Chronic Pain Treatment in Old Monroe, MO

Chronic pain treatment in Old Monroe, MO. Anyone who has lived with chronic pain knows how hard it is to express the effects it has on your daily life. Sometimes, the months or years we’ve dealt with it causes us to lose sight of 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 doing household chores, or the things we love best, whether that be flying down the field or painting bowls of fruit.

Axes Physical Therapy is a group of 15 physical and occupational therapy centers committed to helping our Old Monroe, MO patients find meaningful relief through personalized chronic pain treatment plans, based on techniques that have been proven to work. To get back to the activities you love most, call the location nearest you or contact us online for effective 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 be constant or can come and go, can stay in one spot or hit different body parts, and can be anything from aching to searing, intense pain.

Based on research from the CDC, in 2019 almost a quarter 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, defined as pain that, on “most days” or “every day,” affects how somebody can work or enjoy other activities. Anyone who suffers from frequent pain symptoms will tell you that it causes far more than just physical discomfort. Chronic pain impacts quality of life and leads to significant economic costs. It can also cause significant mental health issues and insomnia.

What’s Behind Chronic Pain?

Pain, generally speaking, 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 caused by a specific incident or illness. “Acute pain” occurs at once, usually because of a discernible, underlying cause such as burns, cuts, broken bones, dental work, or surgery. The pain lasts for anywhere from a moment to months while the injury heals.

By contrast, people can experience chronic pain for several reasons. Sometimes an injury continues to cause pain after the tissue is repaired . In other cases, it’s caused by a medical condition, or happens as our bodies weaken with 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 damaged or wear down from overuse or overexertion, causing joint pain.
• A variety of conditions that cause lower back pain — Up to 84% of adults will deal with back pain eventually. Causes can be poor posture or technique, wear and tear at work, sciatica, or disc injuries that affect 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 widespread muscle pain and tenderness.
• Neurogenic pain and psychogenic pain — Sometimes, there is no underlying musculoskeletal cause, but because there is dysfunction in the nervous system, or because of depression, anxiety, and/or stress.

There are many suggestions for easing chronic pain, and while many are effective, many people we see in Old Monroe, MO have felt like they tried all of them and more and still can’t find relief. Often, physical therapy is the strategy that finally gets them relief and returns them to a pain-free daily life.

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

There are many possible options for chronic pain treatment in Old Monroe, MO, including prescription or over-the-counter drugs, spinal adjustments by a chiropractor, massage, and consistent exercise. Studies show that incorporating 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 what might be causing your 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 does your chronic pain affect you in your daily life? From there, we’ll form a team with you and your doctor to come up with a tailor-made course of treatment aimed at returning you a comfortable daily life.

Physical therapy helps by increasing your strength, balance, posture, and flexibility. Helping you achieve optimal movement health eases pain and improves your quality of life by allowing your body to work 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 your desired activity level, your treatment plan in Old Monroe, MO may include:

Guided Exercise

Exercise boosts your body’s production of endorphins, your body’s natural, feel-good chemical messengers, which not only alleviates pain but helps with related symptoms like stress and depression. A professional Old Monroe, MO physical therapist will guide through exercises that will safely and effectively improve your mobility. With these exercises, we can re-train your brain to accept certain movements and positions without pain, rebuilding your brain’s trust in the rest of your body. Through guided exercise, we’ll be able to teach you safe exercises you can do on your own.

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 Old Monroe, MO physical therapist will use their hands to safely manipulate your muscles and joints. Research demonstrates that manual therapy and guided exercise together are more effective than either treatment method used alone.

Instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization is similar to manual therapy, except that instead of their hands, physical therapists use specialized tools like Astym®.

Dry Needling

Trigger point dry needling is a relatively new technique that is becoming more popular among Old Monroe, MO physical therapist. It involves using thin, filiform needles to gently create small tears or rips in inflamed muscles, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments. This eases pain as it encourages the body to start to heal itself and encourages the flow of blood to the region.

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)

TENS works by placing electrodes where the pain is located. It sends low-level electrical currents to release endorphins and awakens nerve cells that prevent your brain from receiving pain messages.

Patient Education

Understanding why you’re experiencing pain and how to deal with it in your daily life can have a significant positive effect on your chronic pain treatment in Old Monroe, MO. We’ll help you learn the best way to sit, stand, and move, as well as healthy lifestyle tips like how to keep a healthy diet.

Other conditions we treat in Old Monroe, 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 Old Monroe, MO

At Axes Physical Therapy in Old Monroe, MO, we do what we do for simple reasons: to achieve positive client outcomes and help our patients return to to the things they love doing most. Whether you want to be able to run across the tennis court like you used to, or just want to carry the groceries in without discomfort, speak to a physical therapist in Old Monroe, MO today or make an appointment online for meaningful chronic pain treatment.