Pain Relief through Natural Approaches

By Dr. Linda Hegstrand, MD, PHD

Pain is a necessary signal that something is wrong. Acute pain is any pain caused by an immediate trauma or condition acting as a warning signal to the body. Chronic pain has lasted longer than 6 months and interferes with daily activities. It may be a dull ache that never goes away like a vise squeezing our head or a knife stabbing our back.

Pain arises by stimulation of special sensory nerve endings responding to bodily pressure, heat, cold, irritation, injury, stress, and disease. All pain, whether chronic or acute, physical or emotional, is recognized, interpreted, and acted on by the brain. We may feel the pain in our toes when we stub them, but the recognition, interpretation, and reaction to the pain occurs in the brain.

Chronic pain is one of the most costly health problems in the US at ~$90 billion/year including direct medical expenses, lost income, lost productivity, compensation payments, and legal fees. 48 million Americans suffer from chronic pain. In seeking pain relief, 21 million Americans routinely take prescription painkillers and spend $3 billion on over-the-counter analgesics.

Although pain is a major problem here, it is not treated compassionately or efficiently. Possible side effects of chronic pain are illnesses caused by a sedentary lifestyle, seclusion and depression, and addiction to painkillers.

Medical doctors have painkilling medicines, sedatives, antidepressants, muscle relaxants, and anticonvulsants. They can inject substances into the body to “block” the nerves and prevent transmission of pain signals to the brain and often perform surgery—especially on the back. These are not 100% successful or safe.
The natural approach to pain management is to eradicate the underlying cause of chronic pain allowing the body to heal itself. This is accomplished through nutrition, energy medicine, manual medical therapy, chiropractic and jaw alignments, and lifestyle changes.

Nutrition includes both diet and supplements. A diet high in fiber with unprocessed foods including kale, collard greens, almonds, blackberries, broccoli, mustard greens, oatmeal, oranges, navy beans, and sunflower seeds, as well as fatty fish and flax that form anti-inflammatory substances may aid in reducing pain. Green drinks high in chlorophyll are helpful. Limit foods high in saturated fats including red meats, dairy products, and partially-hydrogenated oils such as corn and canola. Supplements that may be helpful include the proteolytic enzyme bromelain, calcium, magnesium, glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM, essential fatty acids, vitamins B-1, B-6, B-12, C, and E, and quercetin. Analgesic herbs including valerian, chamomile, skullcap, passion flower, kava kava, white willow bark, and iporuru as well as anti-inflammatory herbs such as boswellia and turmeric may provide relief. Knowing a person’s Metabolic Balance Indicators enables the healthcare provider to customize nutritional recommendations. Identifying and removing hidden food allergies may be a key factor in relieving chronic pain (HGJ July/Aug 2004).

Energy medicine may be extremely effective in eliminating pain. The following are methods of providing the body with a variety of vibrational frequencies that may be beneficial in eliminating pain by healing: SCENAR (Self Controlled Energy Neuro Adaptive Regulation), Low Level Laser, Light Beam Generator, magnets, microcurrent, TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator), and acupuncture/pressure.

The energy medicine device of my preference is the SCENAR because it is more effective for more people, for more types of pain more quickly than the others. In more than 80% of cases, patients leave with partial or total pain relief. One treatment may last for hours or months. Generally patients average 6 to 10 treatments for long lasting pain relief.

The SCENAR works by sending a low-energy, nerve-like, and painless electronic impulse through the skin. This signal then changes according to how the skin reacts. All you will feel is a gentle tingle through the skin. It was discovered that the body creates a special electrical team of cells and messages to carry out a repair job and then, when it thinks a good enough job has been done, disbands this team. These are the cells that the SCENAR talks to and triggers to finish the healing process. That is to say, chronic pain is a result of incomplete healing. The SCENAR functions to trigger the body to complete the healing process. When this is complete, pain disappears.

For the SCENAR to work, you need three key ingredients: the patient’s own willingness to completely recover, the device itself, and the therapist’s skill in using the SCENAR and interpreting the readings displayed as ever-changing numbers in the display window. When this triangle works, it facilitates the body’s own internal pharmacy to complete its repair work.

Dr. Linda Hegstrand M.D, Ph.D. is a board certified and licensed physician. She serves as Medical Director for The Complete Wellness Center in Grand Rapids where SCENAR is available. For personal consultations contact 616.464.0470 or 616.443.3571 or e-mail her at DrLindaMD@comcast.net.