Every day, millions of adults deal with chronic pain, or pain that lasts for a long time. Prescription medications are often effective for alleviating short-term pain, such as severe headaches or pain associated with muscle trauma. However, they may not work as well for chronic pain. In addition, these drugs may have so many side effects that people with chronic pain often avoid using them. If chronic pain is left untreated, though, it can cause sleep problems, anxiety, depression, difficulty doing everyday activities or other problems. Fortunately, functional medicine offers many treat methods that are drug-free alternatives to help people manage their pain. These may work for short-term pain, as well.

Before you undergo any alternative treatments, check with your chiropractic doctor or health care provider. They can tell you whether these drug-free options might interfere with your current treatments or cause unnecessary side effects. Please read on for more information on some of the treatment methods that can be used in functional medicine care.