More than 80% of Americans will suffer back pain at some point in their life.

While many of these people will successfully alleviate their pain with conservative treatments like chiropractic care or massage, others will find only mild relief from such treatments and will continue to struggle with chronic pain for months or even years. For people dealing with constant pain, physical discomfort is often just the beginning of their struggle. More subtle side effects of chronic pain will often disrupt their life in less obvious ways, too.

Did you know?

Back pain can limit productivity at work. When you’re in pain, sitting or standing for extended amounts of time can be unbearable. Too much pain also can make it difficult to concentrate. Together, these things work to prevent you from exerting extra effort on the job, limiting your performance.

Back pain can wreak havoc on relationships. Routinely turning down invitations from family or friends to get together? Running out of excuses to avoid leaving the house? Sometimes, chronic back pain can make it difficult to enjoy hanging out with other people. Over time, this can lead to you—and the people you love—feeling isolated or left out.

Back pain can kindle other health issues. If you’re in too much pain, it can feel like a burden to shop for healthy food and cook nutritious meals. Forget about exercising. When chronic back pain interferes with your ability to take care of your overall well-being, other health issues can arise, such as fatigue, difficulty sleeping, unhealthy weight gain and more.

Back pain can foster addictions. To try to keep chronic back pain under control, many people turn to over-the-counter or prescription pain medications. While pills may provide pain relief for a while, long-term use of medications can have adverse effects on your health and, in worst-case-scenarios, lead to addictive behavior.

Back pain can deteriorate self-esteem. Given all of the above, it may not be surprising that people with chronic back pain are at risk for developing mental health conditions. When you’re not able to do the things you enjoy, be with the people you care about or be the best version of yourself, your self-esteem can plummet. In turn, this can lead to feelings of anxiety and depression.

When most people think about methods of pain relief, their minds go straight to generic over-the-counter pills or a potentially pricey prescription from the doctor. The perfect alternative to these options is a simple cream. Discover how topical pain relief products work to alleviate your symptoms and you’ll be on the way to living a more comfortable life.

What is a topical pain medication?

Topical simply means that the medication is applied to your skin. Often, this type of medication is in the form of natural pain relief creams or gels. When you apply a pain relieving cream to an area that’s bothering you, your skin absorbs the medication’s ingredients and they go straight to the aching joint.

This makes topical pain relief creams well-suited for joints that are closer to the surface of your skin, such as the joints in your hands, feet, and lower back. In comparison to oral medication that needs to work its way through your bloodstream to bring these areas relief, topical creams can work locally to target a specific aching area.

What ingredients are in topical pain medication?

The exact list of active ingredients in a pain relief cream will vary from product to product, but there are a few common ones found in most of them. To provide the same relief as pills like aspirin and ibuprofen, many creams will contain salicylates. Salicylates have the same pain-relieving substance as those over-the-counter pills, but you don’t have to compromise your stomach lining when you use a topical cream. This ingredient alleviates pain by blocking the nerve impulse transmissions that cause you to feel the ache. Salicylates can also reduce joint inflammation, which in turn reduces pain, stiffness, and swelling.

Many natural pain relief creams will also utilize counterirritants. These ingredients will create a hot or cold sensation to distract the user from their pain. Typical substances in topical creams include menthol or camphor. Counterirritants may also produce a tingling sensation that works well to relieve the pain from a user’s aching joints.

Nearly 59% of people suffering from chronic pain say that it impacts their overall enjoyment of life. By using a product as simple as topical pain relief, you may be able to lead a life unimpeded by chronic pain. Explore MagniLife’s range of pain relief products to make a more pain-free life your reality.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) says chronic pain is a problem for more individuals in the United States than diabetes, heart disease, and cancer added together.

The NIH adds that chronic pain — or pain that is experienced for 24 hours or more — is the number one reason for long-term disability nationwide.

Though available pain remedies include taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, engaging in physical therapy, and — in severe cases — undergoing surgery, some patients have found relief with all-natural herbal options instead.

Natural emollients such as beeswax, jojoba seed oil, cottonseed oil and shea butter are good for moisturizing and softening skin, but are also effective as carriers for pain-relieving ingredients in topical creams.

“They’re natural oils, so they work well with your skin and are absorbed quickly,” said Perry Antelman, CEO of Abacus Health Products, the parent company of CBD CLINIC, a maker of over-the-counter pain-relieving ointments, creams and massage oils.

Many over-the-counter topical pain-relieving creams and ointments use synthetic carriers that include ingredients such as benzyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, diglycol stearate, glyceryl monostearate and petrolatum, said Antelman.

These are inexpensive ingredients that don’t play as nice with a person’s skin, said Antelman. Natural oils, because they’re absorbed quickly, leave skin feeling soft and smooth.

But the most important benefit of using natural oils as a carrier is what the person can’t feel: pain.

When essential oils such as eucalyptus, tea tree, clove, peppermint and hemp are combined with common analgesics such as menthol and camphor, the pain relief felt is often enhanced, said Antelman, because essential oils such as these are believed to have complementary components of their own.

Let’s take a closer look at natural oils and emollients:

• Beeswax is used in many skin care products because it provides a protection against irritants while still allowing the skin to breathe. It also offers anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antiviral benefits making it helpful in treating skin irritation
• Jojoba oil, although called an oil, it’s actually a liquid plant wax and has been used in folk medicine for a number of ailments. Native Americans use jojoba oil for treating sores and bruises.
• Menthol is a substance naturally found in mint plants such as peppermint and spearmint. It gives a cooling sensation. It is often used to relieve minor pain and irritation.
• People use camphor topically to relieve pain and reduce itching. Camphor is used topically to increase local blood flow and as a “counterirritant.
• Eucalyptus has antimicrobial, antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal properties, so it is used for a wide variety of conditions. Often, it is used to manage pain and inflammation and has also been used to treat wounds and burns.
• Tea tree oil has antifungal and antiseptic properties and has been used topically to treat cuts and abrasions and calm allergic skin reactions.
• Clove is believed to be able to decrease pain and fight infections. All parts of the clove plant have been used for centuries to make medicines.
• Peppermint oil has been used topically to ease tension headaches and soothe dry and cracked skin.
• Hemp oil use seems practically endless, and research is ongoing to determine what it can be used to treat and its efficacy. It has been used to reduce pain, anxiety and nausea, aid with sleep and boost the immune system, among many other health claims. Hemp seed oil in particular contains a beneficial ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 essential fatty acids, which are vital for healthy skin.

CBD Revolutionary Pain Relief topical creams, lotions and massage oils use all the essential oils mentioned above, including hemp, but the products do not contain THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis, so anyone using the products cannot get high from them, said Antelman.

Usage of the products also will not cause users to fail a THC blood test, said Antelman, because CBD topicals work locally. They interact with the peripheral nervous system to provide pain relief but do not enter the bloodstream.

Natural emollients such as beeswax, jojoba seed oil, cottonseed oil and shea butter, which many CBD creams use in their topicals, help deliver menthol, camphor and essential oils to a client’s painful joints or muscles. This is because the natural oils penetrate into the skin deeply, and quickly, which in turn supports effective pain relief, said Antelman.

That results in speedy and reliable relief from pain. Who doesn’t want that?

As the side effect lists for over-the-counter and prescription painkillers continually get longer, people have begun to search for alternatives. One of the most efficient and effective methods to relieve pain is the skin, the largest organ of our body!

Topical pain relieving creams, lotions, ointments, and gels are quickly becoming a staple in everyone’s medicine cabinet and there’s good reason for it. Some of the many benefits of switching to a topical pain reliever include:

On-Site Application

Oral medications must enter the bloodstream, be processed by your organs, and absorbed through the many layers within your body. Topical, however, gives you the ability to apply the cream right where the pain is. Your skin is porous and designed to absorb what you put on it. Therefore, topical pain relievers provide truly targeted pain relief exactly and directly where it hurts!

Faster Relief

The topical option for pain relief is much faster since it does not need to be digested before reaching the area of pain. If you are in pain, you don’t want to wait for digestion! Fortunately with lotions, relief begins immediately.

Less Limited

Due to the complications oral pain relievers might contribute to, there is a limit on how many you can take in one day. The topical route, however, is safe to reapply as needed.

Less Risky than Pills

Most importantly, long-term use of topical pain relievers does not come with the same dangers as the pill-form pain relievers that are available today. When you choose the topical solution, you are avoiding: fatigue, stomachaches, ulcers, depression, nausea, heartburn, weakened immunity, and much, much more.

Topical pain relievers, in general, are impressive and productive pain relief alternatives. With the best quality active ingredients, you can quite literally rub your pain away!

Active Ingredients to Relieve Pain

At Real Time Pain Relief, we use three different active ingredients depending on the product. Whether you prefer a topical pain reliever to leave a heated sensation on the skin, or you have sensitive skin and prefer a more gentle topical pain relief lotion, Real Time Pain Relief has designed a product for everyone in the family.

Menthol

Menthol is an FDA approved topical analgesic and provides a cooling sensation for fast, on-contact pain relief. This cooling sensation is a way to trick our brains into thinking that we are icing the area. In the same way that ice helps with inflammation, menthol also stimulates the thermo receptors of the skin creating a faux temperature change. Also, its numbing effect is produced when ligands receptors attach themselves to your pain receptors. Lastly, menthol facilitates the beginning of the vasodilation process, or the widening of blood vessels to increase blood flow. This is critical for pain relief because the blood is the carrier for all of the necessary nutrients for cellular repair from injury or inflammation. Long story short, topical menthol is a multifaceted tool against pain relief!

Trolamine Salicylate

This is also an FDA approved topical analgesic, and is commonly used in topical pain relieving agents. Analgesics work to temporarily subside sensation while acting on the nervous system. Since the sensation of pain is always an extension of our nerves, trolamine salicylate’s relationship with our nervous system has a productive quality for combating pain without causing a hot or cold sensation on the skin.

Arnica Montana

Also known as the mountain daisy, Arnica Montana, is an active ingredient approved by the Homeopathic Pharmacopeia of the United States. It is known to temporarily relieve symptoms of muscle pain, soreness, bruising and swelling due to overexertion or injury. Topical Arnica is a great way to relieve pain and it does not cause a hot or cold sensation on the skin.

If you experience frequent pain during the activities necessary to live your daily life, you’re not alone. The CDC estimates that as many as 40% of people within the United States may experience chronic pain, making pain one of the most common reasons adults seek medical treatment. Often, however, people don’t seek treatment for pain until after they’ve tried alternate therapies like icing the area, using a heating pad, or experimented with several over-the-counter oral medications first.

After a meeting with a medical provider, a common next step in pain management is the stronger—generally more effective—pain pills available only by prescription. Oral pain medications are so common they’re considered the old standby—the go-to method of treating pain, often to the effect of ignoring other, potentially more effective, methods. However, since oral pain medications can cause issues for many people experiencing chronic pain, many doctors and pharmacists are now considering topical pain relief gels and creams as a viable alternative to traditional pain pills.

What Is Topical Pain Medication?

Whether administered orally or applied to the skin, most pain relievers (or analgesics) work to prevent your body’s chemicals from providing pain signals to your brain. These chemicals, known as prostaglandins, are hormones that can cause inflammation and cause the surrounding nerves in the area to transmit pain signals to your brain. While both oral and topical medications block the effects of prostaglandins, they do so differently.

There are several forms of topical pain medications in use today, most available as a compounded cream, a gel, or even as a pain-relieving patch, depending on the formulation. While the major method of pain relief in use includes interfering with prostaglandins, other methods can be used instead of—or in conjunction with—prostaglandin blocking. Types of topical pain medications include:

Benefits of Topical Pain Relievers

While some creams, gels, and patches contain only a single type of topical pain reliever, many compounded creams and gels contain salicylate or other NSAID in conjunction with a counterirritant. These topical pain relievers offer multiple benefits over common over-the-counter and prescription oral medications. We’ve compiled a list of benefits of topical pain relievers, but keep in mind that these benefits depend on the formulation and may not apply to some prescription-strength topical opioids and steroids.

Benefits include:

If you’re wary of pain pills and other oral pain medications for some of the reasons listed above, a quality topical pain reliever may be the best solution for you. These specially formulated medications can be useful for pain relief associated with conditions such as arthritis, neuropathy, muscle pain, and more. Your pharmacist can speak with your doctor to determine which combination of active ingredients and which formulations—including compounded pain relief creams and compounded transdermal gels—may work best to relieve your pain long-term.

We get it, it’s hard to break bad habits. But when it comes to building healthy habits, small decisions add up over time.

Exercise physiologist Christopher Travers, MS, and dietitian Laura Jeffers, MEd, RD, LD, offers some diet, nutrition and fitness ideas that you can incorporate into your busy life to be healthier every day.

1. Use stairs and furniture as makeshift gym equipment

If you have stairs at your home or office, take them every chance you get. Don’t stop there, though. For a strong cardio workout, walk up and down the stairs repeatedly. Start with a limited number of repetitions and then increase them as you feel stronger.

Get even more creative by using wine bottles or a gallon of water as weights and your kitchen chairs for planks and tricep dip exercises. Why buy expensive equipment when you can utilize your furniture instead?

2. Drink 1 extra glass of water a day

It’s nothing new that there are health benefits to drinking more water. It helps keep your temperature normal, lubricates and cushions joints, protects your spinal cord and other sensitive tissues and gets rid of wastes through urination, sweat and bowel movements. Since 50 to 75% of your weight is water, drinking some plain old H2O is imperative in keeping your body working the best it can and staying hydrated. If plain water isn’t your favorite, you can add flavor to your water to help up your intake.

3. Replace diet soda with carbonated water

Research suggests the brain reacts to artificial sweeteners much like it does to sugary sweets.

“If you drink diet soda each day, use carbonated mineral water to help wean yourself off of it,” says Jeffers. “Ingesting them frequently can increase your desire for high-calorie foods and put you at risk for weight gain.”

If you’re not a fan of carbonated water, try drinking unflavored tea, coffee or fruit-infused plain water. Quitting cold turkey isn’t realistic but if you start decreasing the amount of diet soda and artificial sweeteners you ingest, you’ll be doing wonders for both your waistline and your health.

4. Take a 10-minute walk

“Even a 10-minute walk can help boost your cardiovascular health,” says Travers. “Take a walk during your lunch hour or to a store that is a block away to buy a gallon of milk — it’s all good for you.”

If you’re at work, walk to the furthest bathroom and take the stairs. While running errands, try to find the farthest parking spot and walk from there. Remember, even the smallest amount of steps still add up.

Sometimes the weather doesn’t cooperate and the last thing you want to do is go outside when it’s snowing or windy, but don’t let cold weather deter you. You can often walk comfortably by dressing right: Start with a sweat-wicking layer next to your body, add insulating layers for warmth, and top them off with a waterproof shell.

5. Correct your posture

When you were a kid, have your parents ever yelled at you for having bad posture? Well, the bad news is that they were right. Having good posture can prevent aches and can also reduce stress on your ligaments. Not only that, but good posture prevents backache, fatigue and muscle pain.

“You can try to leave yourself a note to sit up straight until it becomes an unconscious habit,” says Travers. “Walking with your shoulders back and head held high can also make you feel good about yourself.”

While teaching yourself to have better posture isn’t something that can be fixed right away, reminding yourself to sit up straight has a positive effect on your overall health.

6. Go to bed ½ hour earlier

Do you sleep a solid seven or eight hours most nights? Many of us don’t but experts say this is a marker of good heart health. Solid sleep doesn’t just give you more energy, it can also help with healthy eating goals. When you’re short on sleep, it reduces your body’s production of hormones that suppress appetite, which can contribute to weight gain. You may have a higher risk of heart disease, obesity and high blood pressure if you suffer from untreated insomnia or sleep apnea, too.

Those seven to eight hours don’t have to be consecutive. If you’re feeling particularly tired, try to sneak in a short nap early in the day. Don’t overdo it, though. Limit your naps to 30 minutes to avoid falling asleep later than you should.

Try to head to bed ½ hour earlier than your usual time. Turn off your phone (we promise you won’t miss anything!) and wind down with a book. You’ll be falling asleep in no time.

7. Incorporate balance exercises into your routine

Balance on one leg for 10 seconds at a time, then switch to the other leg. Travers suggests incorporating this balance exercise into your routine, but it can also be done while brushing your teeth or standing in a line. It’s a part of neuromotor training, which helps you improve your balance, agility and mobility — all things you need in everyday movement and in other forms of exercise.

8. Weigh yourself every week

To keep your weight from creeping up on you, set a weekly maintenance or loss goal for yourself, write it down and check yourself against that goal. Weigh yourself each week on the same day and at the same time – and wearing the same amount of clothing for consistency. It’s important to be mindful of clothes fitting and scale measure.

Team up with your doctor or dietitian to create meal plans so you can reach your weight loss goals faster and in the healthiest way possible.

9. Start off your day with a healthy breakfast

Eat something high in fiber that includes protein to keep you full and energized. If you start the day out right, you tend to eat better overall and it helps lower your risk of diabetes and improves heart health. Not only that, but eating breakfast helps reduce brain fog, so you’ll be ready to go for those morning meetings.

Tired of the same bowl of oatmeal? Add different toppings to make it more exciting. Omelets don’t have to be boring, either. Throw your favorite salsa, cheese and eggs into a whole grain wrap for a quick and easy breakfast burrito. The options are endless.

10. Include greens and lettuce in your meals

Incorporate lettuce into your meals to add nutrients and water to your diet. The fiber in lettuce helps to fill you up and it does so at just 20 calories per serving. Lettuces that are dark green and reddish in color are the most nutritious and the most flavorful. But even the popular, pale iceberg lettuce provides water, fiber and folate.

11. Find creative substitutions for unhealthy foods

Work to eliminate foods and snacks that you buy regularly that are high in calories but low on their health benefit. Eat them less often as an occasional treat. Try using low-fat dairy, whole grains, healthy oils like avocado and olive oil and natural sweeteners like fruit instead of high fat or sugary alternatives.

“Remember that building new healthy habits can take some time and it’s OK to treat yourself to avoid feeling deprived,” says Jeffers. “Stay focused on your goal, and if you slip along the way, just start again.”

There are a wide variety of natural remedies to soothe your back, which can help reduce the intake of medications or provide an added benefit to your existing medical treatment.

Take a look at these natural pain-relieving strategies and find out what works best for you:

Read on to learn more about effective pain-relieving strategies for chronic back pain from natural methods.

1. Enjoy an anti-inflammatory drink every day

When you consume anti-inflammatory foods regularly, several antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and even anti-cancer agents can build up in your blood. Over a period of time, these potent agents can play a significant role in reducing and/or eliminating inflammatory reactions in the body.

Consuming these healthy drinks on a regular basis may help reduce your back pain.

Turmeric milk

Turmeric, an Asian spice, contains antioxidant, anti-arthritic, and anti-inflammatory properties.

An easy method to consume turmeric is to mix a small quantity (1/2 teaspoon) of turmeric powder in a glass of warm milk. You can add honey or stevia to the milk if you prefer a sweet taste. Consume this drink, preferably just before bedtime to allow the anti-inflammatory process to work while you sleep.

Consuming dairy products may increase inflammation in some people. In such cases, trying plant-based milk, such as almond milk can be helpful.

Tart cherry juice

Cherries are rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents. Cherry juice can help relieve muscle pain, which may be chronic or exercise-induced. Cherry juice is easily available to buy at grocery stores and commonly contains the tart cherry extract. Try drinking a glass of cherry juice on a daily basis and see if it has positive effects in relieving your back pain.

Ginger-green tea

You can also try infused-herbal drinks, such as ginger-green tea, which contains the pain-relieving benefits of both green tea and ginger. Ginger-green tea bags can be purchased from grocery stores and you can easily enjoy a cup either at work or at home.

Over a period of time, these anti-inflammatory agents can build up in your bloodstream, so including these drinks in your daily diet will help reduce overall inflammation and prevent new inflammatory pain.

2. Fall asleep faster and sleep longer

When you have a restful night’s sleep, your back will feel less sore during the day. A night of restorative sleep can have healing benefits and make you feel refreshed, rejuvenated, and less stressed.

Try these natural sleep aids, one at a time, to see which one works best for you:

• Vitamins C and B6. The natural steroids in your body control your metabolism and promote good sleep. Supplements of vitamins C and B6 are known to help the body produce and regulate natural steroid hormones.
• Melatonin. Your natural sleep hormone, melatonin can be taken as a supplement to improve your sleep cycle.
• L-theanine. An amino acid found in tea leaves, L-theanine may help some people feel relaxed and get better sleep.
• Valerian. Supplements made from the root of the valerian plant may help you sleep faster and stay asleep longer.

Another option is cherry juice or cherry extracts—cherries contain certain enzymes that help promote better sleep.

3. Avoid prolonged static posture

It is important to pay attention to the joints and muscles of your spine and hip. Prevent fatigue and stresses on these joints by following simple tips, such as:

• Avoid excessive sitting or consider using a standing desk while you work. When you sit for a long duration, the pressure on your spinal discs increase. Aim to get up every hour and walk a short distance to take the load off your discs.
• Check your posture and adjust your neck, shoulder, and back alignment to prevent stresses on your spine. Poor, unsupported posture can lead to several problems in your back, causing or increasing the pain.
• Rotate activities in order to avoid the same set of muscles and joints from getting over-fatigued. For example, if you have been standing and working for some time, consider changing to a different activity where you can sit down. You can go back to standing once the muscles and joints have had a chance to relax.

When you have a flare-up of symptoms, consider less exertive activities, such as reading a book, listening to music, or crafting. These activities can help divert your mind from the pain and let your back rest at the same time.

4. Gently stretch your joints and soft tissues through yoga

Yoga is an effective way to stretch your back, improve the health of muscles and joints, enhance distribution of healing nutrients through blood circulation, and increase the flexibility of the spine.

When you start, perform the stretches slowly and advance only if you feel comfortable without pain. Gradually, you will be able to add more stretches to your routine. An ideal time for yoga is early morning—to help loosen your spine and also reduce stiffness and aches in your back.

5. Try mindful meditation

Meditation is a great way to improve concentration, release feel-good hormones (endorphins), and decrease anxiety and stress. Through mindful meditation, you can control the way your body perceives pain.

Find a quiet, dark room and meditate for 5 to 10 minutes in the morning. You can also try meditating before bedtime or while you take a break at work. If you don’t like to meditate, try simple breathing exercises—take 10 deep, slow breaths in a row.

6. Support your body in a warm pool

The buoyancy of the water lets you enjoy the benefits of exercise with less pain. Exercising in water also helps regulate the functioning of nerves and muscles, relieving pain.

If you prefer warmer pools, look into water exercise classes and hydrotherapy pools. Water therapy exercises are often done in water that is about 83 degrees to 88 degrees. Hydrotherapy pool temperatures are often more than 90 degrees.

7. Keep a self-activating heat patch handy

Heat patches that activate when in contact with the body are a great tool to carry during long drives or keep in your office desk/bedside table drawer. These heat patches activate quickly, can be worn inside your clothing, and provide a continuous supply of heat to relieve your back pain. Follow the package instructions and avoid wearing the patch for long durations to prevent skin damage. Some heat patches are also infused with medications for more effective pain relief.

Bonus tip: Consider taking a vitamin D3 supplement

If your doctor agrees, consider taking a vitamin D3 supplement. Vitamin D is essential for bone, neuromuscular, and immune system function. Taking a vitamin D3 supplement can help reduce back pain by increasing the absorption of calcium in your body and improving bone strength.

Finding the perfect pain relief technique is usually a process of trial and error, making it worth exploring various approaches. Try these natural pain-relieving strategies for your back pain and see what works best for you. Severe pain that is not relieved by self-care must be evaluated by a health professional for an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan.

By Tom Bowen
I’ve been living with chronic pain for more than a decade.

It began in 2009 with nerve damage after emergency groin surgery. Four years later, I fell and hit my head. That fall led to a constant headache, a whistling sound in my ear, back and hip pain, tingling and numbness in my hands and feet, electrical shocks in my legs, muscle soreness, and random pain and burning sensations throughout my body. Years later, after numerous doctor visits and tests, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, tinnitus, neuropathy, chronic fatigue, and depression.

I had a hard time adjusting to the pain. I let my symptoms control me. My quality of life suffered along with my physical conditioning.

Here are five things I wish I had known earlier in this journey, much of which I learned while attending a three-week outpatient program at the Mayo Clinic Pain Rehabilitation Center in 2012 and again in 2018. Each of these would have made my journey easier and might help others living with chronic pain.

Pain isn’t just physical. Chronic pain clearly affects the body, but it also affects emotions, relationships, and the mind. It can cause anxiety and depression which, in turn, can make pain worse.

At work, I couldn’t handle the stress. I had trouble concentrating, missed deadlines, and made mistakes. At home, I didn’t sleep well and was irritable. I was plagued by negative thoughts like, “Do I want to live like this the rest of my life?” When I reluctantly quit my job at the recommendation of my doctors, I lost more than a regular paycheck and valuable benefits like health insurance and retirement savings: I also lost a sense of self-purpose and self-worth.

As I came to understand the connection between pain and emotional issues, I included mental health care as part of my pain management program to help control my mood and manage stress.

Pain isn’t always curable. Medical professionals don’t have all the answers, nor do they always have cures. There is no magic pill or intervention that makes chronic pain disappear. Sadly, some people with chronic pain may never be pain free again.

To try to relieve my pain, I’ve bounced between all types of health care providers: primary care physicians, pain specialists, rheumatologists, neurologists, audiologists, physical therapists, surgeons, and psychiatrists. I’ve been through X-rays, ultrasounds, MRIs, CT scans, and all sorts of other diagnostic tests. I’ve taken opioid painkillers, non-opioid painkillers, vitamins, and herbs; attended professional lectures; spent countless hours searching the internet; and even had surgery. Some of these helped relieve my pain, some didn’t, and some even made things worse. Meanwhile, they all cost me time and money and delayed my pain rehabilitation.

Not all pain means harm. We learn at an early age that touching something hot hurts. But the presence of pain doesn’t always mean danger.

There are two types of pain: acute and chronic. Acute pain is the body’s normal response to tissue damage or injury and needs immediate medical treatment. It heals and generally lasts less than three months. Chronic pain is an abnormal response and doesn’t improve with time. It can occur in the absence of tissue damage and persist long after the body heals. It changes how nerves and the brain process pain, as misfiring nerve signals continue to tell the body it hurts.

By being able to tell the difference between new acute pain and chronic pain, I have changed how I react to chronic pain by not being so guarded or worried about it.

Change thinking, change life. Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are connected. Chronic pain makes it easy to feel distressed, to give up and become a victim. “Woe is me,” “life isn’t fair,” and other unhelpful thoughts increase one’s focus on pain and can make it worse. It fosters anger, frustration, and hopelessness. And it leads to what experts’ call pain catastrophizing — an exaggerated negative response toward actual or anticipated pain.

I did my share of catastrophizing. When my symptoms first started, all I could think about was how much I hurt and if the suffering would ever end. I even journaled symptoms and rated my pain each day so I could share with my doctors what I was experiencing. I became overwhelmed.

Move on. If chronic pain doesn’t mean more harm and there aren’t any magical medical answers, what’s left to do? Accept the pain as the “new normal,” adapt to it, and learn how to manage it. Of course, that’s easier said than done.

Here are some of the tools I have found helpful to calm the body and mind and make it easier to function include:

• Reduce pain behaviors. The body’s natural physical, vocal, and verbal reactions to pain, such as rubbing, wincing, groaning, limiting activity, and complaining, fuel anxiety and intensify pain. I try to avoid these behaviors so as not to draw attention to my pain.
• It’s harder to hurt when you don’t think about it. I often use watching a funny movie, listening to music, talking to a friend, or doing some other social activity to focus on something other than the pain.

• Exercise. While it may seem counterintuitive, movement helps reduce pain and improves conditioning. I try to walk each day even though my body hurts.

• People with chronic pain often do too much when they are having good days and not enough when they are having bad days. I have learned limits and try to pace myself so I don’t worsen my symptoms.
• Why make things harder than what they are? Techniques like good body mechanics make activities easier, not harder. Heavy lifting, for example, makes my pain worse. So instead of carrying a heavy load in one trip, I divide it into lighter loads and make multiple trips.
• Pain and tension can form a viscous circle. Muscles tighten and put pressure on nerves resulting in even more pain. I do deep breathing and muscle relaxation exercises to help reduce tension.

In loss, there is gain

Though my losses to chronic pain over the last decade have been steep, I have also gained much through the experience. I gained a new respect for myself, knowing I am in control of the pain instead of the pain controlling me. I gained new friendships. And I am gaining new purpose in helping others manage their own pain. I have set a new course for my journey.

The use of cannabis and medical marijuana is the most popular new scoop in various parts of the world. The benefits and favors that cannabis provide are making the people overwhelmed all over the world. Recent researches done on cannabis are taking the medical industry with a storm. However additional studies and work are still needed in the field of cannabis to unveil its qualities.

With that said, many countries around the globe are understanding the need for using cannabis for medical purposes therefore many countries and some states in the USA have made laws for the use of cannabis. It has been legalized in some parts of the world.

As a matter of fact that marijuana or cannabis has been a form of medicine and has helped in dealing with various diseases for ancient ages; it has been only recent times when governments imposed restrictions on using cannabis. However recent developments and information in this regard have led the governments to legalize cannabis, due to which numerous forms of cannabis-infused medicinal varieties appear in the market. These varieties include CBD oil, CBD tincture, CBD edibles, CBD vaporizer, and CBD creams, lotions, and ointments.

What Are CBD Creams?

In order to understand CBD creams, you must have an understanding of what actually is CBD. CBD is referred to as cannabidiol which is one of the various chemical compounds called cannabinoids found in the plant of cannabis. The other famous cannabinoid is tetrahydrocannabinol THC, both the cannabinoids have their own benefits but the fact that differs them is that CBD is a non-psychoactive compound whereas THC is a psychoactive cannabinoid and it can alter a person’s state of mind and can make him high.

CBD creams are simply a cream or lotion that is infused with the most concentrated form of CBD. The CBD compound that is added to CBD creams is extracted by using a CO2 extraction. CO2 extraction is one of the purest and cleanest forms of extracting CBD. This method of extraction also makes sure that there are no solvents left in the extracted concentrate of CBD, as these solvents can be harmful to the skin. In order to make CBD creams, different essential oils like olive oil, coconut oil as well as cocoa butter or sheer butter are added to CBD oil to give it a form of the cream or lotion.

A popular misconception about CBD creams that people have is that it will make them high. But the reality is the opposite of this concept, CBD creams can never make any person high. As CBD creams are applied on top layers of the skin, it does not become a part of the person’s bloodstream. This is the reason that CBD creams are also called topical. Since CBD oil is extracted from the hemp plant, which is the industrial version of the cannabis plant and it provides a high content of CBD and very low content of THC, which makes CBD oil legal. However, CBD oil is consumed sublingually, it becomes a part of the bloodstream. CBD creams are also popular because of the reason that it does not make a drug test appear positive.

Benefits of CBD Cream:

There are many wonderful and mind-blowing medicinal benefits of using CBD creams on the skin. As CBD provides anti-inflammatory properties wither consumed orally or applied topically. CBD creams are a better alternative for pain relief than CBD oil as it can be applied directly to the area where a person feels pain and it will be more effective in that particular area as compared to CBD oil which provides general pain relief in the body. CBD creams have a localized effect on a person’s body to alleviate pain.

Moreover, CBD cream is all-natural and organic and it does not contain any side effects that most painkillers have. The majority of people enjoy the application of CBD creams for muscle or joint pains, it has also proven effective in relieving arthritis.

When CBD creams are applied on the skin, the CBD interacts with the natural receptor of the human body that is a CB2 receptor and provides a signal to the endocannabinoid system to reduce pain and inflammation. Besides dealing with chronic pain, acute pain, sore muscles, and sore joints CBD creams are also used for dealing with a number of skin diseases including eczema, psoriasis, rashes, skin infections, and sunburns. It also helps in inhibiting the buildup of dead skin cells and soothing pain caused by various skin infections.

Other than that, recent research found out that CBD oil consists of more antioxidants than most of the essential oils. This is the reason that many people have included CBD creams as a part of their skincare regime. CBD creams provide various medicinal qualities as well as anti-aging properties and make the skin appear smooth and youthful.