Alternative medicine

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-23-2013
Alternative medicine
Sun, 04-07-2013 - 11:11am

I found an audio-book called Mindful Meditation for pain and I am going to give it a try. I've heard that it can cure a variety of things including stress and anxiety and I hope it works for me. I am just wondering if there is anything else I am missing? It seems like there are a lot of alternative cures that really work for people that I don't know about.

Community Leader
Registered: 10-22-2001
Tue, 04-09-2013 - 9:25pm

Acupuncture. Once seen as bizarre, acupuncture is rapidly becoming a mainstream treatment for pain. Studies have found that it works for pain caused by many conditions, including fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, back injuries, and sports injuries.

How does it work? No one's quite sure. It could release pain-numbing chemicals in the body. Or it might block the pain signals coming from the nerves.

"I think there's good scientific evidence for acupuncture and I prescribe it," says F. Michael Ferrante, MD, director of the UCLA Pain Management Center in Los Angeles. "The nice thing is that even if it doesn't work, it doesn't do any harm."

Stress-reduction techniques. "Reducing stress is really crucial in pain management," says Savage. There are number of approaches, including:

Yoga. There's good evidence that yoga can help with chronic pain, says Cohen -- specifically fibromyalgia, neck pain, back pain, and arthritis. "I've been including yoga as part of the treatment that I prescribe since the mid-1980s," Savage says.

To

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-18-2013
Mon, 04-08-2013 - 10:42am

I've heard Yoga can also help with stress and anxiety. And what about acupuncture? I haven't tried it but am considering it for my lower back. I really don't want to start regular pain medications if I can help it.