Pain Management at Home

Pain Management
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Home-based Management of Pain
Pain is made up of unpleasant feelings and emotions; it is a way our bodies communicate or send warning that a part of our body is hurt or damaged. According to Elwood (2019), prolonged contact with the source of harm increases the extent of damage sustained. When one touches a hot surface or steps on a sharp object, failure to instantly withdraw a hand or leg would cause severe burns or deep cuts. Our bodies naturally and involuntarily will move away from the source of the pain stimulus (Elwood, 2019). This reaction is a natural defense mechanism against injurious agents and is always instant, and does not need thinking or analysis for the action to be affected. It is always a very rapid occurrence and can happen within milliseconds. This is known as a reflex action, a process that involves neural pathways or reflex arcs that act on impulse before the impulse reaches the brain to be synthesized (Elwood, 2019).
The goal of pain management is to reduce and control pain, boost physical activity, and achieve comfortability. This can be achieved if one is able to manage the cardinal signs of inflammation. Pain management at home rarely involves the use of medication. When there is need for medication use, paracetamol is usually the first option (Desai, Hong, and Huo, 2019). The need to immediately alleviate pain has brought about discoveries of alternative pain management methods that are otherwise simple and safe to practice in home setups (El Geziry et al., 2018). These methods rarely require medical knowledge and have wide safety margins and minimal side effects. These methods of pain relief work by reducing the pain intensity by blocking sensory transmission of pain. Over the years a lot of interventions and pain-relieving methods have proven to be effective in pain relief. One of these is the RICE method which involves four simple actions: rest, ice, compression, and elevation (El Geziry et a...