Dr. Dave explains how to manage acute and chronic pain through protection and cold therapy for new injuries, then addresses inflammation from stress, poor sleep, and refined carbs. He recommends omega-3s, low-glycemic foods, and anti-inflammatory vegetables as long-term solutions beyond medication.
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Hey everyone, it's Dr. Dave. Hopefully you're all doing well and enjoying yourselves and you're out there creating those great experiences I talk about. Now certainly one of the greatest detractors to those great experiences is pain and problems. So as a healthcare provider, I can tell you the majority of people that we see when we first see them is because of a pain or a problem. And sometimes the pain is not the problem and sometimes the problem is whatever is causing the pain is not allowing them to do what they need and want to do every day. But it definitely encompasses pain and it operates and revolves around the pain. So pain relief is something that we're obviously after for everybody. Some very key points when it comes to helping people with pain is to make sure they follow some very basic fundamentals so they're not fighting an uphill battle or they're stacking the cards in their favor to not only get out of pain faster, but to make sure that the problem or cause of the pain can dealt with in a more efficient way. And one of the things we want to do with a pain problem is make sure that we protect ourselves or the part of the body that's in pain. So what that means is any triggers, anything that we know, if it's physical pain and we move a certain way it hurts, then we want to avoid that movement. And it may seem silly, but quite often people come in and they say, "It hurts here, Doc, every time I do this." And, well, how often are you doing that? "Well, you know, I'm always checking it." And when there's pain there and you know there's pain there, there's no need to keep checking it because every time you check it can aggravate that problem and it just perpetuates it. Now I understand the desire to see if it's getting better, but it's probably going to take a few days for it to get better, so there's no need to be checking it consistently multiple times an hour, for example. So we want to protect the area. If we notice it's some discomfort with digestion or with breathing, then we don't necessarily want to engage in the tasks, the foods, or the activities that aggravate. If we notice those things, we just want to try and give our body and our system a time to relax. So for example, with digestive pain or even physical pain, inflammation and swelling can be a challenge. So while we're protecting and resting the areas that seem to be problematic or in pain, if it's a physical problem like a joint or muscle, we can always use a cold pack. And applying that cold pack with a tissue barrier to make sure there's something thin to protect your skin from frostbite. Do not burn your skin with the cold, but you want to try and get a cold pack onto that area of discomfort, especially if it's a new problem or an aggravation, something that's just happened. You can do that 15 to 20 minutes on and then 40 minutes off and then back on for another 15 or 20 minutes. And the idea is to get that area not only cold, but you might notice that it starts to burn a little bit as you have the cold pack on there, it starts to be painful, and then it actually goes numb afterwards., and that numb is kind of what we're after. That's what creates the therapeutic effect, again, without burning or freezing the skin. So make sure you have a thin barrier so that it protects the skin, but not so thick that you can't get it nice and cold and numb in that 15 to 20 minutes. And you can repeat that every hour or after, uh, 20 minutes, after 40 minutes, as much as it takes to get some relief. So 20 on, 40 off, um, with the cold pack. All right? In a new aggravation, something that's just happened, an accident or injury, it's not generally a good idea to put heat on it right away. The heat might feel good, it relaxes it, but it can actually make more inflammation and swelling, which initially at the beginning part of an aggravation injury is not beneficial. It may be beneficial for a little while, but then we want to get rid of it. So the heat can perpetuate it too long. So we want to be cautious of that. So cold pack is always a good bet at the beginning, and then maybe heat later on as it continues to heal and get better. If you're uncertain, it's always good to contact a healthcare provider first. Generally, this is just an aid, a basic, but anytime it's uncertain or you're not clear based on what's happened or how you feel, always consult with a healthcare provider first. That's the best thing to do. All right. Now, inflammation and swelling is not only an external thing to put on the injured part, But when people are healing, and especially if they're not getting better or they've had more of a chronic or long-term pain or ache, um, or a similar kind of dysfunction in one of their systems in their body, we have to control also what could be causing inflammation and swelling on the inside. And a lot of that time it comes from multiple factors in our lifestyle. So sometimes if we're very stressed and we're busy, that can create inflammation and acidity in the body. Sometimes if our diet has a lot of starchy foods, foods that are high in sugar or can turn to sugar, if there's foods that are— have preservatives, they've been refined, if there's deep fried foods, contain some bad oils instead of the healthy oils, a lot of these things can be inflammatory in nature. And there are some other subsets as well depending on a person's individual situation and their health status and their health history. That they may want to avoid or include. So always eating healthy oils and healthy fats can help with inflammation and swelling, making sure you're getting enough omega-3, for example, from, say, a fish source, salmon, or from supplements. There are a lot of other vegetables that can help with that, a lot of spices, and certain meals might be more anti-inflammatory in nature. And although there's a lot of misinformation on the internet, you can access some good information as well. So something like low glycemic load or low glycemic index eating is something that you could reference online and choose foods that are more, like, less likely to turn into sugar when you consume them, can help control the inflammation. And you can also Google anti-inflammatory diets or anti-inflammatory foods and include more of those things in your diet to help with the inflammation that may be helping coming from the chemistry inside your body.. And that way you don't necessarily need to rely so much on over-the-counter aids perhaps to control some of that inflammation and swelling. So for example, some people's lifestyle is not so good. They're very busy, they might be stressed, they're not sleeping quite as much as they should, they're eating out maybe a lot or not having access to that good food, and then they have the pain and the inflammation. And because they need to get by every day and still do what they need and want to do, we can understand the benefit of having something over-the-counter from your pharmacist or prescribed by your doctor that will help, and there's nothing wrong with that, but in the long term, if that becomes something that we rely on, we have to ask, well, what else can be done to try and work through the cause or source of the problem? So protecting those areas, resting them, using ice, cold packs, and also making sure that what we consume or put into our body is a really strong approach to controlling that inflammation and swelling., and it doesn't have to be forever, but if you have goals of becoming better, you want to work towards those, then sometimes from 2 weeks to 2 months, uh, maybe longer, depends on your health history and your situation, um, you can really become strict about what goes in to help control some of that healing environment. Alright? So a little longer message today, but something that I think is important for you to stay on top of. Again, these are just some general suggestions. It may or may not directly impact you. Definitely not looking to diagnose or to treat anything that you're mentioning. I know your body can heal itself if you create a good environment, and these are just some of the recommended steps to doing that, but always best to work with a healthcare provider. If you have any questions about your case in particular, feel free to visit our website, drop by our Facebook page, send me a message, come by the clinic, give us a call, and we'd be more than happy to work on your situation and give you a hand. Alright, it's worth the effort, it's worth the time, it's worth the investment in yourself so you can keep making those great experiences every day. And definitely I would I would love to help. Let me know, just reach out. Otherwise, keep doing what you're doing, do a good job, and I'll catch you next time.
