When someone is in severe discomfort or pain a common solution is to reach for medication to alleviate the problematic symptoms.
Most people are concerned with “getting rid of the pain”, but is that truly what they want?
You may be thinking…“What a stupid question! Of course I want to get rid of pain.”
We know. It seems obvious.
But let us explain why you may consider a different solution, other than medication, to be a better choice.
The common prescription medications to help alleviate pain are also known as Opioids.
Opioid medications are created from the poppy seed, which has pain-relieving effects, among others. Opioids are also some of the most addictive substances known to man.
This has created a problem. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have become addicted to these drugs in the past ten-years.
As a safe guard against all the over-prescribing and addiction they’re seeing, the federal government has created a law to stop doctors from peddling the harmful drugs.
However, due to the sudden stoppage of doctors renewing Opioid prescriptions, patients are left with no other option to feed their addictions. So, they turn to the closest thing they can get on the street…Heroin.
Twenty to thirty years ago Heroin ripped through poor neighborhoods and destroyed those communities. Now, due to the Opioid epidemic, Heroin is terrorizing middle-class and upper-middle-class neighborhoods.
This slippery slope isn’t something that an average American dealing with low-back pain or shoulder pain things about, which doesn’t help the situation.
“Getting rid of pain” is something that should never be a goal. The first thought should be to explore why you have the pain.
In our experience, pain is almost never the core problem. It’s almost always a secondary, or tertiary issue that flared up as a result of the initial onset.
The best advice we can give you is to be aware of the pain but seek solutions that actually correct the problem, not just cover up the pain.
In order to correct the pain, always start with the master control system, the nervous system. If it’s not functioning properly, then nothing else in the body will either.
Once the nervous system is working well, then you can proceed to investigate other areas of the body for problems.
Chiropractors are experts in the nervous system and would be the ideal place to start in your journey back to health. Stay healthy friends.