Chronic Pain Treatment St. Genevieve, MO | Physical Therapists Near St. Genevieve

Chronic Pain Treatment in St. Genevieve, MO

Chronic pain treatment in St. Genevieve, MO. Anyone who has lived with chronic pain knows the debilitating effect it can have on your life. Sometimes, the months or years we’ve dealt with it causes us to forget how good we used to feel. At it’s worse, the pain can keep us from comfortably performing basic activities like doing household chores, or the things we love doing the most, whether that be flying down the court or working in the garden.

Axes Physical Therapy is a group of provider-owned physical therapy treatment centers devoted to helping our St. Genevieve, MO patients achieve positive outcomes through custom-tailored and evidence-backed chronic pain treatment. To get back to a pain-free daily life, reach out to our location nearest you or contact us online for effective chronic pain treatment.

What Is Chronic Pain?

Chronic pain is pain that lasts for longer than 3-6 months, which is generally considered to be the “normal” healing period. The pain can be constant or can come and go, can be localized or radiate through your body, and can range from aching to stinging pain.

Based on research from the CDC, in 2019 almost a quarter of U.S. 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,” 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 impacts quality of life and leads to significant economic costs. It can also cause significant mental health issues and trouble sleeping.

What’s Behind Chronic Pain?

Pain, in general, is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. Often, pain is due to trauma, an infection, or other medical condition. “Acute pain” occurs at once, usually because of a known, underlying cause such as being hit with something, 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 known. Sometimes an injury continues to cause pain after the tissue is repaired . Other times, it’s caused by an illness, 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 and other conditions that cause joint pain — The cartilage, tendons, and ligaments in our joints can become damaged or wear down over time or due to an injury, causing joint pain.
Numerous different conditions that lead to lower back pain — Up to 84% of adults will deal with back pain eventually. 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 bother bones, your spine, or other tissue.
Fibromyalgia — While an exact cause isn’t yet known, this refers to widespread muscle pain and tenderness.
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 relieving chronic pain, and while many can lead to greater comfort, many people we see in St. Genevieve, MO have felt like they tried everything and still can’t feel better. Often, physical therapy becomes their path toward lasting pain relief and getting back to the things that are most important to them.

Chronic Pain Treatment St. Genevieve, MO | Pain Management | Physical Therapist Near St. Genevieve

Why Is Physical Therapy in St. Genevieve, MO a Great Option For Chronic Pain Treatment?

There are many possible options for chronic pain treatment in St. Genevieve, MO, including medication, spinal adjustments by a chiropractor, massage, and regular exercise. Research demonstrates that making physical therapy a part of your treatment plan can lead to considerable improvement. You can visit any of our 15 locations for a free screening to better understand why you might be suffering from chronic pain. We’ll ask you questions to better understand how we can help you. How often do you have pain? What makes it worse? What makes it better? How is limiting you in your daily life? After your screening, we’ll form a team with you and your doctor to come up with a personalized 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 mobility eases 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 nature of your chronic pain, your age, and the activity level you wish to get back to, your treatment plan in St. Genevieve, MO may include:

Guided Exercise

Exercise boosts your body’s production of endorphins, your body’s homegrown, feel-good chemical messengers, which not only eases pain but helps with related symptoms like stress and depression. A qualified St. Genevieve, MO physical therapist will lead you through exercises aimed at improving your mobility without causing further pain or injury. With guided exercise, your brain will come to understand that certain movements can be carried out 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 incorporates therapeutic touch to encourage your body’s natural healing process and relaxation of the surrounding tissues. Your St. Genevieve, MO physical therapist will use their hands to gently manipulate soft tissue. Studies have shown that manual therapy and guided exercise together are more effective than either technique used alone.

With instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization, physical therapists use specially designed tools, like Graston®, 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 more and more St. Genevieve, MO physical therapists are incorporating into their treatment plans. It involves using thin, filiform needles to gently create small tears or rips in damaged muscles and connective tissue. This eases pain as it stimulates the body’s “healing mode” and encourages the flow of blood to the affected body part.

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 stimulates 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 St. Genevieve, MO. We’ll teach you appropriate posture and movement practices, in addition to healthy lifestyle suggestions like how to keep a healthy diet.

Other conditions we treat in St. Genevieve, MO include:

Chronic Pain Treatment St. Genevieve, MO | Physical Therapy | Pain Management Near St. Genevieve

Call Axes Physical Therapy For Your Chronic Pain Treatment in St. Genevieve, MO

At Axes Physical Therapy in St. Genevieve, MO, we do what we do for simple reasons: to deliver positive client outcomes and help people return to to the activities they love. Whether you want to be able to hit a breakaway layup like you used to, or just want to walk up the stairs without discomfort, speak to a physical therapist in St. Genevieve, MO today or request an appointment online for lasting chronic pain treatment.