Most of us suffer from some type of pain on a daily basis, especially as we age, and we turn to pharmaceutical drugs such as NSAIDs and Tylenol, not realizing the potential dangers they often cause. These drugs cause more than 30,000 deaths and 300,000 hospitalizations annually in the US. We should be working to discover the reasons for pain and taking action to remove them.
Integrative approaches offer more than any single treatment modality. Safer, non-invasive therapies such as chiropractic, osteopathy, acupuncture, physical therapy, massage, homeopathy, imagery and infrared light therapy should be the first consideration to manage pain. Invasive therapies that include surgery should be considered only after these less aggressive treatments are considered.