Chronic Pain Treatment in New Town, MO

Chronic pain treatment in New Town, MO. If you suffer from chronic pain, you know all too well how hard it is to express how much it limits you. Sometimes, it goes on so long that we forget how good we used to feel. At it’s worse, the pain can keep us from comfortably completing basic activities like carrying in groceries, or the activities we love best, whether that be dominating your local pick-up league or picking up your children.

Axes Physical Therapy is a group of 15 physical and occupational therapy locations committed to helping our New Town, MO patients find meaningful relief through personalized and evidence-backed chronic pain treatment. To get back to the activities you love most, reach out to the location nearest you or request an appointment for successful chronic pain treatment.

What Is Chronic Pain?

Chronic pain is pain that doesn’t go away after three months, which is how long it typically takes pain to go away after an injury, surgery, or illness. The pain can be constant or can come and go, can be localized or radiate through your body, and can change in severity from dull soreness to agonizing pain.

Based on research from the CDC, in 2019 almost a quarter of American adults dealt with chronic pain. 7.4% of adults (or 36.4% of those with chronic pain) had “high-impact” chronic pain, which is persistent pain limits work or life 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 trouble sleeping.

What’s Behind Chronic Pain?

Pain, generally speaking, occurs when nerves called nociceptors perceive damaged tissue, and send a signal through your spinal cord up to your brain. Often, pain is caused by a specific incident or illness. “Acute pain” occurs immediately, usually because of a discernible, root cause such as an injury, 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. In some cases there may be an injury that hurts despite the fact that, structurally, it has healed . Other times, it’s caused by a medical condition, or happens as our bodies wear down as we age. Sometimes, there is no discernible cause for someone’s chronic pain. 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 inflamed or wear down over time or due to an injury, causing chronic pain in the affected joint.
• Numerous different conditions that cause lower back pain — Almost 9 out of 10 adults suffer from 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 disc injuries that impinge on the nerves in the spinal column.
• Cancer pain — Tumors can cause pain when they bother other parts inside your body.
• Fibromyalgia — While an exact cause isn’t yet known, 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 depression, anxiety, and/or stress.

You can read our tips for easing chronic pain, and while many are effective, many people we see in New Town, MO tell us that they have tried all of them and more and still can’t feel better. Often, physical therapy is the treatment that finally gets them relief and returns them to the things that are most important to them.

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

Chronic pain can be treated through a variety of methods in New Town, MO, including prescription or over-the-counter drugs, spinal adjustments by a chiropractor, massage, and regular 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 Axes location in the New Town area 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. Do you experience pain every day? Most days? What makes it worse? What makes it better? How is limiting you in your daily life? From there, we’ll form a team with you and your doctor to design a customized course of treatment aimed at getting you back to the activities you love most.

Physical therapy can relieve pain by increasing your strength, balance, posture, and range of motion. Helping you achieve the best possible movement health relieves pain and enhances your daily life by making your body function better, and disrupting any signals to your brain that something may be wrong. Depending on you, the causes of your chronic pain, how old you are, and your desired activity level, your treatment plan in New Town, 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 eases any psychological stress related to your pain. A licensed New Town, MO physical therapist will help you perform exercises that will safely and effectively improve your mobility. With these exercises, your brain will come to understand that certain movements can be carried out without pain, rebuilding 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 encourage your body’s natural healing process and relaxation of the surrounding tissues. Your New Town, MO physical therapist will use their hands to gently move your muscles and joints. Studies have shown that manual therapy and guided exercise together are more effective than either technique used by itself.

With instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization, physical therapists use specialized tools, like Astym®, instead of their hands, to improve tissue alignment and identify degenerative tissue and soft tissue restrictions.

Dry Needling

Trigger point dry needling is a relatively new technique that increasingly more New Town, MO physical therapists are incorporating into their treatment plans. It involves using thin, filiform needles to penetrate irritated soft tissue. In doing so, it encourages the body to start to heal itself and stimulates the flow of nutrients to the region.

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)

TENS works by placing electrodes over the body part that’s causing you pain. It delivers low-voltage currents, which releases endorphins and stimulates nerve cells that block the transmission of pain signals.

Patient Education

Understanding why you’re experiencing pain and how to cope with it can do wonders for your chronic pain treatment in New Town, 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 services we offer in New Town, 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 New Town, MO

At Axes Physical Therapy in New Town, MO, our goals are clear: to deliver positive patient outcomes and help our patients get back to the things they love doing most. Whether you miss being able to run across the tennis court like you used to, or just want to carry the groceries in pain-free, speak to a physical therapist in New Town, MO today or make an appointment online for lasting chronic pain treatment.