Finding Chronic Pain Relief Beyond Medication

September 24, 2026

An older woman experiences neck pain while sitting at home

When chronic pain flares, most people head to their medicine cabinet for NSAIDs or prescription pain medication. But medication alone may not be the most effective treatment. Integrative therapies are now helping to reshape how chronic pain is managed.

“The way we address chronic pain has evolved,” says Gayla Marie Stiles, MS, LAc, a licensed acupuncturist at University Hospitals Connor Whole Health. “The focus is on whole-person care, and we use a variety of evidence-based integrative treatments to address patient needs.”

What Is Chronic Pain?

Everybody experiences pain sometimes, but when you continue to feel pain for 12 weeks or more, it’s generally considered chronic. “Chronic pain is a pain that is constant over a longer period of time,” says Stiles. “It can also be a pain in the same area that comes and goes.”

Affecting approximately 20 to 40% of people, chronic pain often begins with an illness or injury. It also increases with age, especially after 65 years old. In some cases, the source of chronic pain may be unknown. Chronic pain can impact your mental health and well-being, your sleep, your ability to function at home and at work, and even your relationships.

The zero-to-ten pain scale is a starting point for understanding chronic pain. Integrative caregivers tend to look at more factors. “We want patients to understand that pain management is a partnership and we want them to be comfortable expressing how they feel,” says Stiles. She asks her patients how their pain is impacting their quality of life. “It helps me understand what’s meaningful to the patient and how to create a treatment plan that addresses their needs.”

Why an Integrative Approach May Be Beneficial

Chronic pain conditions are complex and often affect multiple systems in the body. Medication remains the most common treatment for chronic pain, but combining it with different therapies may provide greater relief.

“The integrative approach takes your personal experience into consideration,” says Stiles. For example, if a patient has neck pain from a car accident, she will ask questions to better understand how the pain is affecting them, if it makes them feel stressed, anxious or depressed, disrupts sleep, or interferes with social activities and doing things they enjoy.

“We acknowledge that pain doesn’t only come from the acute trauma of the accident, but from what the person is feeling mentally and emotionally,” says Stiles. If a patient feels anxious when their neck pain flares, she may add stretching and breathing exercises to that patient’s personalized care plan to help manage the pain and anxiety.

With an integrative approach, treatment doesn’t end when a patient leaves the office. As part of the treatment regimen, caregivers equip patients with tools to help manage the pain on their own. If a patient with fibromyalgia typically flares in the fall when the weather turns cold and damp, Stiles will help them establish a treatment routine to help prevent the flare and manage the symptoms. “We look at where the highs are, where the lows are and what the pattern of your chronic pain is,” she says. “We try to encourage patients to have an embodied experience within their pain state, which is different from saying, ‘I’m going to take it away.’”

Integrative Pain Management Therapies

A personalized integrative care plan typically combines conventional pain management with evidence-based complementary therapies. “We focus on each patient’s core health goals while addressing chronic pain at various levels,” says Stiles. “Treatment plans and durations vary from person to person, but all plans should include a timeline for when the patient can expect progress.” Your personalized plan may include therapies, such as:

Lifestyle therapies: Eating well, staying active, getting quality sleep and managing stress are important for your health. They can also improve energy levels and reduce pain. For example, says Stiles, “If you’re in pain and you can’t sleep, your energy gets depleted, and so does your body’s ability to heal itself.” If you need support in any of these areas, your integrative care team can help with nutrition counseling, physical or occupational therapy, mindfulness, psychotherapy and other integrative care services.
Cognitive behavioral therapy: CBT uses practical skills to help lessen the intensity of chronic pain and make it easier to function day to day. Studies suggest this type of therapy is particularly helpful for pain associated with osteoarthritis of the knee and hip.
Acupuncture: This ancient Chinese technique, which involves inserting fine needles into strategic points on the body, can help manage different types of pain, including lower back, neck, joint and migraine pain, as well as pain from surgery or cancer treatment. It can also be a good complement to physical therapy. Some research suggests acupuncture may reduce the need for opioid pain medications for some patients.
Chiropractic medicine: Chiropractic adjustments can help reduce back, neck, joint, headache and sciatica pain.
Massage: Therapeutic massage is used to manipulate soft tissue. It can increase oxygen and blood flow in the massaged area, slow heart rate, lower blood pressure, decrease pain hormones and reduce tension and stress. Massage can be especially effective for back, neck, shoulder and osteoarthritis knee pain and may also provide some relief for fibromyalgia symptoms.
Mindfulness-based interventions: Meditation and other mindfulness practices can help you pay attention to the present moment without becoming overwhelmed by pain. Over time, they may change how you respond to pain. For example, it may start to feel less intense or you may find that your body is able to function better, even when pain is present. Mindfulness-based stress reduction can be particularly effective for chronic lower back pain.
Physical therapy: Over time, the exercises you do in physical therapy can help relieve chronic pain symptoms by improving strength, flexibility, posture, balance and endurance.
Occupational therapy: The strategies you learn in occupational therapy can help you perform daily tasks and activities you enjoy with less strain and pain.
Yoga and tai chi: Movement, like yoga and tai chi, that incorporates mindfulness, flexibility and breathing exercises supports well-being, reduces stress and can be an effective tool for chronic pain management, especially with conditions such as arthritis, migraines, fibromyalgia and lower back and neck pain.
Naturopathy: Certain herbs and supplements can also support health and chronic pain management when taken orally or used topically, as advised by your naturopathic medicine provider.

“What we’re trying to do, especially with Eastern medicine, is to reduce and manage symptoms by promoting balance, fortifying resilience and transforming stress into vital energy,” says Stiles.

If you’re living with chronic pain and curious about integrative care, start by talking to your primary care provider. The sooner you start treatment, the better, says Stiles. “If you think about pain like rust on a wheel, you want to start treating it before the whole wheel is rusted.”