Holistic pain management strategies

Holistic pain management strategies

Holistic pain management strategies

okay so when it comes to managing chronic pain we hear a lot about the dangers of opioids and becoming addicted today we're exploring alternatives though to those pills and learning how to manage pain in other ways and we have Leslie Gregory joining us she specializes in primary care as well as doctor of acupuncture Ellie Cole thank you so much for joining us and so Leslie first off I mean I know you guys both kind of deal with pain management how do you manage chronic pain without those opioids very difficult to do in many many cases and some of the things we're asking in the moment about addressing those issues more time with patients just to go through these important discussions this may be the way you're treated in the past but now we have new information so we're asking for more time with these patients to go through this I mean I'm thinking I'm thinking herbal tea am I on the right path here or something totally different well actually there are herbs that do a tremendous amount toward managing chronic pain so you're on the right path okay well I think it's something that in general we need more education about would you agree and that is why we're asking for a more time correct yeah correct education takes time what did you hear me say I think this sort of thing what is your background education around pain this all takes time to find out doesn't it well we know that doctor calls a sticker an acupuncture specialist but I think that's a topic that's gaining education and more and more people are becoming aware of how acupuncture can be an answer other than popping a pill yes absolutely and you know the VA and certain parts of the military are utilizing acupuncture for pain especially as an alternative to opioids and also for trauma and anxiety and depression and these things that our soldiers are coming home with it's not just a one-time visit you're committing some time here right and that is something that Leslie Gregory and I have talked a lot about is that this is all about a process like Leslie says we need more time with our patients I'm lucky that I have I'm in a different paradigm I have my own private practice as a complementary medicine provider I have more time with my patients but it's really about a process I have a lot of patients who come in and say oh so I just need one or two treatments for this back pain that I've had for ten years and it's like oh no no that's not how this works well how does it work how it is acupuncture work to treat pain well it treats pain by increasing blood circulation right so when we increase blood to an area an injured area we increase anti inflammatory chemicals anti swelling you know dopamine serotonin all these feel-good chemicals it makes us feel better and have less pain so unless I get to feel have you studied that could puncture yourself because it kind of goes pretty closely what you're doing is love the whole idea of Co treating and so that's the extra bullet point that I wanted to certainly add here as patients we need our patients to push back and say look we need more coverage of these complementary science not absolutely and I love the idea of increasing blood flow because that is absolutely another non pharmacotherapy utak intervention which is exercise movement stretching physical therapy oh stop it I was actually wondering about this before the segment what about coverage in terms of insurance do a lot of insurers cover what you're talking about well this is one of the challenges that Leslie and I run into Leslie refers a lot of patients to me's because she doesn't want to put our patients on opioids she sends them to acupuncture but sometimes the first hurdle that we have to jump is oh the patient doesn't want to come see me because their insurance doesn't cover it now 70% of my practice is insurance covered seventy percent of my patients are using insurance so it's pretty good yeah but that 30% that just can't come in because they only will do what their insurance does something can do unfortunately okay well have Leslie Gregory back as soon as I exercise thank you both thank you information

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