The Role of Animal-Human Bonding in Pain Management

A Loyola University study reveals that animal assisted therapy reduced the need for oral pain medication following total joint replacement therapy. The study retrospectively compared a group of subjects who were given AAT as part of treatment vs. a group that did not benefit from such therapy.
In conclusion, those who were given animal therapy had a reduced need for medication-- 28 percent less, to be exact! The two groups were similar in composition with respect to age, ethnicity, etc..the only difference was that the AAT group had daily visits with specially trained dogs, for a duration of somewhere between 5 and 15 minutes per visit. The study was published in the August/September issue of Anthrozoos, the official journal of Anthrozoology.

Once again, we see that health, healing, and relief from chronic pain can be enhanced by forces aside from traditional medical treatment. The bond between humans and animals is powerful, and can be of great benefit to all who are willing to embrace it!

Sources: Newswise,Wikipedia

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Living with Chronic pain hits the big screen!

Been to the movies lately? Jennifer Aniston is on the big screen in a recent release titled "Cake." Her character, Claire is a victim of chronic pain...she belongs to a support group, where all of the members are coming to terms with the suicide of one of their members. Of course, she also takes pain medication and addiction is another of her problems...and of course there's more! I guess I am writing this post just to bring readers' attention to the fact that Hollywood has become aware of the crisis that is chronic pain. This movie is a testament to that. People that don't have to live with this kind of pain don't fully understand the whole story. Maybe this movie will shed some light on the issues. Here is the official trailer for the movie: Sources: prweb;NorthJersey.com;YouTube

The Multimodal Approach to Pain Management

OK..so if you've been following this blog you will notice that there are a good number of ideas to help manage chronic pain. You might ask yourself, "Which one of these ideas is best for me ?" I would suggest that you might try any number of these things, depending on your level of ability/disability, health care team recommendations, and your personal interests. There are a number of reasons for doing this: 1) The patient is in control..with few exceptions, it is your decision what to try/not try and how many different things you want to experiment with at any time. 2) Non drug pain management ideas do not have any of the drug interactions or side effects that medications have. You may have to set limits or modify activity according to personal circumstances, but usually it does not hurt to try any of them. 3)You usually do not need a prescription for most of the ideas I have described. There are a few exceptions, such as physical therapy. There ...

Beware Of The Tick!

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Everyday pain management ideas

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