Chronic Pain Treatment in Moscow Mills, MO
Chronic pain treatment in Moscow Mills, MO. If you suffer from chronic pain, you know all too well how limiting it can be. 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 daily tasks like carrying in groceries, or the activities we love best, whether that be sprinting down the court or playing with your kids.
Axes Physical Therapy is a collection of provider-owned physical therapy and rehabilitation centers committed to helping our Moscow Mills, MO patients find meaningful relief through personalized chronic pain treatment plans, built on techniques that have been demonstrated to work. 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 effective chronic pain treatment.
What Is Chronic Pain?
Chronic pain is pain that lasts for longer than three months, which is how long it typically takes pain to go away after an injury, surgery, or illness. The pain can occur every day or every few days, can be localized or hit different body parts, and can change in severity from dull soreness to searing, intense pain.
Based on research from the CDC, in 2019 20.4% of adults nationwide dealt with chronic pain. 7.4% of adults (or 36.4% of those who experienced chronic pain) had “high-impact” chronic pain, defined as pain that, on “most days” or “every day,” affects how somebody can work or perform 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 higher medical expenses. It can also cause significant mental health issues and insomnia.
Why Do People Experience Chronic Pain?
Pain, in general, occurs when nerves called nociceptors detect damage somewhere in your body, and send a signal from that body part to your brain. In most cases, pain is due to trauma, an infection, or other medical condition. “Acute pain” occurs immediately, usually because of a discernible, underlying cause such as stubbing your toe, dental work, or surgery. The pain lasts for anywhere from a few minutes to several weeks.
By contrast, the causes of chronic pain aren’t always easily identifiable. Sometimes an injury continues to cause pain even after it’s healed . In other cases, it’s caused by a medical condition, or occurs as our bodies weaken with age. 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 inflamed 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 work, 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 pain you feel in your muscles all over your body.
- Neurogenic pain and psychogenic pain — In some cases, pain does not occur for a physical reason, but because there is dysfunction in the nervous system, or because of psychological stress.
You can read our tips for easing chronic pain, and while many can help you be more active in your daily life, many people we see in Moscow Mills, MO tell us that they have tried everything and still can’t find relief. Often, physical therapy becomes their path toward lasting pain relief and getting back to the things that are most important to them.
How Do Physical Therapists in Moscow Mills, MO Help With Chronic Pain Treatment?
There are many possible options for chronic pain treatment in Moscow Mills, MO, including prescription or over-the-counter drugs, chiropractic care, yoga, and consistent exercise. Studies show that making physical therapy a part of your treatment plan can lead to considerable improvement. You can come to any of our 15 locations for a free screening to better understand 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? Does anything make it better or worse? How is limiting you in your daily life? After our evaluation, we’ll work in concert with you and your doctor to develop a tailor-made treatment plan aimed at getting you back a comfortable daily life.
Physical therapy can relieve pain by increasing your strength, balance, posture, and flexibility. Helping you reach the best possible mobility eases pain and improves your quality of life by making your body function better, and disrupting 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 Moscow Mills, MO may include:
Guided Exercise
Exercise boosts your body’s production of endorphins, your body’s natural, feel-good hormone, which not only eases pain but eases related symptoms like stress and depression. A qualified Moscow Mills, MO physical therapist can guide through exercises aimed at improving your mobility without causing further pain or injury. With guided exercise, we can re-train your brain to accept certain movements and positions without pain, restoring 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 incorporates therapeutic touch to promote healing and relaxation of the surrounding tissues. Your Moscow Mills, MO physical therapist will use their hands to gently move soft tissue. Research demonstrates that manual therapy combined with guided exercise is more effective than either technique used by itself.
With instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization, physical therapists use specially designed tools, like Astym®, 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 treatment method that increasingly more Moscow Mills, MO physical therapists are incorporating into their treatment plans. It involves using thin, filiform needles to gently create small tears or rips in inflamed muscles and connective tissue. In doing so, 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 over the body part that’s causing you pain. It sends low-level electrical currents to release endorphins and awakens nerve cells that block the transmission of pain signals.
Patient Education
Understanding why you’re experiencing pain and how to deal with it in your daily life can have a considerable positive effect on your chronic pain treatment in Moscow Mills, MO. We’ll help you learn appropriate posture and movement practices, as well as healthy lifestyle tips like diet recommendations.
Other services we offer in Moscow Mills, 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 Moscow Mills, MO
At Axes Physical Therapy in Moscow Mills, MO, we do what we do for simple reasons: to achieve positive client experiences and help our patients get back to the things they love doing most. Whether you miss being 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 Moscow Mills, MO today or request an appointment online for meaningful chronic pain treatment.