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According to Institute of Medicine estimates, some 116 million Americans have moderate to severe chronic pain. In the rush to ease the suffering, sales of potentially addictive pain medication have skyrocketed.

But according to Dr. Josh Wagner -- a Manhattan chiropractor and founder of The Life House Chiropractic, the only health center in Manhattan specializing in Torque Release Technique, a drug-free, safe and natural treatment which optimizes your physical and mental wellbeing – creating lasting relief for chronic pain sufferers is not only possible, it’s natural.

“The widespread use these days of painkillers, cortisone, and Novocain merely numb the brain from feeling the pain, and it’s not causing the body to heal or repair,” explains Wagner, author of the upcoming eBook “Access: Pathways to Express Your Potential.”“The key to healing chronic pain lies in natural solutions, not chemicals.”
Wagner suggests these simple steps you can take right away to help relieve and eliminate chronic pain—safely and naturally.

• Honor the Spine: Unlocking the spine and de-stressing the nervous system so it can run at its full potential is the key to naturally healing the body of chronic pain. Gentle but highly effective spinal adjustments such as Torque Release Technique generate a greater response from the body’s nervous system, allowing for positive changes in the immune, cardiovascular, respiratory, and reproductive systems. Other non-traditional chiropractic care treatments that honor the spine (without ‘cracking’ the neck or back) include Upper Cervical chiropractic, and Network Chiropractic. “Have your spine and nervous system checked by a chiropractor to see if there is an underlying cause to the chronic pain that you may not even be aware of," explains Wagner.
• Posture Matters: Poor posture doesn’t just look bad, it can result in backaches, headaches, and nerve irritation that leads to even more pain throughout the body.Here’s a simple but powerful way to improve your posture: visualize the posture of a person who’s feeling optimistic and energized (rather than someone who’s depressed or lethargic), and let your body re-align to that good feeling. Your posture – and the pain that results from too much slouching -- will improve quickly. Strengthening your abdominal muscles, alternating your sitting or standing positions throughout the day, and maintaining a healthy weight will also help improve poor posture.
• Drink Up: Dehydrated muscles become more stressed and tense, which can exacerbate any pain you’re feeling. Be sure to drink at least half your body weight in pure water each day (i.e., if you’re 150 lbs, drink 75 ounces) to greatly enhance your overall well being and body functioning. Reminder: Drinking caffeine or alcohol dehydrates the body, so increase your daily water intake accordingly.
• Lay Off Daily Pain Killers: Pain is like your body’s fire alarm, warning you that something is wrong.Taking daily pain killers is like unplugging the fire alarm, instead of putting out the fire. Worse, the pain is telling you what Not to do. “If you numb that signal, you keep doing the very motions and movements your body is requesting you not to,” says Wagner, “further exacerbating the underlying issue which is causing the pain.”

Whether chronic pain results from a serious physical injury, sports/recreational activity, or from daily mental or physical stress (such as too many hours in front of a laptop), the key to eliminating chronic pain starts by empowering and enabling the body to do its natural thing, which is self repair and heal.

“Much like proactively eating well, exercising, or even brushing your teeth and semi-annual dental visits, creating a healthy spine will contribute to more areas of your health and well being than you could believe,” said Wagner.

ABOUT DR. JOSH WAGNER: Wagner founded The Life House Chiropractic in 2010, and he’s the only chiropractor in Manhattan specializing in Torque Release Technique, a drug-free, safe and natural treatment which optimizes your physical and mental wellbeing (no cracking or popping). Wagner was mentored in TRT by its founder, Dr. Jay Holder, and graduated from New York University with honors and earned his doctorate in Chiropractic at Life University in Atlanta, Georgia. Wagner is a native New Yorker raised in Chappaqua.