Chronic Pain Treatment Foristell, MO | Physical Therapists Near Foristell

Chronic Pain Treatment in Foristell, MO

Chronic pain treatment in Foristell, MO. Anyone who has suffered from chronic pain knows the debilitating effect it can have on your life. Sometimes, the months or years we’ve dealt with it leads us to forget how good we used to feel. At it’s worse, the pain can keep us from comfortably performing basic tasks like walking up the stairs, or the activities we love best, whether that be dominating your local softball league or being able to properly look after your children.

Axes Physical Therapy is a collection of 15 physical and occupational therapy centers committed to helping our Foristell, MO patients achieve positive outcomes through personalized chronic pain treatment plans, built on techniques that have been demonstrated to work. To get back to the activities you love most, reach out to our location nearest you or contact us online for effective chronic pain treatment.

What Type of Pain is Considered “Chronic”?

Chronic pain is pain that doesn’t go away after 3-6 months, which is generally considered to be the “normal” healing period. The pain can be constant or can come and go, can stay in one spot or hit different body parts, and can be anything from stiffness to stinging pain.

According to the CDC, in 2019 one out of five American adults had chronic pain. 7.4% of adults (over a third of those with chronic pain) suffered from “high-impact” chronic pain, which is persistent pain 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 reduces quality of life and leads to significant economic costs. It can also lead to anxiety, depression, and insomnia.

Why Do I Have 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 due to a specific incident or medical condition. “Acute pain” occurs immediately, usually because of a known, root cause such as being hit with something, dental work, or surgery. It can last for anywhere from a moment to months while the injury heals.

By contrast, people can experience chronic pain for several reasons. In some cases there may be an injury that hurts even after it’s healed . In other cases, it’s caused by a medical condition, or degenerative disease. 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 irritated or wear down from overuse or overexertion, causing joint pain.
A variety of conditions that cause low 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, repetitive motions at a physically demanding job, sciatica, or a variety of disc injuries.
Cancer pain — Tumors can cause pain when they grow and touch tissue, nerves, or organs.
Fibromyalgia — While experts are still trying to understand the exact cause of fibromyalgia, 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 an issue in the nervous system, or because of depression, anxiety, and/or stress.

There are many suggestions for relieving chronic pain, and while many can help you be more active in your daily life, many people we see in Foristell, MO have felt like they tried all of them and more and still can’t find relief. Often, physical therapy is the strategy that finally gets them relief and returns them to the activities they love.

Chronic Pain Treatment Foristell, MO | Pain Management | Physical Therapist Near Foristell

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

There are many possible options for chronic pain treatment in Foristell, MO, including medication, chiropractic care, massage, and regular exercise. Studies show that including 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? What makes it worse? What makes it better? How is limiting you in your daily life? After our evaluation, we’ll work in tandem with you and your physician to come up with a tailor-made treatment plan aimed at getting you back a pain-free daily life.

Physical therapy helps by stretching and strengthening your body. Collectively improving those aspects of the best possible mobility relieves pain and improves your quality of life by allowing your body to function better, and interrupting certain nerves from sending pain messages to your brain. Depending on you, the nature of your chronic pain, how old you are, and your desired activity level, your treatment plan in Foristell, MO may include:

Guided Exercise

Exercise boosts your body’s production of endorphins, your body’s natural, feel-good chemical messengers, which not only eases pain but helps with related symptoms like stress and depression. A licensed Foristell, MO physical therapist can guide through exercises that will safely and effectively improve your mobility. 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. Through guided exercise, we’ll be able to teach you safe exercises you can do on your own.

Manual Therapy and Soft Tissue Mobilization

Manual therapy incorporates therapeutic touch to encourage your body’s natural healing process and relaxation of the surrounding tissues. Your Foristell, MO physical therapist will use their hands to gently move soft tissue. Studies have shown that manual therapy combined with guided exercise is better at treating pain than either technique used by itself.

Instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization is a form of manual therapy, except that instead of their hands, physical therapists use specialized tools like Astym®.

Dry Needling

Trigger point dry needling is a relatively new treatment method that is becoming more popular among Foristell, MO physical therapist. It involves using thin, filiform needles to gently create small tears or rips in damaged muscles and connective tissue. This eases pain as it stimulates the body’s “healing mode” and stimulates the flow of nutrients to the affected body part.

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)

TENS works by placing electrodes where the pain is located. It sends low-voltage electrical currents to release endorphins and awakens nerve cells that prevent your brain from receiving pain messages.

Patient Education

Understanding the cause of your pain and how to deal with it in your daily life can do wonders for your chronic pain treatment in Foristell, MO. We’ll teach you appropriate posture and movement techniques, in addition to healthy lifestyle tips like diet recommendations.

Other conditions we treat in Foristell, MO include:

Chronic Pain Treatment Foristell, MO | Physical Therapy | Pain Management Near Foristell

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

At Axes Physical Therapy in Foristell, MO, we do what we do for simple reasons: to achieve positive client outcomes and help our patients return to to their best life. Whether you want to be able to hit a breakaway layup like you used to, or just want to get out of bed in the morning pain-free, speak to a physical therapist in Foristell, MO today or schedule an appointment online for meaningful chronic pain treatment.