Chronic pain is the arch antagonist of a happy life. The American Chronic Pain Association has described a person with chronic pain much like a car with four flat tires. Thanks to a new book by an author, who has previously helped countless people turn their lives around through his research in healing and recovery, those living with long-term pain can have a second chance at peace and comfort.
Pain is part of human experience and it’s difficult to imagine a life entirely without any pain. But extended periods of pain or living with it every day of one’s life is a nightmare. Nobody wants it. Yet chronic pain is real and, sadly, millions have to live with it to one degree or another. Alan E. Smith has witnessed it first-hand in the life of his mother, whose life was literally cut short by chronic pain. He put his pen to do healing work once again with his new book 101 Tips for Chronic Pain Relief (Loving Healing Press, 2024).
As the book’s subtitle shows, Smith offers various kinds of helpful solutions for chronic pain relief – traditional, alternative, and complementary. Many of these you’ve probably heard of or maybe even already used, such body-work techniques like yoga, Pilates, massage and acupuncture, but perhaps you weren’t aware of their potential for helping with pain relief.
Other methods such as Reiki, Healing Touch, Self-Hypnosis, Mindfulness, and Applied Kinesiology take advantage of the mind-body connection to ease your path to pain relief. While the mind-body connection isn’t a necessary requirement for pain relief treatment, Smith acknowledges its importance in certain therapies. He says:
“Humor Therapy has always been my favorite. Laughter literally makes the pain go away!”
101 Tips for Chronic Pain Relief includes what author Bob Moody calls “helpful warnings about possible side effects or addiction” associated with many common pain meds. This book is not medical advice-always consult your doctor before making any changes to your medications.
Smith also produces a podcast, archived on his website, which is basically about the world of complementary and alternative medicine. There is a trove of treatments and therapies in his podcast episodes, many more than are included in 101 Tips for Chronic Pain Relief.
