Harvard Medical School Natural and Alternative Pain Relief

January 1, 2019 Joe Brady

More and more doctors are recommending mind-body therapies like tai chi, meditation, chiropractic, supplements, hypnosis therapy, and even yoga to help you get relief from dozens of painful conditions. Harvard Medical School experts explain the research behind natural and alternative remedies without drugs or surgery.

This enlightening report reveals:

Mind-body secrets for “turning down the volume” on pain

The exercise that may lower your chance of getting shingles

The type of yoga that helps reduce back and neck pain

Why tai chi may be the ideal exercise for battling fibromyalgia

Mind-body secrets for “turning down the volume” on pain

Read more or get the book click here https://www.health.harvard.edu/promotions/harvard-health-publications/pain-relief-sep2015-test?utm_source=delivra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GB20171108-Pain&utm_id=698735&dlv-ga-memberid=43974915&mid=43974915&ml=698735

Pain in the United States

One in five Americans suffer from chronic pain and one in ten have pain that limits at least one major life activity. These are the findings of a recent study that analyzed the National Health Interview Survey to aid in the development of population-wide pain interventions. Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institutes of Health, Stanford Division of Pain Medicine, Kaiser Permanente, and Yale University analyzed pain data for the overall U.S. adult population. 

Findings included the following:

  • Chronic pain is higher among women, older adults, unemployed, adults living in poverty, adults on medicare and medicaid insurance, and rural residents.
  • As we get older pain gets worse.
  • Pain was significantly lower among adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher compared to all other education levels.
  • White adults had a significantly higher age-adjusted prevalence of chronic pain compared to all other racial and ethnic subgroups.
  • Veterans had a significantly higher age-adjusted prevalence of chronic pain compared to nonveterans.

Chronic pain has been linked to:

  • restricted mobility, 
  • opioid dependency, 
  • anxiety, 
  • depression,
  • reduced quality of life,

Chronic pain costs an estimated $560 billion annually in direct medical costs, lost productivity, and disability programs in the United States. 

The 2016 National Pain Strategy called for more precise prevalence estimates of chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain to reliably establish the burden of chronic pain and aid in the development and implementation of population-wide pain interventions. This study helps fulfill that objective, providing data to inform pain-focused policymakers, clinicians, and researchers.

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