Posts By: drheath@vipmedhealth.com

Wellness care can help you to stay on track with your good health, or put you on the path to good health. Wellness care is a comprehensive approach to healthcare. It is a holistic approach to healthcare.

Everything from natural injury recovery to non-surgical techniques falls under the heading of wellness care. These services and more can help you to tap into your natural healing power.

Wellness Care Therapies

If you are lucky enough to enjoy good health, wellness therapies can help you stay in good health. If you are struggling with healing from an accident or searching for natural pain relief options, wellness therapies can do that too.

There are several different wellness therapies that can help with a range of problems or to just shore up your overall health, including:

• Therapeutic massage therapy. Massage therapy delivers relief from a wide range of injuries, aches, and pains, and may even improve your immune system.
• Acupuncture. Acupuncture, Portland Oregon patients have found is a great natural remedy. It is a time-honored traditional form of Chinese medicine that has been in practice for over 2000 years. It can heal, relieve pain symptoms, and help you to reach your wellness goals.
• Chiropractic care. There are over 1 million chiropractic adjustments done each day around the globe. It can help you heal, align your body for a high degree of organ function, relieve pain from a wide range of conditions, and more.

For many people layering therapeutic treatments works best. Getting the care that natural healing care that you need can be a game-changer for your overall health.

Benefits of Wellness Care

One of the best reasons to use a natural approach to wellness is because you do not get the unwanted side effects that you can get with other types of healthcare. For example, when you take pain medicine to manage your pain, there is a list of potential negative side effects that you can experience.

With wellness care you do not have to worry about affecting other systems in your body. You also do not have to worry about relying on medicines to make you well. A complete approach to wellness that addresses every area of your life naturally is a far better solution.

With natural wellness therapies, you can stop addressing the symptoms and focus on the cause of the problem. Get the care you deserve.

Generally, a naturopathic doctor Portland patients go to will have solutions for managing pain without addictive pain killers. If you have been in an accident or suffer from another form of chronic pain, natural pain relief may be the solution that you have been searching for.

There are several different treatment options for natural pain relief that have been proven highly effective for a wide range of injuries, illness, and accident sufferers. This is an option that you need to be considering.

What Is Natural Pain Relief?

Your body is perfectly equipped to heal with the right modalities without prescription medications. Natural pain relief treatments are proven effective methods of stimulating healing and reducing pain. Acupuncture, massage therapy, integrated physical medicine, and more can be combined to come up with a custom treatment program for you.

There are clear benefits to opting for natural pain relief treatments that are hard to find with other pain treatment options. If you have not explored this option it may be something that you should look into.

The Benefits

Natural pain relief comes with some unique benefits. By tapping into the power of your body’s ability to self heal with a little encouragement from treatments that do not include pharmaceuticals, you can train your body to quiet the pain.

Prescription drugs come with a wide range of dangerous side effects that can have long-lasting consequences. For example, you have a back injury, and you are taking prescription pain medication to manage that injury. Pain medication can upset other systems in your body. Liver damage, addiction, constipation and more can all be common side effects that you suffer from prescription medication.

Natural pain relief treatment does not damage other systems in your body and does not come with potentially awful side effects. As a matter of fact, studies have shown that natural pain relief treatment can improve everything from vascular functions to mental health.

You Deserve to Feel Well

The cycle of prescription drug pain treatment is not the path to wellness. Having to be reliant on medication for the rest of your life can really affect your quality of life. You deserve every chance at healing and to feel well. Consider natural pain relief treatment as a way to get on the path to wellness.

You may have heard about alternative medicine like acupuncture and healing without surgery. You may also have heard of a naturopathic doctor. But you might not have much more than name recognition. There is a wide range of healing practices that are considered alternative medicines, which are delivered by naturopathic doctors.

It might surprise you to learn that a naturopathic doctor is actually trained as a primary care doctor. They use integrated methods for treatment that rely on both hard science and natural remedies that have been in use for centuries. They use a holistic approach to care.

Is it Really an Alternative Treatment?

Sometimes, the label that is used to describe integrated physical medicine that provides natural pain relief is misleading. When you hear “alternative medicine,” it conjures thoughts up of treatments that are not widely accepted and even controversial. However, many “alternative” treatments are treatments that have been in practice for centuries and produce positive results.

A good example is acupuncture. Acupuncture has been in practice for thousands of years and is a great option for natural pain relief and natural injury recovery. It is a viable alternative to western medicine, which often relies on prescription medications. Outside of the U.S., acupuncture may be seen as the go-to solution for a wide range of ailments.

Other treatments that are labeled as an “alternative” in the U.S. that are widely accepted worldwide are:

• Massage therapy
• Non-surgical techniques
• Drug free healing options

There are many treatments that are available from a respected naturopathic doctor Portland patients trust. Many countries around the globe depend on a naturopathic approach.

For example, in Germany, 70% of all prescriptions are written for natural compounds, supplements, and lifestyle adjustments. The healthcare focus in many European countries and Asian countries is on wellness and treating root causes, not on treating symptoms. At a time when the U.S. continues to battle an opioid epidemic fueled by prescription drug use, we have a lot to learn from the way in which other nations approach medicine and healing.

What To Expect With a Naturopathic Doctor

A naturopathic doctor is not an anti-Western-medicine doctor. They are doctors who believe in a holistic approach to wellness and use integrated treatment methods. They treat the whole patient by considering their lifestyle, medical history, family history, and nutritional needs. This doesn’t mean they simply ignore the need for medication when it’s necessary. They’re simply open to a number of other options that can produce positive results.

Overall, they offer natural solutions to health problems. They focus on the cause of the problem instead of treating just the symptoms with a handful of prescription medications. Your appointment starts with an in-depth interview so that the provider can get to know you and understand your needs.

With a naturopathic doctor, you are a real partner in your own wellness. Your doctor will come up with a customized health care treatment plan to help you get on the path to wellness and stay there. The naturopathic doctor understands every single body is unique and deserves a customized approach to healing.

This may be the healthcare that you have been searching for. Learn how by making your appointment today.

With the opioid crisis reaching nearly every community and family in the U.S., pain management has become one of the most discussed medical issues. For many people, pain is an inescapable part of their lives and no one can blame them for seeking relief from it. In fact, most people will experience some chronic pain. For example, experts believe that as many as 80% of people will experience back pain during their lives.

Pain is the uncomfortable sensation that occurs when the nervous system needs to alert the brain that something is wrong. Most frequently, pain arises from either tissue damage, such as broken bones, burns, tumors, and inflammation, or nerve damage, such as that caused by pinched nerves, diabetes, shingles, and multiple sclerosis. Pain can be acute, meaning that it subsides, or chronic, meaning that it is continuous.

Addressing and managing pain raises many difficult issues. On the one hand, the medical profession and the public agree that addressing pain is one of the most important roles doctors fulfill. On the other hand, many believe that prescription pain medications have at least contributed to, if not fueled, the opioid crisis. This raises the question: what options are available to treat pain without drugs? Here are five drug free methods for treating pain:

Fix the Cause

One principle of an integrated physical medicine practice is to treat the whole person rather than just focusing on one aspect of him or her. Associated with this philosophy is the idea that rather than focusing on treating symptoms, like pain, an effort is made to find the root cause of the pain. By treating the condition causing pain, the pain is eliminated.

For example, when a person suffers nerve pain in his or her legs resulting from a bulging or herniated disc, one treatment may be to prescribe an opiate like oxycodone. The oxycodone binds to opiate receptors in the brain causing the patient to perceive the pain differently and triggers a release of dopamine creating a euphoric feeling. To be clear, the disc is still damaged and the nerve pain is still there. However, the combination of the change in pain perception and the euphoria essentially allows the patient to “ignore” the pain.

By contrast, integrated physical medicine would seek to relieve the bulging or herniated disc, thereby causing a reduction in the severity of its effects, such as nerve pain in the legs. Examples of possible treatments include therapeutic massage therapy, acupuncture, osteopathic manipulative treatment, physical therapy, and posture correction. By treating the disc that is impinging on nerves and causing the leg pain, the severity of the leg pain should be reduced.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture has been practiced in China for centuries. Its basis in traditional Chinese medicine arose from the worldview espoused by Taoism in which qi, meaning life energy, flows through meridians in the body. Flow of qi could be altered by applying pressure (in acupressure), needles (in acupuncture), or heat (in moxibustion) at 365 points on the body where the meridians could be accessed. Treatment of specific illnesses, diseases, and pain was associated with specific points or sets of points. Modern acupuncture arises from these same points, which subsequent work in the 1950s correlated with pain trigger points.

Nutrition

What we eat has a profound effect on our health. Integrated physical medicine includes all those parts of our lives that can have an impact on pain. For example, some foods are known to reduce inflammation, while others are known to exacerbate it. Drug free pain management for someone with rheumatoid arthritis could include eating more foods with anti-inflammatory properties and fewer foods that contribute to inflammation.

Massage Therapy

Massage therapy is most commonly associated with loosening tight muscles. However, therapeutic massage therapy can also break up adhesions (another name for scar tissue) in the muscles and increase blood flow to specific muscles or muscle groups. Lymphatic drainage massage can aid the body in the circulation of lymph, a bodily fluid responsible for ridding the body of toxins and waste.

Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (or OMT)

OMT is used by osteopathic doctors in integrated physical medicine practices. The guiding principle of OMT is to manipulate the spine and other parts of the body to aid the nervous and circulatory system so the body can heal itself.

Whether you are looking into natural accident recovery or stress relief, there a number of great reasons to consider acupuncture. First though, what exactly is acupuncture? If you aren’t familiar with naturopathic doctor methods, most likely the only thing you know about acupuncture is that it involves sticking a lot of needles into you. Well, there is a lot more to it than that.

Acupuncture is an ancient holistic health practice that has its roots in TCM (traditional Chinese Medicine). During acupuncture, trained practitioners insert thin needles into the skin to stimulate specific points on the body. Acupuncture has been part of a wellness care practice in the West for a long time now and is gaining in popularity. In addition to being used for natural accident recovery, acupuncture also helps with pain relief and stress relief. Think of it kind of like an intense form of massage therapy, but with even more health benefits.

Because acupuncture involves needles, many people wonder if it hurts. Surprisingly, the treatments are relatively pain-free. In fact, many people who have regular acupuncture treatments do so in order to relieve chronic pain. One of the most common reasons for missed work is back pain, using acupuncture to alleviate back pain will not only make your life easier (because you feel better), but it may also help you get back to a regular work schedule.

Top Benefits of Acupuncture

Using acupuncture as a method of natural accident recovery is a great way to avoid unnecessary drugs and surgery. Always consult with a naturopathic doctor or physician to ensure you are getting the proper care. While we always advocate for natural when possible, there are situations where modern medicine is prudent and should be taken. That being said, here are some of the most common benefits of acupuncture:

Stress Reduction: Have you ever heard the saying that your body “holds stress” in certain areas? Perhaps you hold stress in your shoulders or neck, or maybe you hold the tension in your jaw. Either way, the body tends to latch on to stress if not properly managed. Acupuncture has been shown to lower stress hormones such as cortisol and reduce anxiety. Additionally, it promotes overall feelings of happiness and well being.

Alleviate Back and Neck Pain: Whether it is being hunched over at a computer all day, wearing a heavy backpack, or working labor-intensive jobs, there are a number of reasons you might be experiencing neck and back pain. No matter the reason, acupuncture is a drug free pain relief that can help reduce the swelling and inflammation that is causing your back pain.

Headache Relief: Most people don’t realize, but headaches are caused by restricted blood flow to the brain. This could be due to tense muscles in the neck and back or other reasons. Acupuncture has been used to treat headaches for thousands of years. Studies have recently shown that acupuncture can even help reduce the number of days a person experiences migraines. This is a great, non-invasive, drug-free option for those seeking headache relief.

Improved Eye Function: Don’t worry, we aren’t going to stick needles in your eyes. However one of the most common issues related to neck tension is eye strain. When your neck relaxes, so do your eyes, which can help ensure better vision as you age and help your eyes function properly. Acupuncture has been shown in some cases to treat eye ailments such as short sightedness, long sightedness, cataracts, glaucoma, lazy eye, and more. When attempting to do natural accident recovery or other natural pain relief methods, it is important to remember that the entire body is connected and works together as a whole unit. Neck tension can lead to eye problems. There are dozens of other similar connections throughout the body that acupuncture can help with.

Boost Energy and Mental Clarity: Often times, acupuncture patients experience increased energy and mental clarity after a visit. This could be due to proper blood flow being restored throughout the body or for other reasons. This is great for those who need improved sleep at night.

So no matter why you are looking for natural accident recovery or stress relief, acupuncture is a perfectly safe and natural method for helping your body recover.