Chronic Pain Treatment in Ferguson, MO

Chronic pain treatment in Ferguson, MO. Anyone who has suffered from 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 forget how good we’re capable of feeling. At it’s worse, the pain can keep us from comfortably completing basic activities like doing household chores, or the activities we love doing the most, whether that be dominating your local pick-up league or working in the garden.

Axes Physical Therapy is a collection of 15 physical therapy treatment locations devoted to helping our Ferguson, MO patients achieve positive outcomes through customized and evidence-backed chronic pain treatment. If you’re finally ready to move on from chronic pain, reach out to the location most convenient for you you or contact us online for safe chronic pain treatment.

What Is Chronic Pain?

Chronic pain is pain that lasts for longer than 3-6 months, which is how long it takes most people and conditions to heal. The pain can be constant or can come and go, can be localized or radiate through your body, and can change in severity from stiffness to searing, intense pain.

According to the CDC, in 2019 one out of five U.S. adults dealt with chronic pain. 7.4% of adults (over a third of those with chronic pain) had “high-impact” chronic pain, which is pain that occurs on more days than not that affects how somebody can work or perform other activities. Chronic pain doesn’t just hurt you physically. Chronic pain reduces quality of life and leads to higher medical expenses. It can also cause significant mental health issues and insomnia.

What Causes Chronic Pain?

Pain, in general, occurs when nerves called nociceptors perceive damaged tissue, and send a signal through your spinal cord up to your brain. Often, pain is caused by a specific incident or illness. “Acute pain” occurs immediately, usually because of a known, root cause such as stubbing your toe, dental work, or surgery. It can last for anywhere from a moment to months while the injury heals.

By contrast, the causes of chronic pain aren’t always easily identifiable. Sometimes an injury continues to cause pain after the tissue is repaired . Other times, it’s caused by a medical condition, or degenerative disease. Sometimes, there is no discernible cause for someone’s chronic pain. 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 from overuse or overexertion, causing joint pain.
• A variety of conditions that lead to lower back pain — Almost 9 out of 10 adults will deal with back pain eventually. Causes can be poor posture or technique, wear and tear at a physically demanding job, sciatica, or disc injuries that affect the nerves in the spinal column.
• Cancer pain — Tumors can lead to pain when they bother tissue, nerves, or organs.
• Fibromyalgia — While an exact cause isn’t yet known, this refers to pain that affects your muscles and joints throughout your body.
• Neurogenic pain and psychogenic pain — Sometimes, pain does not occur for a physical reason, but because there is an issue in the nervous system, or because of psychological stress.

You can read our suggestions for managing chronic pain, and while many are effective, many of our Ferguson, MO patients have felt like they tried everything and still can’t feel better. Often, physical therapy becomes their path toward meaningful pain relief and getting back to the activities they love.

How Do Physical Therapists in Ferguson, MO Help With Chronic Pain Treatment?

There are many possible options for chronic pain treatment in Ferguson, MO, including medication, chiropractic care, yoga, and regular exercise. Studies show that incorporating physical therapy into your treatment plan is incredibly effective for relieving chronic pain. You are welcome to visit any of our 15 locations for a free screening to learn why you might be experiencing chronic pain. We’ll get to know you and your pain better. Do you experience pain every day? Most days? When does it come on? When does it get better? How is limiting you in your daily life? From there, we’ll form a team with you and your physician to come up with a tailor-made course of treatment aimed at returning you a comfortable daily life.

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 certain nerves from sending pain messages to your brain. Depending on you, the causes of your chronic pain, how old you are, and your desired activity level, your treatment plan in Ferguson, MO may include:

Guided Exercise

Exercise releases endorphins, your body’s homegrown, feel-good hormone, which not only reduces pain but eases any depression, stress, and/or anxiety caused by your pain. A professional Ferguson, MO physical therapist can help you perform exercises aimed at improving your mobility without causing more pain or injury. With guided exercise, your brain will come to understand that certain movements can be performed without pain, rebuilding your brain’s trust in the rest of your body. We’ll also show you light exercises you can do outside of our sessions.

Manual Therapy and Soft Tissue Mobilization

Manual therapy involves therapeutic touch to encourage your body’s natural healing process and relaxation of muscles and joints. Your Ferguson, MO physical therapist will use their hands to gently manipulate soft tissue. Research demonstrates that manual therapy and guided exercise together are more effective than either technique used alone.

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

Dry Needling

Trigger point dry needling is a relatively new tool that is becoming more popular among Ferguson, MO physical therapist. It involves using thin, filiform needles to penetrate irritated soft tissue. This eases pain as it stimulates the body’s “healing mode” and stimulates the nutrient-rich blood flow to the affected body part.

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)

TENS works by placing electrodes on the skin near where you are experiencing pain. It delivers low-voltage currents, which releases endorphins and awakens nerve cells that block the transmission of pain messages.

Patient Education

Understanding why you’re experiencing pain and how to deal with it in your daily life can do wonders for your chronic pain treatment in Ferguson, MO. We’ll help you learn appropriate posture and movement techniques, as well as healthy lifestyle tips like diet recommendations.

Other services we offer in Ferguson, MO include:

• Workers Comp' Physical Therapy
• Migraine Relief
• Sprain and Strain Treatment
• Geriatric Physical Therapy
• Injury Rehabilitation
• Pain Management Services
• TMJ Treatment
• Herniated Disc Treatment
• Rotator Cuff Tear Treatment
• Running Injury

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

At Axes Physical Therapy in Ferguson, MO, we do what we do for simple reasons: to deliver positive patient experiences and help our patients get back to the activities they love. 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 Ferguson, MO today or make an appointment online for meaningful chronic pain treatment.