Chronic Pain Treatment in Pinckney, MO

Chronic pain treatment in Pinckney, MO. Anyone who has suffered from chronic pain knows how hard it is to express the effects it has on your daily life. Sometimes, it goes on so long that we lose sight of how good we’re capable of feeling. At it’s worse, the pain can keep us from comfortably completing basic activities like walking up the stairs, or the things we love best, whether that be dominating your local flag football league or painting bowls of fruit.

Axes Physical Therapy is a collection of provider-owned physical therapy and rehabilitation centers committed to helping our Pinckney, MO patients achieve positive outcomes through custom-tailored and evidence-backed chronic pain treatment. 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 successful chronic pain treatment.

What Is Chronic Pain?

Chronic pain is pain that lasts for longer than three months, which is how long it takes most people and conditions to heal. The pain can occur every day or every few days, can be localized or hit different muscles or joints, and can range from stiffness to searing, intense pain.

According to the CDC, in 2019 one out of five American adults had chronic pain. 7.4% of adults (over a third 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. Chronic pain doesn’t just hurt you physically. Chronic pain impacts quality of life and leads to significant economic costs. It can also cause significant mental health issues and insomnia.

Why Do People Experience Chronic Pain?

Pain, generally speaking, occurs when nerves called nociceptors perceive damage somewhere in your body, and send a signal through your spinal cord up to your brain. In most cases, pain is caused by an injury, an infection, or other medical condition. “Acute pain” occurs suddenly, usually because of a known, root cause such as stubbing your toe, dental work, or surgery. It can last for anywhere from a moment to months while the injury heals.

By contrast, the causes of chronic pain aren’t always easily identifiable. Sometimes an injury continues to cause pain even after it’s healed . Other times, it’s caused by a medical condition, 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 cartilage, tendons, and ligaments in our joints can become irritated or wear down over time or due to an injury, causing chronic pain in the affected joint.
• A variety of conditions that cause low 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, repetitive motions at a physically demanding job, sciatica, or a variety of disc injuries.
• Cancer pain — Tumors can cause pain when they bother bones, your spine, or other tissue.
• Fibromyalgia — While an exact cause isn’t yet known, this refers to pain you feel in your muscles all over your body.
• Neurogenic pain and psychogenic pain — In some cases, there is no underlying musculoskeletal cause, but because there is an issue in the nervous system, or because of depression, anxiety, and/or stress.

There are many suggestions for relieving chronic pain, and while many can help you be more active in your daily life, many people we see in Pinckney, MO tell us that they have tried all of them and more and still can’t find relief. Often, physical therapy is the treatment that finally gets them relief and returns them to a pain-free daily life.

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

Chronic pain can be treated through a variety of modalities in Pinckney, MO, including prescription or over-the-counter medications, chiropractic adjustments, massage therapy, and regular exercise. Studies show that including physical therapy into your treatment plan is incredibly effective for relieving chronic pain. You can visit 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? Does anything make it better or worse? How is limiting you in your daily life? After your screening, we’ll work in tandem with you and your physician to come up with a tailor-made course of treatment aimed at returning you a comfortable daily life.

Physical therapy can relieve pain by increasing your strength, balance, posture, and range of motion. Collectively improving those aspects of optimal movement health eases pain and improves your quality of life by making your body function better, and breaking up any signals to your brain that something may be wrong. Depending on you, the causes of your chronic pain, your age, and the activity level you wish to get back to, your treatment plan in Pinckney, MO may include:

Guided Exercise

Exercise increases endorphins, your body’s natural, feel-good hormone, which not only reduces pain but eases related symptoms like stress and depression. A professional Pinckney, MO physical therapist can help you perform exercises aimed at improving your mobility without causing more pain or injury. With guided exercise, we can re-train your brain to accept certain movements and positions without pain, restoring how your brain processes messages. 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 the surrounding tissues. Your Pinckney, MO physical therapist will use their hands to gently put pressure on your muscles and joints. Studies have shown that manual therapy and guided exercise together are better at treating pain than either treatment method used by itself.

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

Dry Needling

Trigger point dry needling is a relatively new tool that increasingly more Pinckney, 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 nutrients 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 block the transmission of pain messages.

Patient Education

Understanding the cause of your pain and how to deal with it in your daily life can do wonders for your chronic pain treatment in Pinckney, MO. We’ll teach you the best way to sit, stand, and move, as well as healthy lifestyle suggestions like diet recommendations.

Other conditions we treat in Pinckney, 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 Pinckney, MO

At Axes Physical Therapy in Pinckney, MO, our objectives are clear: to achieve positive patient experiences and help people get back to the activities they love. Whether you want to be able to run across the tennis court like you used to, or just want to get out of bed in the morning without discomfort, speak to a physical therapist in Pinckney, MO today or schedule an appointment online for lasting chronic pain treatment.