For 50 million Americans, the picture of life is tarnished by chronic pain. Whether it’s a migraine, knee pain, or backache, chronic pain restricts what we aspire to accomplish.
Grandparents can attest to this. Middle-aged professionals realize it. Stay-at-home moms know this all too well. High school athletes are faced with it, too.
Millions of Americans rely on nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)—such as ibuprofen, naproxen, and aspirin—to reduce pain’s effect on their quality of life.
What often goes untold, however, are the side effects that can come from relying on NSAIDs to manage pain. Extensive research shows that NSAIDs can cause gastrointestinal ulcers, serious cardiovascular events, hypertension, and acute renal failure, and can exacerbate pre-existing heart failure.
A Major Drawback
It’s important to know what causes pain if you want to understand how to reduce it. Of course, causes vary, but we often experience pain while the body is working to heal from an injury or sickness, because of an inflammatory response.
“In most cases, the inflammation is the healing. It’s our body’s way of clearing out dead cells in the area and preventing infection,” Dr. Courtney Kahla, a chiropractic doctor, told The Epoch Times.
Normally, the inflammatory response is brief and lasts only until the body heals itself. Unfortunately, we often suffer inflammation due to chronic conditions caused by problems in our lifestyle or environment. That means the inflammation is prolonged. When inflammation is chronic, pain is chronic, and many people then turn to NSAIDs to block inflammation directly.
While the drugs provide immediate pain relief, they don’t resolve the root cause. Sometimes, they even impair the healing process.
“There’s actually a lot of evidence that shows blocking inflammation can make our pain last longer,” Kahla said.
One study, published in Burns & Trauma in 2018, found that NSAIDs inhibited proper bone and wound healing. Another study, published in Science: Translational Medicine in 2022, showed that people who used NSAIDs to treat lower back pain were more likely to end up with chronic pain.
However, there is good news: Nature has provided us with pain relievers that can work as well or better than pharmaceuticals while also promoting healing.
Back and Neck Pain
Specialized Pro-Resolving Mediators: SPMs are a class of molecules that the body naturally generates. They are also available as supplements.
Naturally occurring SPMs are lipid mediators converted from the essential fatty acids in our diet. When inflammation emerges due to injury or sickness, SPMs are signaled to the inflamed area and work to facilitate healing.
Unlike how NSAIDs block inflammation, SPMs resolve inflammation by removing dead cells and other debris, thereby enabling the inflamed site to return to homeostasis.
“The beauty of using SPMs is you don’t shut down the natural inflammatory process that leads to healing and regeneration of tissue as you do with NSAIDs,” Dr. Matt Angove, a functional health care provider, told The Epoch Times.
In a study published in the Journal of Translational Medicine, SPM supplementation decreased pain and increased the quality of life of patients dealing with chronic pain. Another study (pdf) found similar results.
Some doctors are witnessing the positive effects of SPM supplementation in their clinical practices.
In one case, Angove had a 76-year-old female with multiple broken ribs and fractured thoracic vertebrae. This patient also experienced bad reactions from standard pain medications and NSAIDs.
“Unfortunately, rib fractures hurt with every breath, so we put her on 6 grams of SPMs a day, and she was able to sleep and heal fantastically without excruciating pain,” Angove said.
Migraines and Headaches
Magnesium: According to a significant body of scientific literature, migraines and headaches are often caused by a lack of magnesium.
Therefore, when individuals with chronic migraines supplement with magnesium, they often experience a total reprieve from pain, because the root issue—nutrient deficiency—is being addressed.
Multiple double-blind, placebo-controlled studies have shown that magnesium supplementation can efficiently mitigate pain caused by migraines.
“I’ve had multiple patients with migraines that were driven by magnesium deficiency,” Dr. Joel Noland, an Idaho-based naturopathic physician, told The Epoch Times.
Noland’s clinical observations have shown that magnesium supplementation significantly reduces and prevents migraines for his patients.
Menstrual Pain
Ginger and Magnesium: A double-blind study published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine compared the efficacy of ibuprofen to ginger. Researchers discovered that ginger was as effective as ibuprofen in managing pain associated with menstruation.
A systematic review published in Cureus found similar results, noting that the review “verified the possibility of ginger efficacy in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea (menstruation pain)” and that the use of ginger was “very useful and [as] effective as NSAIDs.”
A robust body of research also supports magnesium’s role in alleviating menstrual pain.
Dr. Amadea Angove, a functional doctor and acupuncturist, said that these studies’ findings have been mirrored in her practice. “While the cause of severe pain from menstrual cramps should be investigated, magnesium can alleviate pain quickly and effectively,” she told The Epoch Times.
Knee Pain
Curcumin: The active anti-inflammatory agent of turmeric, curcumin has been used as a pain reducer for thousands of years. Moreover, curcumin has demonstrated efficacy in treating chronic knee pain.
A meta-analysis published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine examined curcumin’s efficacy in treating pain caused by knee osteoarthritis. Researchers found that curcumin is more effective than NSAIDs.
Because turmeric’s anti-inflammatory effects are well known, many individuals take turmeric supplements, hoping it will alleviate their pain.
However, Dr. Matt Angove warned that many individuals do not experience symptom remission because turmeric supplements often do not contain significant amounts of curcumin, the active agent that reduces inflammation.
Therefore, he advises finding high-quality curcumin supplements to better ensure pain relief.
Sports-Related Injuries
Topical Capsaicin Cream and Grounding: Capsaicin is a chemical derived from chili peppers, and depending on the athlete’s type of injury, it can be an effective way to reduce pain.
This molecule reduces inflammation by blocking a neurotransmitter that ignites pain. It’s most commonly used in high concentrations as a topical solution for individuals battling pain from tendonitis, muscular injuries, or arthritis.
Some studies indicate capsaicin can accelerate tendon repair and mitigate muscular injuries.
Another therapy that has been shown to help athletes recover from injuries is the practice of grounding, or earthing.
Grounding has been shown to reduce painful inflammation in multiple studies, including one published in the Journal of Inflammation Research. It even has been used as an effective healing therapy for professional bikers in the Tour de France.
“It’s basically connecting the surface of your skin to the surface of the Earth, like your hands or feet to grass, dirt, or trees,” Kahla said. “The earth is like a huge battery that contains a subtle electrical charge. And to put it simply, our body runs off this electricity.”That energetic connection also can work in another way. Just as a home’s electrical system has a grounding wire planted deep in the earth, the human body also needs a way to defuse any excess negatively charged (hot) electrons. When this charge builds up in the body—or in any electrical system—it creates a risk.
Researchers in the Journal of Inflammation Research study wrote that grounding “enables free electrons from the Earth’s surface to spread over and into the body, where they can have antioxidant effects.”
Getting to the Root of Inflammation
Addressing the cause of pain is foundational if you wish to live a pain-free life.
“Instead of saying, ‘I am in pain. I need a pill to feel better,’ we should ask ourselves, ‘What is my body trying to tell me?’” advised Kahla. “If you have menstrual cramps, that could be your body’s way of saying, ‘Your hormones aren’t balanced.’ If you have muscle pain, that’s your body’s way of saying, ‘Hey, don’t use this area of your body for a while.’
“Our body is so good at telling us what it needs and sending messages to us. We just have to listen to it.”
