Many people live with and are affected by chronic pain each year. The numbers are predicted to increase as the country’s aging population grows. More than an inconvenience, chronic pain has the potential to affect one’s quality of life, including the inability to perform daily tasks or keep a job.
Methods to treat chronic pain are also changing. Until recently, doctors would often prescribe pain medications but have decreased this practice significantly due to the opioid epidemic.
Alternative treatments are now considered, including physiotherapy, massage, over-the-counter pain medications, and acupuncture. These treatments are designed to lessen the pain experienced and help patients improve their mobility and enjoy life again.
Benefit of Physiotherapy
Of the available options to treat chronic pain, physiotherapy does more than ease or manage discomfort. Treatment can help address why the patient is feeling a particular sensation in the first place and strengthen related muscle groups to improve endurance and range of motion. If your doctor has recommended physiotherapy for chronic pain, here’s what you can expect.
What Is Chronic Pain?
Those living with a chronic condition may experience varying degrees of pain for several months to years. Sources include arthritis, a herniated disc, cancer, a fracture or sprain that never healed, and nerve damage. Imaging and other testing methods may reveal no specific cause in select cases.
In all cases, the pain affects a particular muscle group or joint and is frequently severe enough to impact concentration and your ability to perform certain motions. With time, individuals may find they can no longer move a joint or muscle due to the resulting pain.
Chronic pain is different from acute pain, which is when an individual feels a sudden sharp sensation that gradually goes away when the injured area heals. For many patients with chronic pain, the injury may heal, but the pain remains.
Evaluation for Chronic Pain
When you first meet with a physiotherapist to address chronic pain:
· You will be asked about the discomfort you’re experiencing, including how often it’s felt if any factors decrease the sensation, and how it has impacted your life.
· Your physiotherapist may ask about your medical history and previous treatments – including medications – and their effects.
· Your range of motion, muscle strength, posture, balance, and endurance will be assessed. It would be best to communicate what you’re experiencing as you perform certain motions.
Treating Chronic Pain with Physiotherapy
To address the source of chronic pain, a physiotherapist determines why certain muscle groups or tissues are weak or stiff. Exercises are designed to reduce stress in these areas, alleviate pain, and improve daily mobility and ability to function.
Although treatment plans are based on your situation and condition, they may involve the following.
EXERCISE
Exercises help strengthen muscles and joints, improve mobility, and break up the brain’s signals that any motion in the area results in pain. As such, exercise for chronic pain ultimately helps with retraining thoughts.
Depending on the area and tissue affected, your treatment plan may include:
· Low-impact aerobic exercises to increase heart rate without placing additional stress on your joints.
· Strengthening exercises, often with resistance bands or your own weight. Your core will likely be involved.
· Exercises targeting the area where you’re experiencing pain.
· Stretching for both warm-ups and recovery.
· Postural reeducation to improve your balance and alignment
PASSIVE THERAPY
Other more passive forms of physiotherapy may be used to decrease pain and improve motion:
· Dry needling to address muscle knots and trigger points
· Cupping to reduce localized inflammation
· Polychromatic light therapy to promote healing at a deeper level
· Heat and ice to lessen inflammation and pain
· Massage to improve blood flow
· Pain Neuroscience Education (PNE) to explain why pain occurs the way it is.
· How to move without pain, including walking, lifting, sitting, and running strategies.
Have you been living with chronic pain for months or years? A Physiotherapist can address the source of your pain and help improve your daily life.
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