Chronic Pain Treatment Potosi, MO | Physical Therapists Near Potosi

Chronic Pain Treatment in Potosi, MO

Chronic pain treatment in Potosi, 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 leads us to lose sight of how good we’re capable of feeling. At it’s worse, the pain can keep us from comfortably completing daily tasks like doing household chores, or the things we love best, whether that be dominating your local pick-up league or being able to properly look after your children.

Axes Physical Therapy is a group of 15 physical therapy and rehabilitation centers devoted to helping our Potosi, MO patients find lasting relief through customized chronic pain treatment plans, built on techniques that have been proven to work. If you’re finally ready to move on from chronic pain, reach out to our location nearest you or contact us online for successful chronic pain treatment.

What Type of Pain is Considered “Chronic”?

Chronic pain is pain that doesn’t go away after 3-6 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 body parts, and can change in severity from aching to searing, intense pain.

According to the CDC, in 2019 almost a quarter of American adults suffered from chronic pain. 7.4% of adults (over a third of those with chronic pain) had “high-impact” chronic pain, defined as pain that, on “most days” or “every day,” affects how somebody can work or enjoy other activities. Chronic pain doesn’t just hurt you physically. Chronic pain reduces quality of life and leads to significant economic costs. It can also cause significant mental health issues and insomnia.

What Causes Chronic Pain?

Pain, generally speaking, occurs when nerves called nociceptors detect damaged tissue, and send a signal through your spinal cord up to your brain. Often, pain is due to a specific incident or medical condition. “Acute pain” occurs suddenly, usually because of a known, underlying cause such as an injury, dental work, or surgery. The pain lasts for anywhere from a few minutes to months while the injury heals.

By contrast, the causes of chronic pain aren’t always easily known. In some cases there may be an injury that hurts even after it’s healed . Other times, it’s caused by a medical condition, or degenerative disease. Sometimes, there is no discernible cause for someone’s chronic pain. Common types and causes of chronic pain include:

Arthritis 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.
A variety of conditions that lead to low back pain — Up to 84% of adults suffer from back pain eventually. Causes can be poor posture or technique, repetitive motions at a job that requires physical exertion, sciatica, or disc injuries that impinge on the nerves in the spinal column.
Cancer pain — Tumors can cause pain when they push up against tissue, nerves, or organs.
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, there is no underlying musculoskeletal cause, but rather it’s caused by the nervous system, or because of mental health issues or your personal history.

There are many suggestions for managing chronic pain, and while many can lead to greater comfort, many people we see in Potosi, MO tell us that they have tried everything and still can’t find relief. Often, physical therapy is the strategy that finally gets them relief and returns them to the things that are most important to them.

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

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

Chronic pain can be treated through a variety of modalities in Potosi, MO, including medication, chiropractic care, massage, and regular exercise. Studies show that making physical therapy a part of your treatment plan can lead to significant improvement. You can visit any Axes location in the Potosi area for a free screening to learn 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? When does it come on? When does it get better? How does your chronic pain affect you in your daily life? From there, we’ll form a team with you and your physician to design a personalized course of treatment aimed at returning you to the activities you love most.

Physical therapy can relieve pain by increasing your strength, balance, posture, and range of motion. Helping you achieve optimal movement health relieves pain and enhances your daily life by making your body work better, and interrupting certain nerves from sending pain messages to your brain. 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 Potosi, MO may include:

Guided Exercise

Exercise increases endorphins, your body’s homegrown, feel-good chemical messengers, which not only alleviates pain but helps with related symptoms like stress and depression. A professional Potosi, MO physical therapist can help you perform exercises aimed at improving your mobility without causing more pain or injury. With these exercises, your brain will come to understand that certain movements can be achieved without pain, rebuilding 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 Potosi, MO physical therapist will use their hands to gently move your muscles and joints. Research demonstrates that manual therapy combined with guided exercise is better at treating pain than either technique used alone.

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

Dry Needling

Trigger point dry needling is a relatively new treatment method that is becoming more popular among Potosi, MO physical therapist. It involves using thin, filiform needles to penetrate inflamed muscles and connective tissue. This eases pain as it encourages the body to start to heal itself and stimulates the nutrient-rich blood flow to the affected body part.

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)

TENS works by placing electrodes where the pain is located. It sends low-voltage electrical currents to release endorphins and stimulates nerve cells that block the transmission of 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 Potosi, MO. We’ll teach you appropriate posture and movement techniques, as well as healthy lifestyle suggestions like how to keep a healthy diet.

Other services we offer in Potosi, MO include:

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

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

At Axes Physical Therapy in Potosi, 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 run across the pickleball court like you used to, or just want to carry the groceries in pain-free, speak to a physical therapist in Potosi, MO today or request an appointment online for lasting chronic pain treatment.