Conventional Pain Management vs. Holistic Pain Treatment: Which Is Right for You?
- Dr. Jason Winkelmann
- 32 minutes ago
- 13 min read
Introduction: Why This Comparison Matters If You’re Still in Pain
If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’ve been at this for years and have done everything that you were told. You've taken the medications, gone to physical therapy, maybe even had injections or surgery, and yet the pain is still there. Or it keeps coming back.
I see this every day. People aren’t confused because they haven’t tried hard enough. They’re confused because they’ve been given two very different explanations for their pain, and no one has clearly explained how those explanations differ—or why that difference matters.
I’ve spent years working with people who feel stuck between conventional pain management and what’s often labeled as alternative medicine, natural medicine, or holistic medicine for chronic pain; unsure which path actually makes sense for chronic, complex pain.
This article is for you if:
Your imaging or labs are “normal,” but your pain isn’t
You’ve been told to manage symptoms rather than understand what’s happening
You’re skeptical of buzzwords but open to better explanations
You want to know, honestly, how these two models differ—without hype or sales language
You’ll walk away understanding how each approach defines pain, what each one does well, where each one falls short, and how to decide what makes sense for your situation.
You’ve done everything right. So why are you still in pain?
Physical therapy. Steroid injections. Pain meds. That weird pillow your friend swears by. Maybe even surgery.
You followed every step the doctors gave you—maybe for years. And yet, here you are, still hurting.
If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone.
Most people who walk through our doors feel the same way—exhausted, skeptical, and wondering if they’re just going to have to “live with it.”
But what if the real problem isn’t your body failing to respond?
What if it’s that the entire pain model you were handed was incomplete?
In this post, we’ll break down the biggest differences between conventional pain management and holistic pain treatment. Because once you understand how pain really works—and how your brain, gut, and environment all play a role—you’ll start to see a different path forward.
One that doesn’t just numb symptoms… but aims to actually heal the system.
James came to us near the 30th anniverary of a work accident that left him with a low back disc herniation. At the time the pain was a daily 6/10 with 10/10 flares. He had a successful surgery to fix the herniation but after a long recovery found himself in worse condition. For nearly 30 years he lived with a daily 7/10 pain as he explored all of his treatment options.
Quick Answer: Conventional Pain Management vs Holistic Pain Treatment
Topic | Conventional Pain Management | Holistic Pain Treatments |
Definition of Pain | Pain seen as a problem that needs to be suppressed; often tied to structural damage or inflammation seen on imaging/labs. | Pain viewed as a symptom of deeper systemic imbalance — physical, biochemical, emotional. |
Philosophy | Focus on reducing or blocking pain signals quickly. Chronic pain is often considered something to manage. | Focus on addressing root causes and supporting the body to heal and regulate itself. |
Typical Treatments | Medications (NSAIDs, opioids), injections, nerve ablations, surgeries, physical therapy to control symptoms. | Nutritional counseling, lifestyle changes, chiropractic, physical therapy, acupuncture, massage, hydrotherapy, mind–body techniques, and more. |
Goal of Care | Reduce pain signals or inflammation; provide relief especially in acute or clearly structural pain. | Improve long-term regulation of the body’s systems; treat underlying contributors to pain. |
Strengths | Quick symptom relief; effective for acute injuries, post-surgical pain, clear pathology. | Personalized and whole‑person approach that may benefit complex or chronic pain where conventional care hasn’t resolved symptoms. |
Limitations | Doesn’t always explain chronic pain when imaging/labs are normal; can lead to dependence on medications or repeated procedures. | Requires more active participation, time, and may not offer immediate relief; less standardized research evidence. |
When It Works Best | New pain, acute flares, injuries with clear structural causes. | Chronic pain with evolving, widespread symptoms, or when previous treatments haven’t helped. |
Approach to Medications | Often central (e.g., painkillers, anti‑inflammatories) and aimed at signal suppression. | Less focused on drugs; meds may support but are not primary solution. |
Nature of Care | Protocol‑driven and less individualized. | Highly individualized based on deeper history, labs, and whole‑body factors. |
Typical Patient Experience | Relief often fast but may be temporary if underlying causes aren’t resolved. | Takes longer, often involves education and lifestyle change, but aims for sustained improvement. |
What Is the Difference Between Conventional Pain Management and Holistic Pain Treatment?
The difference between conventional pain management and holistic pain treatments comes down to how pain is defined, the philosophy of treatment, and the treatments themselves.
Conventional pain management generally treats pain as the problem. It arrises from tissue damage or pathology that needs to be suppressed, blocked, or stabilized.
Holistic or integrative pain care treats pain as a symptom of a larger state of dysregulation involving multiple body systems.
Both approaches can help in the right context. The problem arises when the wrong model is applied to the wrong kind of pain.
How Does Conventional Pain Management Define and Treat Chronic Pain?
Definition
Persistent pain lasting three months or longer, continuing beyond the normal healing time for an injury or illness, often affecting daily life and well-being.
Cause
In conventional medicine, pain is usually linked to:
Structural damage (disc degeneration, arthritis, joint changes)
Inflammation visible on labs or imaging
Nerve compression or injury
Philosophy
Chronic pain is acute pain that persists longer than it should. It may be something you have to learn to live with.
Treatments
Conventional treatments for chronic pain largely consist of stopping the pain signal from reaching the brain through medications, injections, nerve ablations, and surgeries.
After getting an MRI, James' medical doctor assured him that the pain was the result of the disc herniation pressing on his spinal cord and nerve roots. After his surgery he was diagnosed with "failed surgery syndrome" which means the surgery was successful at fixing his disc herniation but not his pain. He was left without any further explanation for his pain as all his labs and images were normal now.
How Do Holistic Pain Treatments Explain Chronic Pain Differently?
Definition
A complex, multifaceted condition reflecting a deeper, underlying imbalance within the whole body.
Cause
Even if your pain began with a clear cause (i.e. an injury) it is now a physical, biochemical, and emotional problem involving many different body systems.
Physical: damaged tissues, kinetic chain imbalances, disc herniations, etc.
Biochemical: intestinal permeability, autoimmune conditions, heavy metal toxicity, etc.
Emotional: repressed emotions, catastrophizing thoughts, ACEs
Philosophy
Chronic pain is a message that something is wrong. No more, no less. It doesn't exist for no reason so as long as you are experiencing pain there is something somewhere that hasn't been addressed or properly treated.
Pain is also just a symptom, it is not what is actually wrong with you. As long as you are treating the pain (suppressing symptoms) you are missing the causes.
Pain is understood as a protective output of the brain, influenced by threat perception, past injury, inflammation, and nervous system tone—not just tissue state.
Treatments
Treatments are focused on supporting the body and the healing process and not suppressing symptoms. They are typically natural but still based on scientific evidence.
We knew there was an explanation for James' pain, we were just going to have to look deeper than standard labs and images are capable of. Through a thorough history, physical exam, and more advanced laboratory testing we were able to identify things that had been missed by his conventional pain managament team. James had muscle imbalances and joint restrictions which were causing a weak point in his low back, his surgically corrected disc herniation was now spewing glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter amplifying pain signals to his brain, he had chronic inflammation from a leaky gut, food sensititivites, and an indiagnosed autoimmune disease, as well as an adverse childhood event that still plagued him to the day.
What Types of Treatments Are Used in Conventional Pain Management?
Care typically follows established protocols guided by organizations like the American Medical Association or American College of Rheumatology. This is referred to as the standard of care and there is little room for individuality or customization. It typically looks like this:
These tools aim to reduce pain signals or inflammation, not necessarily address the causes of them. That’s not a criticism—it’s a limitation of the model.
Before coming to us, James underwent surgery and physical therapy, tried prescription and non prescription pain killers, and even had steroid and nerve block injections with little success. He joked that his insurance card should come with a punch card—"one more visit and I get a free ice pack."
At True Health Centers we believe there is a time and a place for all models of medicine and treatment options. Conventional Medicine will save your life, but it was never designed to make you healthy.
What Types of Treatments Are Used in Holistic or Integrative Pain Care?
The goal of holistic chronic pain treatments are to correct problems, not mask them. Because of this, holistic treatments for chronic pain can vary widley and are very individualistic from person to person. However, their ultimate goal is the same: provide the body with the necessary tools to heal itself.
If you were to search Google for natural, holistic, or alternative pain treatments you are going to get recommendations such as:
Stress management techniques (mindfulness, meditation)
Yoga and tai chi
Anti-inflammatory alternatives (ginger, turmeric)
Essential oils
While these treatments all have their merits, they pose two issues: they are not individualized, and they are largely just natural alternatives to the symptom suppressors you have already tried.
True holistic treatments for chronic pain are so much more than that. They are designed to be used together to correct underlying abnormalities in your physiology. Treatments tend to be less pharmaceutical and more natural; but are always backed by the scientific literature:
Nutritional counseling
Lifestyle modifications
Supplementation
Botanical medicine
Homeopathy
Naturopathic medicine
Chiropractic adjustments and mobilizations
Massage and soft tissue therapies
Physical therapy
Dry needling
Acupuncture
Cold laser therapy
Shockwave therapy
Hydrotherapy
IR sauna therapy
Reiki
Hypnosis
Mind-body counseling
After his initial intake and advanced laboratory testing, we created an individualized treatment plan that addressed all of his issues while still being attainable given his limitations. They included nutritional and lifestyle counseling, chiropractic adjutments and mobilizations, physician quality supplementation, soft tissue therapies, cold laser therapy, hydrotherapy, and mind-body counseling. Treatments began in person but after 4 months he moved out of driving distance. We continued care virtually and were able to acheive the same success.
At True Health Centers, the focus isn’t on “alternative” techniques, it's about supporting you where you are with treatments that make sense for human health. The human body has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to not just survive, but to thrive with what is found naturally on Earth. Medicine is most effective when it supports healing rather than trying to override it.
When Does Conventional Pain Management Work Best?
This model works very well for:
Acute injuries
Post-surgical pain
Those who require quick, easy, passive care
Where conventional pain management tends to struggle is when pain persists after tissues have healed, or when the intensity of pain no longer matches what imaging, labs, or exams show. At that point, continuing to escalate the same tools often leads to diminishing returns: stronger medications, repeated injections, or procedures that don’t meaningfully change daily life.
For the couple of months after James' injury and before his surgery, his prescription pain medications worked very well. They didn't eliminate his pain but they did make it so that he could do the minimum to take care of himself. However, after his surgery, his conventional therapies provided no more relief. He was stuck only being able to do the bare minimum and relied heavily on his support system for everything else.
In short, conventional pain management is often the right tool early on, during flare-ups, or when disease activity is clearly driving symptoms. Problems arise when it becomes the only framework applied to chronic, complex pain states.
When Do Holistic Pain Treatments Work Best?
Holistic pain treatments tend to work best when:
Injuries take longer to heal than they should
There was no clear cause for your pain initially
Your labs and imagers are "normal"
Pain is widespread
Symptoms change or worsen
There are other symptoms like fatigue or GI disturbances
You are willing to take an active role in your health
You understand that healing takes time and holistic treatments will unlikely provide immediate relief
You've “done everything right” in conventional care but remain stuck
Holistic care falls short when you are just looking for natural alternatives to your current treatments. Just because they are natural does not mean they are supportive of healing. They can still be symptom suppressors.
Importantly, holistic pain treatments are not a quick fix. It usually requires more engagement, more education, and more time. But for many people with chronic pain, it’s the first approach that actually explains why their pain behaves the way it does, and what needs to change for it to calm down.
James was an ideal candidate for our holistic pain treatment program. He had unexplained chronic pain, had tried all of the conventional routes, had "normal" labs and images, understood that true healing takes time, and was willing to put in the effort. After 6 months of treatment James was down to a 2/10 daily pain with flares only getting up to a 3/10. He left with the tools and education he needed to keep treating himself and after a year was down to a daily 1/10 pain which he said he barely noticed and felt like even more improvement was on the horizon.
Medications vs. Systems-Based Care: How Do Outcomes Compare Over Time?
Medications can be helpful, especially short-term. They are designed to quickly stop pain signals from reaching the brain and completely shut down inflammatory pathways. The challenge is long-term reliance and side effects. Over time opioids become less effective, which requires increasing doses and the potential for more serious adverse effects. Steroids and NSAIDs provide short term relief but actually slow down the healing process.
Systems-based care takes more time and effort to see results and this is why a lot of people give up on them. But when done right, they create the conditions for health so that your body only creates appropriate pain at appropriate times.
Why Do Many People Still Have Pain Despite Following Conventional Treatment Plans?
Through all the advances that modern science and medicine have made, it is still a model of medicine that is focused on passive therapies that produce quick results. Conventional medicine is designed to save lives, not necessarily make you a healthier person. And that is perfectly okay because we all benefit from life saving care. But everything that has benefits also has its limitations. When it comes to the complexity of chronic disease and pain, conventional medicine is not equipped to provide the individualistic, whole-person care that is required for remission.
Can Holistic Pain Treatments Help When Imaging and Lab Results Are “Normal”?
Yes, because standard labs and imaging are designed to look for diseases. But chronic pain is not a disease. It is not something you contracted one day. It is a dysfunction and the strength of holistic medicine is to isolate what is not functioning properly and to provide supportive therapies to correct the problem.
What Does the Research Say About Long-Term Effectiveness of Conventional Pain Management?
Approximately 10% of adults with chronic pain experience improvement or recovery within a year when receiving conventional therapies. For those who do not find remission, conventional therapies reduce pain by an average of 30%.
While still hopeful for a "cure," conventional pain management places the focus of treatment on improving quality of life and function rather than complete pain elimination.
What Does the Evidence Say About Holistic and Integrative Pain Approaches?
The medical literature does not provide the same level of information on holistic and integrative pain approaches as it does for conventional medical treatments. This gap is unfortunate but understandable due to the inherent limitations of medical studies. In a randomized, controlled clinical trial, only a single treatment can be compared to a placebo, ensuring that the study results are clearly interpretable. However, this methodology does not align with how holistic medicine operates. It is understood that a single therapy will never provide remission for most individuals suffering from a given condition. Therefore, multiple treatments are offered simultaneously to equip the body with everything it needs to heal. When remission occurs through these treatments, it is impossible to replicate the results universally and determine what specifically was effective.
While this approach might be considered "bad science," it is good medicine.
The studies that do exist indicate that the best outcomes are achieved through multidisciplinary models, rather than isolated therapies.
Safety and Side Effects: Conventional Pain Management vs. Holistic Treatments
They say there are two types of prescription medications: those that don't work, and those that have side effects. Every time you go to your doctor they are supposed to lay out the risks, benefits, and alternatives to your treatment plan. Whether or not you feel like this happens, the risks of pain medications, especially opioids, are pretty well known. In pursuit of pain relief, there is the inherent risk of serious complications and even death.
Because holistic pain treatments are largely natural in nature, they generally carry lower physical risk. The risk is not zero (you can die from too much vitamin A) but typically much lower. The real risk is poor execution when approaches aren’t individually tailored or evidence-informed.
What wasn't mentioned in James' story is that he tried a lot of natural and alternative treatments himself. These were things he learned about through his own investigations like magnesium and turmeric. While these were supplements we ultimately did incorporate into his holistic treatment plan, they failed him prior for two main reasons. First, the supplements he purchased weren't third party tested, were poorly bioavailable forms, and were low potency. He just wasn't absorbing and utilizing what he thought he was. Secondly, he was using them as natural alternatives for muscle relaxers and anti-inflammatories; symptom supressors. When we reintroduced these supplements (physician quality versions, of course) as part of his holistic treatment plan, he was able to reap the benefits of them.
Cost Comparison: Is Holistic Pain Treatment More Expensive Than Conventional Care?
Upfront, often yes. Long-term, often no.
Conventional care costs accumulate quietly over the years of not achieving remission.
Holistic programs are typically more intensive and individualized which increase the upfront cost. The savings come from finding lasting relief and cutting your reliance on doctors.
The cost of chronic pain care is an equally in depth topic. We broke it down here to help you better understand what you are paying for and where the True Health Chronic Pain Program compares to other models.
Can Conventional and Holistic Pain Approaches Be Used Together?
They absolutely can, and in most cases should be. The ultimate goal is to end your pain and get off all your medications. In the mean time, let them serve their purpose to decrease your pain and inflammation enough to be as present as possible for your holistic treatments.
At True Health Centers we encourage a collaborative care environment between all of your healthcare providers. We do not require you to cease any medications or treatments from other providers.
How to Choose Between Conventional Pain Management and Holistic Pain Treatments
Ask:
What’s driving my pain now?
What’s already been tried?
Is the plan addressing regulation or only suppression?
Conclusion: A Clear Next Step If You’re Still Unsure
You’ve been through a lot. And it makes perfect sense to feel cautious, even cynical, about “another approach.” But if you’ve read this far, you’re clearly still searching. You haven’t given up. And that matters.
What we’ve seen—over and over again—is that when people finally get a full picture of why their body is stuck in pain… something shifts. They go from powerless to empowered. From chasing relief to rebuilding resilience.
No, it’s not always fast. And it’s not always easy. But it’s real. And for many, it’s the beginning of getting their life back.
If that’s a journey you’re ready to explore, we’re here to walk it with you. It worked for James, and it could work for you. If you're even the slightest bit curious if our aproach is right for you, you can schedule a free phone consult below.