I have found a moist heating pad to be a godsend. Unlike a regular pad, it creates moist heat which increases blood flow to the area (relaxes muscles and stimulates healing).
I suffer chronic pain from multiple injuries (neck, back, knees).Unfotunatly i have run the gamut of diognosis and treatment and have reached some grim conclusions;
1. Physical Therapy is a waste of time (unless your therapist is real cute). Go a few times, learn the exercises, do the stuff at home.
2. In my opinion Chiropractors have little impact, aside from the shock they impart from their arguable treatments.
They love to show you the 'good spine bad spine' pictures, and tell you how misaligned you are, but what they fail to mention is that the good spine is someone who has lived a charmed life, and the bad spine is all the rest of us.
3. The most barbaric prospect of all is to see a real doctor and get some drugs; in some cases they work, hence the name 'painkiller'. If you dont like narcotics, ask about Tramadol (Ultram), it's non narcotic, works well on moderate pain, does not dull your senses, and actually makes you feel a little froggy.
lots of unbiased drug info can be found on erowid.com and poppies.org.
I have received several epidurals, and though they sting a bit, Im good to go for months, you might want to assess the risk vs.benefit but for me it is worth it.
Given our chosen paths, the light at the end of the tunnel is probably the gleam of titanium replacement parts.
