Pain Management and How Technology is Changing its Future

Chronic Pain is not something that is commonly spoken of, even though it is a very common illness amongst many adults. There are several ways to deal with the varying degrees of chronic pain and it often takes more than just simple medication to assure that the persistent pain will not affect your daily life. The same treatment does not, however, have the same effect on everybody as results are seen to vary depending on each individual. Even the level of pain is sometimes not related to the severity of the injury! A simple dislocation might hurt ten times more than a severely disintegrated bone. Hence, it is tremendously difficult for physicians to determine the accurate cause of your pain.

Simultaneously, Opioids are a common narcotic pain medication prescribed to those suffering from extreme pain. Even though it is an effective drug, but if it is not used properly it can leave the patient distressed with more problems and side effects than before. Opioids are also very addictive, so it should not be taken without being properly supervised. There are many types of opioid medications, if you want to learn more, a little research online can help you find more information about it.

Due to the lack of solid treatment for chronic pain, researchers have been looking for alternate methods to alleviate your pain. Thus, new medication and technologies have appeared. Granted, some are still in the testing stage.

Heat is a pretty common and traditional way to ease the joints and muscles. Recently many products have surfaced that are using light electric pulses to soothe the affected areas. These devices also have the feature to adjust heating levels to pacify all levels of pain. Moreover, the electric pulses on your skin will help to discharge endorphins – a natural pain killer. It is most definitely a much better alternative to drugs and suffering.

A line of products with similar features can be found at Omron Healthcare for any of you who need it.

Radiofrequency is a wonder, with so many ways to help us! Now it can rapidly solve our chronic pain issues too! Radiofrequency Ablation treatment uses the heat produced from a medium frequency alternating current to weaken tissues that are part of the peripheral nervous system for the chronic pain patients. This procedure will probably gain mass popularity in the upcoming years, due to the rising number of new members at nursing homes. These types of items are perfect for those who don’t want to or are too fragile to go through surgery since they have almost no side-effects but only require proper rest. It is also a useful alternative to surgery.

Virtual Reality is the future for entertainment, but it has begun to dip its toes into the medical world. Back in 2007, a video game called “SnowWorld” was effectively lowering a hefty amount of pain in the body. This discovery was later dissected and analyzed properly to create VR therapy machines for victims of neuropathy.

This treatment requires patients to be in a full-body immersion mode with soothing sceneries projected on the VR device. These scenarios could be of you simulating a lazy afternoon on a sunny meadow or lying under your comfy blanket on a rainy day; the goal is to trick your brain into relaxing all muscles. Various tests and experiments are being conducted to control the level of pain properly.

So far, the best outcome from these inventions is how it threatens the use of opioids as a traditional pain relief drug and promotes risk-free treatments. The future of Chronic Pain management looks bright from where I’m standing.