Chronic pain is an everyday challenge for 76 million Americans. Defined as pain that persists for more than three months, chronic pain includes backaches, headaches, joint pain, migraines, nerve damage, digestive problems, cancer-related pain, body-wide pain syndromes like fibromyalgia and more. Too often, relief is elusive. Chronic pain can alter the way nerves transmit pain signals and the way the brain interprets them, creating severe pain even when an injury has healed. Worry, stress and depression can intensify pain, too. Today, cutting-edge pain centers use conventional care, like pain relievers, plus mind-body techniques like relaxation to treat pain on many levels at once.

• Adding massage, meditation, cognitive therapy and/or guided imagery to your care could reduce pain 20 to 60% and reduce your need for pain killers.
• Gentle exercise is emerging as an important and effective add-on therapy for almost all types of chronic pain—yet doctors fail to prescribe it half the time.
• If you use pain relievers like ibuprofen, aspirin or prescription steroids or opioids, talk with your doctor. Newer drugs may be safer and more effective.
• New options include antidepressants for fibromyalgia, anti-seizure drugs for nerve pain, antibiotics for bowel pain and biologics for rheumatoid arthritis.
• Get a second opinion before agreeing to an invasive procedure like back surgery; in one large study, waiting was as good as surgery for herniated disks.

Featuring the top 3 experts for this topic