve the circulation to your joints and muscles, and stimulate your brain to produce painkilling chemicals. Learn basic yoga poses
American Yoga Association
513 South Orange Avenue
Sarasota, Florida 34236
Phone: 941-953-5859
www.americanyogaassociation.org
Pain can literally take your breath away. Over time, many chronic pain sufferers develop a pattern of shallow inhalations that are the breath equivalent of junk food. When you aren’t breathing deeply, you may experience muscle tension or have trouble sleeping. By bringing greater awareness to your breathing, you can induce a state of relaxation at will.
Deep breathing and breath exercises are useful for almost everyone. For many people with nerve pain, breathing and other mind-body techniques are an especially important source of relief. Learn breathing techniques for pain control
Carey, Anthony B. The Pain-Free Program: A Proven Method to Relieve Back, Neck, Shoulder, and Joint Pain. Hoboken, NJ. John Wiley & Sons, 2005.
Schneider, Jennifer. Living with Chronic Pain: The Complete Health Guide to the Causes and Treatment of Chronic Pain. Long Island City, NY. Hatherleigh Press, 2004
This page was first published on May, 15th, 2008 and was last updated on May, 29th, 2008