Chronic Pain Treatment in Ellisville, MO

Chronic pain treatment in Ellisville, MO. Anyone who has had to deal with chronic pain knows how hard it is to express the effects it has on your daily life. Sometimes, the months or years we’ve dealt with it causes us to lose sight of how good we used to feel. At it’s worse, the pain can keep us from comfortably completing daily tasks like walking up the stairs, or the activities we love doing the most, whether that be dominating your local pickleball league or picking up your grandchildren.

Axes Physical Therapy is a group of provider-owned physical therapy and rehabilitation centers devoted to helping our Ellisville, MO patients achieve positive outcomes through customized chronic pain treatment plans, based on techniques that have been proven to work. If you’re finally ready to move on from chronic pain, reach out to our location most convenient for you you or contact us online for safe chronic pain treatment.

What Is Chronic Pain?

Chronic pain is pain that doesn’t go away after 12 weeks, which is how long it typically takes pain to go away after an injury, surgery, or illness. The pain can occur every day or every few days, can stay in one spot or radiate through your body, and can range from aching to stinging pain.

According to the CDC, in 2019 20.4% of American adults had chronic pain. 7.4% of adults (or 36.4% of those who experienced chronic pain) had “high-impact” chronic pain, defined as pain that, on “most days” or “every day,” affects how somebody can work or enjoy other activities. Anyone who suffers from pain frequently will tell you that it causes far more than just physical discomfort. Chronic pain affects quality of life and leads to higher medical expenses. It can also cause significant mental health issues and insomnia.

What’s Behind Chronic Pain?

Pain, in general, occurs when nerves called nociceptors detect damage somewhere in your body, and send a signal through your spinal cord up to your brain. Often, pain is due to a specific incident or medical condition. “Acute pain” occurs immediately, usually because of a known, underlying cause such as falling, dental work, or surgery. The pain lasts for anywhere from a few minutes to several weeks.

By contrast, people can experience chronic pain for several reasons. In some cases there may be an injury that hurts after the tissue is repaired . In other cases, it’s caused by a medical condition, or happens as our bodies wear down as we age. Sometimes, the pain isn’t caused by a specific condition, but rather from things like poor posture, obesity, or overexertion. Common types and causes of chronic pain include:

• Arthritis, bursitis, tendinitis, and other conditions that cause joint pain — The cartilage, tendons, and ligaments in our joints can become damaged or wear down over time or due to an injury, causing chronic pain in the affected joint.
• A variety of conditions that lead to lower back pain — Up to 84% of adults will deal with back pain at some point in their lives. Causes can be poor posture or technique, wear and tear at a physically demanding job, sciatica, or a variety of disc injuries.
• Cancer pain — Tumors can lead to pain when they push up against other parts inside your body.
• Fibromyalgia — While an exact cause isn’t yet known, this refers to widespread muscle pain and tenderness.
• Neurogenic pain and psychogenic pain — Sometimes, pain does not occur for a physical reason, but because there is dysfunction in the nervous system, or because of psychological stress.

There are many pointers for managing chronic pain, and while many can lead to greater comfort, many people we see in Ellisville, MO tell us that they have tried all of them and more and still can’t feel better. Often, physical therapy is the strategy that finally gets them relief and returns them to a pain-free daily life.

Why Is Physical Therapy in Ellisville, MO a Great Option For Chronic Pain Treatment?

Chronic pain can be treated through a variety of methods in Ellisville, MO, including prescription or over-the-counter drugs, chiropractic adjustments, yoga, and consistent exercise. Studies show that incorporating physical therapy into your treatment plan is incredibly effective for relieving chronic pain. You can visit any of our 15 locations for a free screening to better understand what might be causing your chronic pain. We’ll ask you questions to better understand how we can help you. How often do you have pain? Does anything make it better or worse? How is limiting you in your daily life? After your screening, we’ll form a team with you and your doctor to design a personalized course of treatment aimed at getting you back to the activities you love most.

Physical therapy helps by stretching and strengthening your body. Collectively improving those aspects of the best possible mobility relieves pain and enhances your daily life by making your body function better, and interrupting any signals to your brain that something may be wrong. Depending on you, the nature of your chronic pain, your age, and the activity level you wish to get back to, your treatment plan in Ellisville, MO may include:

Guided Exercise

Exercise increases endorphins, your body’s natural, feel-good chemical messengers, which not only eases pain but eases related symptoms like stress and depression. A qualified Ellisville, MO physical therapist can guide through exercises that will safely and effectively improve your mobility. With these exercises, your brain will come to understand that certain movements can be performed without pain, restoring how your brain processes messages. We’ll also show you light exercises you can do outside of our sessions.

Manual Therapy and Soft Tissue Mobilization

Manual therapy incorporates therapeutic touch to promote healing and relaxation of the surrounding tissues. Your Ellisville, MO physical therapist will use their hands to gently manipulate your muscles and joints. Studies have shown that manual therapy and guided exercise together are better at treating pain than either treatment method used by itself.

With instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization, physical therapists use specialized tools, like Astym®, instead of their hands, to smooth out tissue and identify degenerative tissue and soft tissue restrictions.

Dry Needling

Trigger point dry needling is a relatively new tool that is becoming more popular among Ellisville, MO physical therapist. It involves using thin, filiform needles to gently create small tears or rips in inflamed muscles and connective tissue. In doing so, it stimulates the body’s “healing mode” and stimulates the nutrient-rich blood flow to the affected area.

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)

TENS works by placing electrodes on the skin near where you are experiencing pain. It sends low-voltage electrical currents to release endorphins and stimulates nerve cells that prevent your brain from receiving pain messages.

Patient Education

Understanding why you’re experiencing pain and how to cope with it can have a significant positive effect on your chronic pain treatment in Ellisville, MO. We’ll help you learn appropriate posture and movement practices, as well as healthy lifestyle tips like how to keep a healthy diet.

Other conditions we treat in Ellisville, MO include:

• Sports Medicine
• Hand Pain Physical Therapy
• Foot & Ankle Pain Treatment
• Hip Pain Treatment
• Plantar Fasciitis Treatment
• Stroke Rehabilitation
• Hip Replacement Physical Therapy
• Workers Comp' Physical Therapy
• Migraine Relief
• Sprain and Strain Treatment

Call Axes Physical Therapy For Your Chronic Pain Treatment in Ellisville, MO

At Axes Physical Therapy in Ellisville, MO, we do what we do for simple reasons: to deliver positive patient experiences and help our patients get back to the things they love doing most. Whether you want to be able to run across the tennis court like you used to, or just want to carry the groceries in without discomfort, speak to a physical therapist in Ellisville, MO today or schedule an appointment online for meaningful chronic pain treatment.