To begin, I would like everyone reading this to know that I am not a doctor, nor can I diagnose medical issues in your body. My articles are written observing actual issues I encounter in my massage practice. The results I mention may not be the same for you, but I support you looking for alternatives to medication and surgery when possible.

This type of pain lingers for long periods of time. Some chronic pain sufferers deal with massive amounts of pain throughout their entire bodies for years. Some even suffer for their entire lives. Every person is different, so we cannot say what causes chronic pain for everyone. Some people suffer due to dietary allergies. Some have nerve damage from things like a car accident. Others are just born with it.

For those of you who have never experienced chronic pain, I will give you a recent example that I suffered through myself. While helping my daughter with a project for two months, I sat at a desk and programmed something for her. I was still seeing clients during this, so I skipped my normal stretching regime because we were under a deadline. The first month went by with no issues. The second month had some things happen that I did not catch at first.

One morning I awoke and tried to get out of bed. Pain shot through my left hip and caused me to limp. I could not move my leg without excruciating pain. After two weeks of limping around, I felt a heaviness in my left knee which then turned into its own severe pain. The knee pain occurred even when I just stood on the leg. It felt like someone was trying to rip my knee cap off my leg.

I went to the doctor and was prescribed muscle relaxers. They did nothing for the pain. After days I went back, and they gave me a different kind of muscle relaxer as well as one of the strongest anti-inflammatories on the market. Again, the pain did not abate. I stopped taking all the medications since they were not helping me.

I received massage work from two different therapists, which netted me nothing but a sore leg. I had dry needling done, which gave me about five minutes of relief, but after standing for a short amount of time the muscles seized up again.

At this point, the feeling of hopelessness, or maybe despair, crept into my mind and began draining the energy from my life. I really thought I would never get relief from the pain. Through the two months following the beginning of the pain, my wife helped me stretch all the muscles that could be affecting the painful areas. She pushed me further than my brain told me I could go, and on many occasions, tears streamed down my face, but each day of this brought a small amount of relief with it. I could feel the muscles begin to pull apart more each night. After a month and a half or so, the pain in my hip, leg, and knee was totally gone.

It took stretching it every day for that length of time for me to obtain relief. Your issues may be alleviated through, or combine, other means, but take the time to find the right solution for yourself and remain informed and diligent in being a part of your prognosis and treatment. Please do not give up. Find a therapist that is willing to work with you. Setting up a strong social support can be very useful too. Examples include joining social media groups with similar ailments and getting trusted family members involved in the process.

Photo used as the featured image for this post was created by Camila Quintero Franco.