Pain Management at Home: Top Cheap, Quick, and Natural Remedies

Updated on April 9, 2020

If you are looking for ways to manage pain while you are at home, you should click here to learn about the best natural and quick remedies.

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A nagging backache, headache or joint pain affects your everyday life. When you’re in pain, you can’t concentrate on your job or perform basic tasks.

If you’re struggling with persistent pain at work or at home, you can control it naturally without addictive pain medications. When you can’t find relief from your pain, try natural alternatives that have no side effects.

Are you suffering from migraines, joint and muscle pain, or pain from an accident?

Learn how you can begin pain management at home with natural and effective remedies.

Start Exercising

When you exercise, your body makes endorphins. Endorphins are natural pain relievers and mood enhancers. Regular exercise, especially aerobics releases these endorphins for pain relief.

Not only that, but exercise also relaxes you, counters the effects of depression and relieves stress. Exercise gives you restorative powers and pain relief that often works better than medication.

Exercising also boosts your self-confidence and stamina. When you feel good about yourself, your body also feels renewed.

If your pain limits the exercise you can do, that’s okay. Start exercising slowly and build up to longer periods once your pain begins to feel better. Even short walks have therapeutic results.

Apply Heat or Cold

Applying heat and cold to muscle strains and other injuries has been a pain remedy for years. You’ve most likely used a heating pad or ice pack in the past for pain. While most people know about heat and cold, many don’t realize when to use cold vs heat.

When to Use Cold for Pain

You use an ice pack when you experience inflammation and swelling. Applying cold decreases the blood flow in your blood vessels, which reduces swelling.

Swelling and inflammation usually occur from pulled and strained muscles, ligaments and tendons. Applying cold to the injured area reduces swelling and inflammation.

Once you relieve these symptoms, use a heating pad to decrease stiffness in the area of the sprain.

When to Use Heat for Pain

Heat increases your blood flow. This helps relax your painful muscles and joints.

Heat works well for arthritis pain. It relieves pain better than ice on your irritated joints. Moist heat packs seem to work better than a dry heating pad for arthritis.

You can buy these in your pharmacy and just heat them in the microwave. They’re reusable for whenever you need them.

You can also make homemade heating pads. All you need is uncooked rice and a fabric pouch to hold the rice. The rice adds moisture to the heat for more effective pain relief.

Once you seal your pouch of rice, heat it in the microwave. The rice helps the pad conform to the area you place it.

When you apply heat or cold to any area of your body, make sure you use a towel as a buffer between the pad and your skin. Only apply heat or cold for about 20 minutes to prevent skin injury.

Elevate and Pressure Wrap Sprains

Many doctors recommend RICE therapy for tendinitis, bursitis and muscle sprains. RICE stands for rest, ice, compression and elevation.

Your body needs rest to heal. This doesn’t mean you have to stay in bed. Just rest the injured area with a sling or splint. You can also use crutches to rest a leg injury.

As mentioned before, ice reduces the swelling. After icing, wrap a compression bandage around the injured area. It should be snug but not enough to cause tingling.

The next step in the RICE regimen is elevation. If your pain is in your foot, knee or leg, try to keep your leg raised to reduce the swelling. Doing this for about 15 minutes, three times per day can help relieve pain.

Ask your doctor about your pain therapy options using the RICE method. Your medical professional can also let you know when your injury heals enough to stop treatment.

Homemade and Alternative Remedies

If you want to try a homemade remedy for your body, many types of plant-based painkillers can help. You can also try this service for managing pain, which uses holistic, integrative methods.

The following herbs and spices are alternatives for prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

Willow Bark

This is an old-time remedy for aches, pains, and inflammation. The pain reliever known as salicin comes from the bark of white willows, black willows, pussy willows, European willows, and many others. The salicin in willows has the same effects as aspirin.

You can use willow bark for headaches, muscle pain, arthritis, menstrual cramps, and gout. It also reduces fever.

Turmeric

You often see turmeric in curry recipes. It has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects from the curcumin it contains. Studies show that the curcumin in turmeric might block tumor growth and could protect you from colitis, ulcers, stomach pain and viral infections.

Aloe Vera

You can find aloe vera in many skin creams. It’s the most common herb used in alternative medicine. Aloe vera relieves skin abrasions, sunburn pain, and aching joints.

The leaves of the aloe vera plant are also useful for digestive issues like diarrhea. Eating the leaves might also help decrease your blood sugar.

If you use any of these alternative home remedies, make sure you tell your doctor. You don’t want them to interfere with any medication you currently take. Also, if you’re looking for a simpler alternative to get aloe vera, definitely consider aloe vera supplements from acemannan for a quick fix!

Talk to Your Doctor If Pain Management at Home Isn’t Helping

Pain management at home techniques may only work on certain types of pain. If you don’t get relief from these methods, talk to your doctor for other natural alternatives.

Some of the following pain treatments are natural alternatives to tramadol and might give you instant pain relief:

  • Massage therapy
  • Chiropractic methods
  • Physical therapy
  • Therapeutic injections
  • Stem cell therapy

Your body lets you know something is not right when you have pain. It could just be a muscle strain or temporary injury. But, your pain could be a warning sign of something more serious that requires a medical diagnosis.

Make sure you consult your doctor for persistent pain or worsening pain.

Keep browsing our blog for more healthcare publications dedicated to the health care industry and its professionals.

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