Weight Loss Might Help Your Chronic Pain And Help Pain Clinic Treatments Be More Effective

If you're struggling with chronic joint pain or another type of pain, consider seeking help from a pain clinic if your doctor isn't able to help you find pain relief. A pain clinic has several treatments to try, so that increases the odds of finding the right way to manage your pain or eliminate it altogether. One solution the clinic might suggest is that you lose weight. Here's why losing weight is important for pain relief and some other treatments you might try while you're dropping the pounds.

A Pain Clinic Helps All Types Of Pain

Pain is caused by a number of medical conditions. You might have foot pain, pain from cancer, pain from an injury, or pain from arthritis. Being overweight can cause pain from these conditions to seem worse, so in addition to prescribing specific pain treatments, your doctor might encourage you to improve your lifestyle through weight loss, a better diet, exercise, and stress relief.

How Weight Loss Helps With Pain Relief

Excess weight puts a lot of pressure on your knee joints and your back. Each pound you lose relieves some of the pressure, so you don't have to be discouraged if you have a lot of weight to lose. Just dropping a few pounds might be enough to help your pain.

In addition to relieving pressure on your joints, weight loss can help with pain because you may feel more like being active when you aren't as heavy. Getting more exercise and stretching might help your joints and muscles. Movement might even help your mental state and help you deal with your pain emotionally.

Other Treatments The Pain Clinic Might Suggest

Losing weight takes time, especially if you have difficulty losing weight. Weight loss might be a slow approach to pain relief, so the pain clinic might look at additional options so you can get quick relief too. Surgery is sometimes needed to relieve pain. You might need back surgery or joint surgery. However, not all pain relief treatments are that extreme.

Your doctor might try medications, electrical stimulation, implants, psychological counseling, dietary changes, biofeedback, acupuncture, or chiropractic treatments. While prescription medications might be given too, your doctor might want you to wean off them if possible with the help of other treatments provided at the pain clinic.

The exact treatments you receive depend on the cause of your pain as well as your physical and mental condition. A pain clinic is able to pinpoint the cause of your pain so effective treatments can be given.

Contact a pain clinic if you have more questions.