If you’re suffering from chronic back pain, there are dozens of treatment options available to you. Many of them you probably have not heard about from your doctor or healthcare provider.
Prescription medications, steroid injections, and expensive surgeries are not the only options for pain management and pain relief. More often than not, mainstream medicine and pharmaceuticals do not provide lasting pain relief. The list below covers common pain treatments as well as alternative methods. Our mission is to educate and empower you so that you can decide which treatment is right for you.
Click on one of the links below to jump to each section. If you don’t find what you’re looking for here, try the search box above to browse our archives, or browse our pain conditions archives.
Acupuncture
Studies show that acupuncture—the ancient practice of using tiny needles to prick the skin or tissues—is an effective short-term and long-term solution for lower back pain. Read more…
The Alexander Technique
With the Alexander Technique, you’ll learn how to change your movements in your daily life in order to achieve greater balance, coordination and overall ease of movement. The technique also helps relieve everyday aches and pains and improves performance in sports and other physical activities. Read more…
Aquatic Therapy
As its name implies, aquatic therapy takes place in a pool or another body of water. This type of therapy offers resistance for gentle strength training, natural support to relieve pain on joints, and a cooling or warming sensation for pain relief. Read more…
Back Pain Creams
The best types of pain relief are not only skin-deep—they work to address the foundational causes of your pain so your body can truly heal. Back pain creams are a great option for pain, but most back pain creams on the market only temporarily mask pain until they wear off. Learn more about a truly effective back pain cream that gets right to the source of your pain. Read more…
Back Pain Exercises and Stretches
The goal of any stretching and exercise program for someone with back pain is to bring the body back to a balanced state. That includes making sure that your muscles are in balance with each other and that your bones are positioned as they should be, so that your joints can function with precision. Read more…
Back Surgery
Many back pain sufferers believe back surgery is their only option—often because that’s what they’ve been told by their doctor. Learn the real facts about back surgery and what questions to ask your doctor if you’re facing this tough decision. Plus, learn about other pain-relief options your doctor probably hasn’t mentioned. Read more…
Blood Ph Levels and Pain
When your pH is out of the normal range, all sorts of bad things happen. For one thing, disease-producing organisms thrive. Acidic conditions can also cause muscles to constrict and inhibit the exchange of nutrients and waste products in muscle cells, causing fatigue, soreness, and pain.Read more…
Chinese Medicine for Pain
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) dates back 5,000 years and has been clinically proven a safe and effective treatment for many ailments and diseases, both chronic and acute. The varied treatments for pain have proven to be among the most effective time and time again. Read more…
Chiropractic Care
Chiropractors’ go-to treatment for back pain is spinal manipulation. While it’s true that spinal misalignment is often the source of back pain, if you don’t address muscle imbalances, any relief gained by having your chiropractor “crack” your back will be temporary. Read more…
Cortisone Injections
Cortisone injections are a primary pain-relief treatment for mainstream doctors in all fields, from primary physicians to orthopedic surgeons. But these injections fail to deliver long-term relief because they only address your symptoms–not the underlying cause of your pain. Read more…
Most people don’t know whether to use ice or heat to relieve their back pain. That’s why it’s so important for people to learn exactly what ice and heat do and why they help relieve pain. Once you understand the mechanism behind these treatments, you’ll be more likely to use them correctly when your own back pain flares up. Read more…
Inversion Therapy
This technique involves hanging upside-down or at an angle to stretch your spine and relieve back pain. Clinical research has proven inversion therapy to be an effective pain-relief method for all types of back and neck pain, ranging from herniated discs to sacroiliac joint dysfunction. But it also provides other key benefits for your overall health and wellbeing. Read more…
Massage Therapy for Back Pain
More than just a way to relax, massage therapy offers a wide variety of health benefits. And it’s proving to be beneficial for everything from back pain to cancer. Read more…
Mind Body Techniques
Did you know that the way you feel about your pain can have a huge impact on the pain itself? Learn about a variety of mind-body techniques, from massage to meditation, that can help you better manage your pain… and improve your health. Read more…
Muscle Balance Therapy™
Muscle Balance Therapy is an innovative approach to eliminating back pain once and for all, starting with a careful yet simple assessment of all the muscles that affect the stability of your hips, pelvis, and spine – from both a strength and a flexibility perspective. Read more…
Natural Headache Relief
Are you one of the 45 million Americans who suffers from chronic headaches? Forget the pain pills. Learn an integrated mind-body approach to preventing all types of headaches, from tension headaches to migraines. Read more…
Nerve Pain Treatment
Nerve pain, or neuralgia, can manifest in a variety of ways, from carpal tunnel syndrome (which affects the wrist and hand) to sciatica (which affects the lower back and leg). Learn natural strategies you can use today to ease the pain. Read more…
NSAIDs
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories are the most commonly prescribed treatment for back pain. While they do help with pain and inflammation, they don’t do anything to address the cause of your pain… and they come with a host of serious risks. Read more…
Nutrition and Back Pain
Inflammation is the number one cause of pain. And considering that most people eat an inflammation-causing Western diet, it’s no surprise that so many people are walking around in pain every day. If you’re looking to reduce pain and achieve optimal health, the first place you should start is your diet. Read more…
Pain Relief Creams
Not all pain relief creams are created equal. The best pain relief creams contain a cornucopia of natural, homeopathic herbal ingredients that provide both an analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect. Learn what ingredients to look for in a quality pain relief cream. Read more…
Physical Therapy
Traditional physical therapy is failing today’s back-pain patients. The two main reasons for this is a lack of time spent providing meaningful therapy, and a lack of proper treatment in general. Learn how to find an effective physical therapist—plus what questions to ask to ensure you get the best results possible. Read more…
Pilates for Back Pain
Much like yoga, Pilates is a form of exercise that focuses on your body’s core. A Pilates workout routine can help you gain strength, flexibility, coordination, balance and good posture. It’s highly recommended for people with back pain. Read more…
Prolotherapy
Short for proliferation therapy, prolotherapy is an orthopedic procedure that jump-starts the body’s natural healing processes, strengthening joints that have been weakened by trauma or arthritis. Read more…
Reiki Energy Healing
The word Reiki literally means “spiritual/soul energy.” Practitioners believe that Reiki can help unblock the emotional or spiritual blocks that cause illness. Rather than focusing on treating the symptoms of a disease, Reiki works on the causes. Read more…
Reflexology for Back Pain
While many people believe reflexology is merely a “foot massage,” this treatment modality is actually based on the principle that there are areas on the hands and bottom of the feet that correspond to specific muscles and organs throughout the body. Read more…
Rolfing Therapy
Developed in the 1950s by Ida Rolf, this bodywork method has allowed people to stand straighter, achieve better mobility, and gain height through its focus on correcting tissue fixations. The method involves soft tissue manipulation and movement education. Read more…
Sciatica Treatments
Sciatica is a common type of back pain caused by compression on particular lumbar or sacral nerves. It’s occasionally caused by compression on the sciatic nerve itself. Learn the best alternative treatments for this painful condition. Read more…
Spinal Decompression
Spinal decompression is a series of techniques in which the spine is stretched and then relaxed, creating negative pressure between each vertebra. This negative pressure will cause a misaligned disc to be sucked back into place and create more space between the vertebrae so that more blood and oxygen can get to the area. It also will remove any pressure on spinal nerves because of the misalignment. Read more…
The Feldenkrais Method
The Feldenkrais Method is a mind-body practice that helps with tight muscles, muscle imbalances, impingements and pain. It’s a method of educating people through movement about the function of their body and its relationship to thought. Read more…
Yoga for Back Pain
For centuries, holistic healers have relied on yoga to treat patients with both physical and emotional problems. The essential part of treating all types of pain is to treat the source, which is what makes yoga an ideal treatment for back pain. And recent studies prove its effectiveness for back-pain sufferers. Read more…
Top 10 Alternative Treatments
It can be overwhelming deciding which of the many alternative therapies is right for you. We’ve made it easier by narrowing it down to the 10 best alternative treatments for pain. Read more…
Updated: April 19,2017