Just recently I received a wonderful email article on the relationship between Oxygen and Pain Management. I believe it will assist your health in First way. “Deep breathing for pain management How does Oxygen affect pain management?

Pain is a Lack of Oxygen At an event in 1982 I was privileged to work with Dr. C. Samuel West at the International Academy of Lymphology. It was Dr. West who first taught me the secrets to alleviating pain naturally .

One of his favorite sayings was, “Pain is a lack of oxygen at the cellular level.” While I’m not sure this is always true, I believe that in most cases pain is caused by a lack of oxygen reaching the tissues. Usually pain is caused by inflammation , which is the normal response to tissue damage. When inflammation occurs, fluid and protein leave the blood stream and enter the tissue spaces. This slows down the exchange of oxygen and nutrients at the cell level. With lesser injuries, it’s possible to literally squeeze or rub the pain away. By grabbing the injured area tightly, or rubbing it lightly, one can move the excess fluid in the tissue spaces and move it into the lymphatic system. If you keep this up until the pain stops, a process that usually takes 5-20 minutes, the pain will be immediately relieved and won’t come back.

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Shoulder pain is commonly experienced in connection with an injury or disease. In most cases, the pain lessens and disappears in a few days’ time. However, damage to the rotator cuff muscle accompanied by excess stress or for that matter trauma or tear to the tendons, can be a matter of serious concern which has to be brought to the attention of a pain management specialist.

Traditional Treatment for Pain

Shoulder pain can manifest itself in different forms such as aches, numbness, stiffness, burning and other discomforting sensations. Based on proper medical evaluation and diagnosis, the physician would formulate an individualized treatment plan which may include a multifaceted range of pain relieving techniques that can be effective for the shoulder. Some of the pain management techniques include:

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Those who work in the field of healthcare have known for some time that a connection exists between our underlying beliefs and thoughts and the functioning of our bodies. Dr. Herbert Benson, in his 1970’s landmark book, The Relaxation Response, articulated the concept that stressors can trigger a “fight or flight response”, an inner startle response that indicates we are about to experience an unpleasant event. Although there is a healthy fear that protects us from harms way, many times how one interprets stressful events and one’s ability to manage it, can affect the immune systems functional capacity. There is now sufficient research to validate Benson’s work, that relaxation techniques such a meditation, can have a direct link to minimizing the effect of a wide range of disorders such as high blood pressure, irritable bowel syndrome, back problems, neurological pain, and headache problems. Relaxation strategies calm the sympathetic nervous system, making it easier for the body to heal.

In Barbara Levine’s book, Your Body Believes Every Word You Say, she explores how our thoughts and underlying beliefs about our physical maladies affect our auto-immune system which regulates our ability to ward off illness, manage pain, and promote healing. In other words, legitimate pain from various illnesses and somatic complaints can be intensified by the kind of messages we tell ourselves. Spontaneous self-defeating thoughts such as, “What’s the use, my body will always betray me and never get better.” can reinforce the pain cycle of making things worse. People with such chronic self-defeating reactions have been shown to create inner chemical changes and constricted blood flow which further erodes the individual’s ability to manage pain. How we respond to our bodily disorders, in terms of core beliefs and inner dialogue, may affect the outcome of our health. 

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