Author Interviews
Alan E. Smith on Chronic Pain Relief
Chronic pain is real and afflicts millions around the world even in a conservative estimate. Can one find relief from it beyond commonly subscribed drugs? A new book has a hope-giving answer to this question.
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). – NewsBlaze
RTS had a brief chat with Smith about his book and approach to relief from lingering pain.
Image @ Loving Healing Press
What about your personal relationship to Chronic Pain led you write this book?
Watching my mother’s slow health decline due to chronic pain was the beginning of my awareness and concern. Let’s just say as I’ve gotten older it’s become a much more important topic for me and my friends and family.
You seem to have a strong interest in Complementary and Alternative Medicine. How does CAM lend itself to treatment of Chronic Pain?
There are different medical systems around the world that have been around for literally thousands of years so many of their treatments for chronic pain have literally stood the test of time. It’s interesting the different preferences for treatment, no matter how severe the pain is though. Some people will only take the latest prescription medicine regardless of the risks, others will only take over-the-counter medications while some folks prefer the older, more natural treatments. It’s very diverse world we live in, fortunately.
How important is the mind/body connection in the treatments you outline? Do you have to believe in them for them to work?
Well it obviously would help but it actually isn’t required. The fact is others believe in them so there’s sort of a subconscious belief in them or you wouldn’t try them in the first place. Almost everyone has had some type of positive experience with these complementary and alternative treatments during their life or knows someone who has so there is a positive bias built into them today.
Does your book also have helpful suggestions on food/nutrition or lifestyle choices that prevent chronic pain? Is it a good read for those who don’t have it yet but can read it to prevent being plagued by chronic pain?
That’s an excellent question! There are only a couple of food or nutrition suggestions but there are several tips regarding lifestyle choices. For example, if you’ve been involved with sports you may already be aware of cryotherapy or the cold tank for healing after a tough game. Or there’s biofeedback, Mindfulness and many others but my favorite has always been Humor Therapy. Laughter literally makes the pain go away!
Tell us a bit about your podcast – how long have you been doing it? Is there a specific episode about chronic pain? If so include its link.
My podcast is basically about the world of complementary and alternative medicine so there are many more treatments and therapies than are included in my latest book on chronic pain. You can find a link to it on my website at www.unbreakyourhealth.com.
