Pain brought on by illnesses or injuries leaves a person physically or mentally suffering until they can properly treat the problem. Professionals within the medical field have been known to use different methods of pain management as a treatment to help diagnose and treat pain. When a patient suffers from arthritis the medical approach ranges from the use of physical therapy, diet changes, medications, and many others to help manage pain for a patient. Having multiple ways to treat chronic and acute pain is important because it motivates people to effectively learn one and stick to it benefiting them in the long run.
The use of physical therapy to treat patients suffering from arthritis pain is beneficial as It allows the patients to directly tell the physician exactly how the pain is and where it is. With a better understanding of how the patient is feeling allow the physical therapist to fully assess the issues and give the best treatment. According to Kathleen Sluka, “The more we know about how much pain interferes with the patients’ life, the better we can gauge hat we need to do as PTs” (Putting the “PT” In Pain Management, 2010), she urges the use of several different pain scales being used to record the patients pain gives a better insight into how the pain is affecting every aspect of their lives.
Sometimes doctors suggest to their patients a simple change in diet can help eliminate the pain. According to Neithercott scientist have noted that “Certain foods ease aches by fighting inflammation, blocking pain signals, and even healing underlying disease” By diverting away from processed foods that promote the inflammation in the body and sticking to fruits, vegetables, and herbs can help with the chronic pain. As stated by Neithercott (2012), the intake of 45 cherries daily and using ¼ teaspoon of ginger daily help reduce the inflammation by mimicking the way nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories like aspirin work in the body, blocking pain enzymes. A diet with very little foods that result in inflammation is great for pain control.
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Medications, like the uses of opioids, have been both beneficial and nonbeneficial when dealing with pain. Neithercott mentions that although pain pills help the short-term pain, they are addictive and sometimes don’t actually treat the cause of the pain (2012) The use of pain pills is beneficial seeing as that they end acute pain fast but the constant use leads to the patient having to constantly depend on them. Opiates are seen as a reliable source of acute pain relief, as stated by Fields, “their use has recently grown … providing adequate pain relief is considered an important standard of care …” (2011) Opiates help reduce anxiety and give the patient a mild sedation allowing them to cope with medical conditions causing pain. The use of opioids has been proven to be beneficial for short-term use, the reluctance doctors have to prescribe them lie with the fact that they are a cause of abuse and addiction.
Based on the three pain management methods listed above, a change in diet is the best way to treat the pain patients are feeling. Switching over to an anti-inflammatory based type diet gives patients a better chance of living a healthier life even with chronic pain, without the chances of becoming addictive to opioids and without having to rely on another person to help get rid of the pain, when they don’t understand how the pain truly feels in the situation. Patients will learn more when they are given the tools to help them relieve the pain motivating them to it for themselves more freely. When they have the material and do with it as they please people remember more and have a better understanding of how to use these techniques for themselves (Tullis & Benjamin, 2011)
