Pain is a very real problem for people around the world. We all experience it from time to time, but there are some people whose lives are defined by it: chronic pain that can be debilitating at times. Enter America's pain clinics and plant-based medicine. They exist to help people take their lives back by managing pain effectively.
From our point of view, it is important that pain clinics consider plant-based medicine. For too long Western medicine has relied exclusively on prescription medications that may or may not work well. We all know what that has led to: the overprescribing of potentially harmful drugs like opioid painkillers.
CDC data shows that 20% of American adults have experienced chronic pain. That amounts to just over 50 million people. Below are the top three reasons we think those patients ought to have an opportunity to investigate plant-based medicine via their pain clinics:
Long before Western medicine became a thing, plant-based medicine was the only way to treat injury, illness, and disease. Healers and physicians have been relying on plant-based medicines since the earliest days of humanity. Simply put, plant-based medicine has history behind it.
Unfortunately, Western medicine stresses written documentation so heavily that healthcare providers and government regulators have a challenging time considering anything that hasn't been tested in a Western lab. That is unfortunate. Plant-based cures of all types have withstood the test of time even though they've never been investigated by pharmaceutical companies or government researchers.
Despite the positive characteristics of Western medicine, one of its biggest negatives is that it has effectively wiped out our understanding of ancient, traditional treatments and techniques. Scientific papers have replaced oral traditions to the extent that we are conditioned to mistrust anything that isn't Western medicine. Again, that is a shame.
Plant-based medicine is more natural medicine. Before you shrug that off as being unimportant, consider this fact: human beings are part of nature. We are not separate from it. All of nature is designed to work in balance – that includes humanity just as much as it does plants, animals, etc.
A plant-based approach is one that seeks to utilize what nature supplies. It doesn't completely exclude synthetic medications, but it does encourage looking at plant-based options first. It encourages sticking with nature whenever possible.
The biggest reason of all to consider plant-based medicine in pain clinics is its more holistic approach. Plant-based practitioners look for ways to treat the whole mind and body as a single entity rather than separate the physical nature of pain from everything else.
This is why you often hear plant-based practitioners discuss more than just pain. They talk about pain in relation to things like anxiety, lack of sleep, and one's overall outlook on life. There are so many things that affect how people feel. It just makes sense to treat pain holistically rather than isolate it as a single symptom and attempt to mask it with prescription medications.
Do not misunderstand. Prescription medications do have a place at the table. The same goes for certain types of Western treatments one might consider invasive. But there's also room at the table for plant-based medicine. There is more than enough room for pain clinics to consider a more natural approach to pain management.
That's what we're all about at KindlyMD. We believe there are better ways to reduce and manage pain than simply writing a prescription. If you are looking for a better way to feel better, consider a visit to any of our pain clinics.
