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4 Natural Ways to Reduce (and Potentially Eliminate) Chronic Pain

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4 Natural Ways to Reduce (and Potentially Eliminate) Chronic Pain

Like so many graduates of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Grayce Muffler struggled with health issues and couldn't find the care she needed. She bounced from doctor to doctor and specialist to specialist, but was left frustrated and demoralized by general, blanket diagnoses and no clear path forward.

It wasn't until Muffler discovered the power of holistic healing that her life completely changed. She embraced the concepts of food as medicine, nature as medicine, and movement as medicine — and yes, medicine as medicine, when appropriate — and found herself finally beginning to heal.

Read More: How Sarah Wragge’s Personal Health Journey Led to a Booming Wellness Business

Now Muffler is taking her personal life experiences, and the education she received at IIN, and helping others heal. She currently runs her own health coaching practice, Giving Grayce, which helps clients turn their pain into purpose, all the while making them feel seen, heard, and validated. She fosters healing through changes in diet, lifestyle, environment, stress, nervous system regulation, and emotional well-being, and addresses the root of the problem.

Among many ailments and conditions, Muffler regularly helps clients manage chronic pain issues, which affects over 20 percent of the United States population.

Muffler is adamant that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to managing and healing chronic pain (which, of course, is in line with our core concept of bio-individuality), but Muffler advises her clients to do these four things —among many others — to manage, reduce, and ultimately heal chronic pain.

4 Natural Ways to Reduce Chronic Pain

1. Consume a Diet Rich in Anti-Inflammatories

Because chronic pain is so often rooted in inflammation, focus on consuming a diet rich in anti-inflammatory foods. This includes prioritizing mostly whole, unprocessed foods rich in fiber, healthy fats, and essential nutrients. Examples include leafy greens, cruciferous veggies, berries, olive oil, nuts and seeds, beans, organic pasture-raised/grass-fed animal protein, and fatty fish. Also incorporate anti-inflammatory herbs and spices into your meals as often as possible. Examples include ginger, turmeric and black pepper, cinnamon, fennel, garlic, and rosemary.

Read More: Exploring Dr. Andrew Weil’s Anti-Inflammatory Diet and Food Pyramid

2. Perform Low-Impact Movements

When dealing with chronic pain, movement can obviously be a challenge. But it's so incredibly important, and because stagnation breeds illness, it will actually facilitate healing. This will look different for every single person, but opting for low-impact forms of movement is typically well-tolerated. This could be a quick walk around the block, a gentle yoga flow, or a mat pilates routine. If you're able to incorporate some form of gentle movement into your routine every single day — even if it's difficult at first — it will make a huge difference. Even just walking around your house or bedroom every few hours will provide immense benefits.

3. Work the Lymphatic System Daily

The biggest game changer for managing — and oftentimes significantly reducing or eliminating — chronic pain is by working the lymphatic system, which goes hand in hand with working the fascia, on a daily basis. Considered the second circulatory system, it allows the body to remove waste by collecting, purifying, and draining excess fluids. It also works closely with the immune system, killing bacteria, viruses, pathogens, and unhealthy cells. The lymphatic system doesn’t have its own active pumping system, which is why it must be self-worked on a daily basis. Lymphatic fluid relies on the body’s movement, muscle contractions, breathing, and intestinal activity to create this proper flow. And when there’s problems with stuck or slow-moving fluid, that leads to inflammation, pain, and chronic disease.

But when you understand the lymphatic system and how to work with your body to promote optimal flow, you are able to better manage, or even prevent, disease. This is why lymphatic work has been shown to positively impact virtually every chronic disease. Some of Muffler's favorite tools include dry brushing, legs up the wall, hot and cold showers, breathwork, long walks in nature, and jumping around!

The system is worked through any form of movement, muscle contractions, and deep breathing. If you're looking for more information about each of these, check out this highly informative ebook on Muffler's website. You can also check out the work of Dr. Perry Nickelston, DC, and follow his "Big 6" practice on a daily basis.

4. Take the Time to Nurture Your Emotional Health

Pain is often a message from the body that something needs to be looked at deeper, and it's often tied to repressed, underlying emotions. Muffler sees this all the time with her clients, and she knows it to be true from her own experience. Spend considerable time nurturing your emotional health, even if it's painful, and understand where you might still be holding onto energetic pain from your past. From there, practice releasing that pain, from both your body and mind. Muffler's favorite modalities, which she uses for herself and with her clients, include breathwork, deep meditation, frequency music, EFT tapping, and journaling.

These are typically challenging to do on your own, so don't be afraid or ashamed to seek external help. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and somatic therapies are both very powerful tools, as well.

Build a daily practice of self-reflection and make sure to check in with your emotional state, whether that's through journaling, meditation, full-body scans, or other mindfulness practices. 

Learn from 95+ of the world’s leading holistic health, coaching, and business experts in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition’s comprehensive Health Coach Training Program. Discover how to nourish your body and mind, on and off the plate, and how to empower others to do the same as a Certified Health Coach. Enroll now.

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