Chronic Pain Treatment Leadwood, MO | Physical Therapists Near Leadwood

Chronic Pain Treatment in Leadwood, MO

Chronic pain treatment in Leadwood, MO. If you suffer from chronic pain, you know all too well how hard it is to express the effects it has on your daily life. For some of us, 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 activities like walking up the stairs, or the activities we love best, whether that be dominating your local flag football league or working in the garden.

Axes Physical Therapy is a group of provider-owned physical therapy and rehabilitation locations committed to helping our Leadwood, MO patients find meaningful relief through customized chronic pain treatment plans, based on techniques that have been demonstrated to work. If you’re finally ready to move on from chronic pain, call our location most convenient for you you or schedule an appointment for safe chronic pain treatment.

What Type of Pain is Considered “Chronic”?

Chronic pain is pain that doesn’t go away after three months, which is generally considered to be the “normal” healing period. The pain can occur every day or every few days, can stay in one spot or hit different body parts, and can change in severity from dull soreness to searing, intense pain.

According to the CDC, in 2019 20.4% of adults nationwide dealt with chronic pain. 7.4% of adults (or 36.4% of those with chronic pain) suffered from “high-impact” chronic pain, defined as pain that, on “most days” or “every day,” limits work or life activities. Chronic pain doesn’t just hurt you physically. 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, generally speaking, is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. Often, pain is due to an injury, an infection, or other medical condition. “Acute pain” occurs at once, usually because of a known, underlying cause such as stubbing your toe, dental work, or surgery. It can last for anywhere from a moment to several weeks.

By contrast, people can experience chronic pain for several reasons. Sometimes an injury continues to cause pain even after it’s healed . Other times, it’s caused by an illness, 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 soft tissue in our joints can become irritated or wear down over time or due to an injury, causing joint pain.
A variety of conditions that cause 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 cause pain when they push up against other parts inside your body.
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 dysfunction in the nervous system, or because of depression, anxiety, and/or stress.

You can check out our pointers for easing chronic pain, and while many are effective, many of our Leadwood, MO patients tell us that they have tried all of them and more and still can’t find relief. Often, physical therapy becomes their path toward meaningful pain relief and getting back to a pain-free daily life.

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

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

Chronic pain can be treated through a variety of means in Leadwood, MO, including prescription or over-the-counter drugs, chiropractic care, massage therapy, and consistent exercise. Research demonstrates that making physical therapy a part of your treatment plan is incredibly effective for relieving chronic pain. You can come to any of our 15 locations for a free screening to better understand what might be causing your chronic pain. We’ll get to know you and your pain better. How often do you have pain? When does it come on? When does it get better? How does your chronic pain affect you in your daily life? After our evaluation, we’ll form a team with you and your physician to come up with a tailor-made course of treatment aimed at getting you back a pain-free daily life.

Physical therapy helps by stretching and strengthening your body. Collectively improving those aspects of optimal movement health relieves pain and improves your quality of life by allowing your body to function better, and breaking up certain nerves from sending pain messages to your brain. Depending on you, the causes of your chronic pain, how old you are, and the activity level you wish to get back to, your treatment plan in Leadwood, MO may include:

Guided Exercise

Exercise releases endorphins, your body’s natural, feel-good hormone, which not only reduces pain but helps with related symptoms like stress and depression. A qualified Leadwood, MO physical therapist will help you perform exercises aimed at improving your mobility without causing further pain or injury. With these exercises, we can re-train your brain to accept certain movements and positions 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 promote healing and relaxation of the surrounding tissues. Your Leadwood, MO physical therapist will use their hands to safely manipulate your muscles and joints. Studies have shown that manual therapy and guided exercise together are better at treating pain than either technique used by itself.

With instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization, physical therapists use specially designed tools, like HawkGrips®, instead of their hands, to improve tissue alignment 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 Leadwood, MO physical therapist. It involves using thin, filiform needles to gently create small tears or rips in damaged muscles and connective tissue. In doing so, it stimulates the body’s “healing mode” and encourages the nutrient-rich blood flow to the region.

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)

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

Patient Education

Understanding the cause of your pain and how to cope with it can do wonders for your chronic pain treatment in Leadwood, MO. We’ll help you learn appropriate posture and movement practices, in addition to healthy lifestyle suggestions like diet recommendations.

Other conditions we treat in Leadwood, MO include:

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

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

At Axes Physical Therapy in Leadwood, MO, our objectives are clear: to achieve positive patient experiences 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 carry the groceries in without discomfort, speak to a physical therapist in Leadwood, MO today or request an appointment online for lasting chronic pain treatment.