Chronic Pain Treatment in Huntleigh, MO

Chronic pain treatment in Huntleigh, MO. If you suffer from chronic pain, you know all too well the debilitating consequences it can have on your 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 activities like carrying in groceries, or the things we love best, whether that be flying down the field or picking up your kids.

Axes Physical Therapy is a collection of provider-owned physical and occupational therapy centers devoted to helping our Huntleigh, MO patients find meaningful relief through personalized 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 the location nearest you or schedule an appointment for successful chronic pain treatment.

What Is Chronic Pain?

Chronic pain is pain that doesn’t go away after 3-6 months, which is how long it takes most people and conditions to heal. The pain can occur every day or every few days, can stay in one spot or radiate through your body, and can be anything from stiffness to searing, intense pain.

According to the CDC, in 2019 20.4% of adults nationwide suffered from chronic pain. 7.4% of adults (or 36.4% of those who experienced chronic pain) suffered from “high-impact” chronic pain, which is persistent pain affects how somebody can work or enjoy other activities. Chronic pain doesn’t just hurt you physically. Chronic pain affects quality of life and leads to higher medical expenses. It can also cause significant mental health issues and trouble sleeping.

What Causes Chronic Pain?

Pain, generally speaking, occurs when nerves called nociceptors detect damage somewhere in your body, and send a signal through your spinal cord up to your brain. In most cases, pain is due to trauma, an infection, or other medical condition. “Acute pain” occurs at once, usually because of a discernible, underlying cause such as an injury, dental work, or surgery. It can last for anywhere from a moment to several weeks.

By contrast, the causes of chronic pain aren’t always easily known. Sometimes an injury continues to cause pain despite the fact that, structurally, it has healed . Other times, it’s caused by a medical condition, or degenerative disease. 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 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 — Almost 9 out of 10 adults will deal with back pain at some point in their lives. Causes can be poor posture or technique, wear and tear at work, sciatica, or disc injuries that impinge on the nerves in the spinal column.
• Cancer pain — Tumors can lead to 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 — In some cases, pain does not occur for a physical reason, but rather it’s caused by the nervous system, or because of mental health issues or your personal history.

There are many suggestions for relieving chronic pain, and while many are effective, many people we see in Huntleigh, MO tell us that they have tried everything and still can’t feel better. Often, physical therapy becomes their path toward lasting pain relief and getting back to the activities they love.

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

Chronic pain can be treated through a variety of means in Huntleigh, MO, including medication, chiropractic care, yoga, and consistent exercise. Studies show that including 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. How often do you have pain? Does anything make it better or worse? How is limiting you in your daily life? From there, we’ll work in concert with you and your doctor to develop a tailor-made course of treatment aimed at returning you to the things you love most.

Physical therapy helps by increasing your strength, balance, posture, and range of motion. Helping you achieve optimal movement health relieves pain and improves your quality of life by making your body work better, and disrupting certain body parts from sending pain messages to your brain. Depending on you, the causes of your chronic pain, your age, and your desired activity level, your treatment plan in Huntleigh, MO may include:

Guided Exercise

Exercise increases endorphins, your body’s homegrown, feel-good chemical messengers, which not only alleviates pain but eases related symptoms like stress and depression. A professional Huntleigh, MO physical therapist can lead you through exercises that will safely and effectively improve your mobility. With guided exercise, your brain will come to understand that certain movements can be carried out 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 Huntleigh, MO physical therapist will use their hands to safely put pressure on 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 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 Huntleigh, MO physical therapists are incorporating into their treatment plans. It involves using thin, filiform needles to penetrate damaged soft tissue. This eases pain as it encourages the body to start to heal itself and stimulates the flow of blood to the affected body part.

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)

TENS works by placing electrodes where the pain is located. It delivers low-voltage currents, which releases endorphins and stimulates nerve cells that block the transmission of pain signals.

Patient Education

Understanding the cause of your pain and how to cope with it can have a significant positive effect on your chronic pain treatment in Huntleigh, MO. We’ll teach you the best way to sit, stand, and move, as well as healthy lifestyle tips like diet recommendations.

Other services we offer in Huntleigh, MO include:

• Sciatica Treatment
• 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

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

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