Lower back pain is one of the most common types of chronic pain that the elderly face, and it’s also one of the hardest to fight types of pain out there. Oftentimes, doctors are at a loss for why their patient is suffering from this pin and they are unsure of how to effectively treat it. Instead of trying to resolve the cause of the pain, attention is often given to managing the symptoms of it. The end result is that painkillers–primarily opioids–are used. Unfortunately, while these do help some people, current data suggests that they are over-prescribed and end up doing more harm than good. Breaking this cycle is important to the health of seniors everywhere.
That’s where the University of Michigan steps in. New data from this institution suggests that self-treatment of lower back pain is possible and effective. Acupressure, a Chinese medical practice, has been shown to help relieve both pain and fatigue symptoms in those suffering from chronic lower back pain.
Acupressure has been found to be successful in other areas before. Those suffering from cancer-related sickness, other types of nausea, and insomnia have all shown improvement through the use of acupressure. Very little data existed regarding lower back pain, though. This study aimed to fix that, and the results suggest that acupressure can be of benefit here, too.
The surprising find for this study was that the acupressure could be self-administered. After six weeks, with about 30 minutes of self-applied acupressure done on a daily basis, a controlled group of people with pain showed big improvements over their ability to manage pain and have more energy. The other group continued their typical treatments and showed no progress. Two different types of acupressure were given–stimulating and relaxing. Those who had stimulating acupressure showed improvement with fatigue. Those who had relaxing acupressure showed improvement with pain.
Fighting pain and disability is a huge thing for seniors. When these things become overwhelming, they can have a severe negative impact on the quality of life that someone experiences. If you have an elderly loved one that suffers from pain or has trouble getting around, you know how difficult this can be to watch. If there are little things that can be done to help improve the health of a loved one, this could be a game changer when it comes to the quality of life that they experience.
In-home care is designed to help along the same lines. Care isn’t necessarily pointed at reducing pain ,but it is supposed to help make life better. By helping a loved one with the daily tasks that they might be struggling with, a professional caregiver is fighting to help your parent live a higher quality of life. This is why it’s important to choose a trained, professional, and loving caregiver. When you go with the right caregiver, then everything else just seems to fall into place.
This is the service that we hope to provide. Get in touch with us if you have questions about how we can bring this level of care and attention to the people that you love.
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