While many of you named nutritional supplements as your remedies, others chose common topicals to relieve pain. Loreen Daigle of Connecticut said: "I have found Biofreeze to help before an adjustment when muscles are spasmed. A patient also found that Biofreeze rubbed into muscles that were cramping after standing a long time at work stopped it immediately. Remembering the old remedy of bromelain for the appropriate swelling and inflammation has been helpful for pain relief in a portion of patients."

David Weber of Illinois recently discovered therapeutic taping to be effective in treating pain. He said: "I have been using Kinesio Tex taping procedures for one year after taking the two weekend course. I have found it to be an invaluable aid in everything from edema reduction to reduction of muscle tension/spasm."

And Beverly Kerr of Indiana prefers the old-fashioned remedy of ice to treat a client's pain. Kerr said: "An ice pack applied to the area of pain has been the most effective drug-free method of pain relief in my 20 years of practice. I recommend 20 minutes per hour on the low back, and 15 minutes per hour for all other areas. For busy patients, I set a minimum of 3 times per day. I sell the 5"x10" gel-type ice packs for $3 each. I can purchase them from Scrip for around $1. I keep them in sight on a table in the adjusting room and also in the reception area. They sell themselves and are so easy to use that patients comply with the recommendations. After trying it, most patients are grateful to find such an inexpensive pain solution that has no bad side effects."

Alternative Methods

The integration of alternative methods such as acupuncture, laser therapy and electrical stimulation are quite common in chiropractic practice. And according to your responses, many of you refer to them for pain treatment. Douglas Kennedy of Colorado believes acupuncture is pain's best medicine. Kennedy said: "Best Pain Control: I use Deep Acupuncture every single day at work, and it is by far, the best thing I have ever used. Check out Dr. C. Chan Gunn's info on the internet: there is great science behind it!"

John L. Stump of Alabama, a long-time believer of acupuncture, also finds laser therapy useful. Stump said: "I have been teaching and using acupuncture for the past 35 years for pain control with very good success. The only thing that is any better at times is laser therapy in certain cases. Between these two modalities pain relief is only a few weeks away!"

J. Douglas Brown of Alabama gave his method of treatment for migraines using electrode pads. "By placing two electrode pads, one on each side of the axis close to the center, I have been 98 percent successful in stopping a migraine in progress. The treatment usually takes about 5 minutes. I use this technique for acute migraine." He cautions: "Always remember though, to ask if this is the first or the worst migraine the patient has ever had. If so, I suggest a stat MRI to rule out other causes (i.e. aneurysm, tumor or bleed)."

Physical Therapy

Glen Peterson of North Carolina uses strengthening exercises to address his client's pain issues. He states: "I have found that a great benefit to my patients for reducing pain in the cervical spine as well as upper thoracic pain and occipital and cervicogenic headaches is a combination use of the cervical posture pump and cervical strengthening exercises. Even patients that have had previous surgical intervention including but not limited to plate fusions with hardware, still respond very well to attempts to correct the normal cervical kyphosis. By bringing the chin back and re-introducing the cervical curve, much less impact of stressed and hypertonic cervical musculature causes neural involvement. Pressure at the disc level, even for a patient that has little or no disc material present at the site of pain still shows pain reduction by attempted correction of the cervical curve. I have found personally that my patients over the last 3-4 years have shown remarkable results with use of the posture pump with ongoing cervical exercise to include both retraction and extension."

Combination of Treatments

Many of you preferred to use a combination of those methods already mentioned. David Friedman of Arizona uses a combination of acupuncture, laser treatment and exercise to counter painful conditions. "We have used a cold laser instrument effectively for many conditions, in conjunction with the adjustments. We also use a non-needle acupuncture instrument and have good results with that, as well. We also prescribe specific exercises based on the patient's condition."