At any time, an accident can occur that causes injury and leaves you in chronic pain. The most common circumstances for this include car accidents, work-related accidents and improperly done medical procedures. Chronic pain can be as serious as any other physical disability because it interferes with your daily life and can leave you dependent on addictive pain medications. Fortunately, there are some things you can do on your own to help alleviate chronic pain after an accident.

Eat an Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Although changing your diet won’t completely take away your pain, it can work wonders for reducing it and controlling flare-ups. The standard American diet, which is high in processed foods, unhealthy fats, refined sugar and chemical additives, promotes inflammation and interferes with proper healing. Instead, try including more wholesome foods in your diet like lean meats, fresh fruits and vegetables and healthy fats like nuts, seeds and olive oil. These foods are rich in the nutrition your body needs to heal, and many also contain antioxidants that help reduce pain and inflammation.

Discover Pain-Relieving Spices

Spices are useful for far more than just adding flavor to meals. They can also serve as powerful medicines. Things like cayenne pepper, turmeric, black pepper, cumin and cinnamon, among many others, possess compounds that directly fight pain. All of them do this in part by controlling inflammation, but many also improve blood circulation to injured areas and block pain signals to affected nerves.

Use Supplements to Facilitate Healing

There are a handful of nutritional supplements that can be a boon to anyone who suffers from chronic pain. Most of these are present in food, but many people fail to get enough of them from diet alone. Vitamin C is one helpful supplement. It is required by your body to produce collagen, a critical building block of tendons, cartilage and ligaments. Without it, painful injuries can persist or recur. Manganese is another ideal supplement. This mineral is excellent at facilitating healing and helps to speed up the process while also reducing the formation of excess scar tissue (adhesions). Omega-3 fish oil is also highly recommended. It serves as a potent anti-inflammatory and also aids tissue repair.

Try Gentle Exercises

You probably don’t feel like exercising when you’re struggling with chronic pain, but it’s important to know that is can help significantly. Gentle exercises like yoga, stretching, swimming, walking and lifting light weights are best. These exercises help to improve your range of motion, prevent stiffness, strengthen supporting muscles, encourage blood flow and keep joints lubricated.

Consider Legal Action

Being involved in an accident, whether your fault or no, is a burden on all parties involved. Contacting an attorney at Cantini Law Group Accident and Disability Lawyers can help alleviate a lot of stress after an accident. You may be entitled to compensation and help financially to cover expenses from costly doctor visits to treat your chronic pain.

Living with chronic pain is a trying experience, but that doesn’t mean you have to let it take over your life and keep you from enjoying yourself. Try incorporating the above tips into your daily routine and see how much better you can feel.