Chronic Pain Treatment in Holstein, MO

Chronic pain treatment in Holstein, MO. Anyone who has suffered from chronic pain knows how limiting it can be. Sometimes, the months or years we’ve dealt with it causes us to forget what it feels like to live a pain-free life. At it’s worse, the pain can keep us from comfortably completing basic tasks like carrying in groceries, or the activities we love doing the most, whether that be flying down the court or working in the garden.

Axes Physical Therapy is a group of provider-owned physical therapy and rehabilitation centers committed to helping our Holstein, MO patients find meaningful relief through personalized chronic pain treatment plans, built on techniques that have been proven to work. If you’re finally ready to move on from chronic pain, reach out to the location nearest you or contact us online for safe 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 change in severity from dull soreness to agonizing pain.

Based on research from the CDC, in 2019 20.4% of adults nationwide had chronic pain. 7.4% of adults (over a third of those who experienced chronic pain) suffered from “high-impact” chronic pain, defined as pain that, on “most days” or “every day,” affects how somebody can work or perform other activities. Chronic pain doesn’t just hurt you physically. Chronic pain impacts quality of life and leads to significant economic costs. It can also cause significant mental health issues and insomnia.

What Causes Chronic Pain?

Pain, in general, occurs when nerves called nociceptors detect damaged tissue, and send a signal through your spinal cord up to your brain. In most cases, pain is caused by trauma, an infection, or other medical condition. “Acute pain” occurs immediately, usually because of a known, underlying cause such as an injury, dental work, or surgery. It can last for anywhere from a few minutes to months while the injury heals.

By contrast, the causes of chronic pain aren’t always easily known. Sometimes an injury continues to cause pain even after it’s healed . In other cases, it’s caused by an illness, or occurs as our bodies wear down as we age. Sometimes, there is no observable cause for someone’s chronic pain. Common types and causes of chronic pain include:

• Arthritis and other diseases that cause joint pain — The cartilage, tendons, and ligaments in our joints can become inflamed 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 — 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 impinge on the nerves in the spinal column.
• Cancer pain — Tumors can cause pain when they bother tissue, nerves, or organs.
• Fibromyalgia — While experts are still trying to understand the exact cause of fibromyalgia, this refers to pain that affects your muscles and joints throughout your body.
• Neurogenic pain and psychogenic pain — In some cases, there is no underlying musculoskeletal cause, but because there is dysfunction in the nervous system, or because of mental health issues or your personal history.

There are many pointers for managing chronic pain, and while many can lead to greater comfort, many of our Holstein, MO patients have felt like they tried all of them and more and still can’t find relief. Often, physical therapy becomes their path toward lasting pain relief and getting back to a pain-free daily life.

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

Chronic pain can be treated through a variety of means in Holstein, MO, including medication, spinal adjustments by a chiropractor, massage, and consistent exercise. Research demonstrates that making physical therapy a part of your treatment plan is incredibly effective for relieving chronic pain. You are welcome to come to any of our 15 locations for a free screening to learn what might be causing your chronic pain. We’ll ask you questions to better understand how we can help you. Do you experience pain every day? Most days? What makes it worse? What makes it better? How is limiting you in your daily life? After your screening, we’ll work in concert with you and your doctor to design a tailor-made treatment plan aimed at returning you to the activities you love most.

Physical therapy can relieve pain by increasing your strength, balance, posture, and flexibility. Collectively improving those aspects of the best possible mobility relieves pain and enhances your daily life by allowing your body to function better, and interrupting any signals to your brain that something may be wrong. Depending on you, the causes of your chronic pain, your age, and the activity level you wish to get back to, your treatment plan in Holstein, MO may include:

Guided Exercise

Exercise releases endorphins, your body’s homegrown, feel-good chemical messengers, which not only eases pain but helps with any depression, stress, and/or anxiety caused by your pain. A licensed Holstein, MO physical therapist will help you perform exercises aimed at improving your mobility without causing further pain or injury. With these exercises, your brain will come to understand that certain movements can be performed without pain, rebuilding 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 involves therapeutic touch to encourage your body’s natural healing process and relaxation of muscles and joints. Your Holstein, MO physical therapist will use their hands to gently put pressure on your muscles and joints. Research demonstrates that manual therapy combined with guided exercise is better at treating pain than either technique 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 pinpoint degenerative tissue and soft tissue restrictions.

Dry Needling

Trigger point dry needling is a relatively new technique that increasingly more Holstein, MO physical therapists are incorporating into their treatment plans. It involves using thin, filiform needles to gently create small tears or rips in irritated muscles and connective tissue. This eases pain as it encourages the body to start to heal itself and encourages the nutrient-rich blood flow 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 have a considerable positive effect on your chronic pain treatment in Holstein, MO. We’ll teach you the best way to sit, stand, and move, as well as healthy lifestyle suggestions like how to keep a healthy diet.

Other conditions we treat in Holstein, MO include:

• Workers Comp' Physical Therapy
• 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 Holstein, MO

At Axes Physical Therapy in Holstein, MO, we do what we do for simple reasons: to achieve positive patient outcomes and help our patients return to to the activities they love. Whether you miss being able to run across the pickleball court like you used to, or just want to walk up the stairs without discomfort, speak to a physical therapist in Holstein, MO today or schedule an appointment online for lasting chronic pain treatment.