A Physical Therapist’s Role in Chronic Pain Relief
In the United States alone, there are more than 100 million people who suffer from chronic pain. Therefore, if you have chronic pain, you are not alone.
Standard painkillers have so many undesirable side effects that you can’t rely on them to completely treat your pain, leaving you to wonder whether you’re just doomed to suffer from it.
Fortunately, there is another approach that might work. Chronic pain has been demonstrated to be effectively treated by physical therapy. You might be able to drastically lessen your discomfort with the appropriate treatment strategy.
How can a physical therapist assist in easing my chronic pain?
- TENS, Ice Therapy, Heat Therapy
Physical therapists can manage your current discomfort using a range of strategies at their disposal. To assist reduce inflammation and lessen some of the pain you’re experiencing, they can utilize techniques like transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), hot and cold therapies, and more. Additionally, these treatments can enhance your body’s capacity for healing. - Safe Movements
Most people are not completely conscious of how they move during daily activities. You can be causing your chronic pain by bending over, lifting, walking, running, sitting, or moving in some other way. Your pain can be considerably reduced by learning how to fix the problems with your movements. Your physical therapist will examine you during your initial visit and monitor how you perform various movements, such as walking, to look for any potential issues. Once they have identified the problem areas, they can show you how to fix them to prevent unintentionally making your chronic pain worse. - Flexibility Improvement
Enhancing your flexibility might also aid with pain relief. When you have an injury, it is typical for your body to try to compensate for the discomfort in some way. This can result in undesirable movement patterns that you might not even be aware of. The way your body adjusts to the injury may be helpful at first, but over time it will cause damage to other sections of your body. You are probably going through this type of situation if you feel particularly constrained or locked up in some way. Your body can be slowly relaxed through physical therapy, allowing you to resume healthy movement. Your physical therapist will collaborate with you to reduce the stress on your body so that it can move properly and to strengthen the muscles around the joint so that you can continue to use the proper motion patterns. - Strength Training
Your physical therapist could give you some exercises to strengthen your muscles and soft tissues depending on your condition. Given that exercise can be difficult in and of itself, especially initially, it may seem weird that medical research advises getting stronger when you are in pain. But there are valid reasons to make an effort to fortify you. Pressure on nerves in your joints, such as your spine, knees, hips, elbows, or other joints, is frequently the source of persistent pain. Strengthening the muscles around those joints will improve their ability to support you, relieving some of the pressure on your nerves.
What should I know about chronic pain?
Some people experience chronic pain in the absence of any prior injury or visible signs of physical harm, such as a sprained back or a significant infection, or there may be a continuing cause of pain, such as arthritis, cancer, or an ear infection. Elderly people with persistent pain often have these conditions.
Headache, low back pain, cancer pain, arthritis pain, neurogenic pain (pain brought on by damage to the peripheral nerves or the central nervous system itself), and psychogenic pain are some of the common complaints associated with chronic pain (pain not due to past disease or injury or any visible sign of damage inside or outside the nervous system).
A person could have two or more chronic pain syndromes that coexist. These ailments can include vulvodynia, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, inflammatory bowel disease, interstitial cystitis, chronic fatigue syndrome, and fibromyalgia. If these illnesses have a common cause, it remains unknown.
Find relief from your ongoing pain today
We want you to know that if you’re dealing with chronic pain, we’re here to support you. Our physical therapy staff can create a customized treatment plan to help you manage your pain and enhance your quality of life. Do not hesitate to get in touch with OC Sports and Rehab right away to arrange a consultation!