Chronic Pain Treatment in Weldon Spring Heights, MO

Chronic pain treatment in Weldon Spring Heights, MO. Anyone who has had to deal with 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 forget what it feels like to live a pain-free life. At it’s worse, the pain can keep us from comfortably performing daily activities like walking up the stairs, or the activities we love doing the most, whether that be dominating your local pickleball league or painting bowls of fruit.

Axes Physical Therapy is a collection of provider-owned physical and occupational therapy centers committed to helping our Weldon Spring Heights, MO patients find lasting relief through custom-tailored chronic pain treatment plans, based on techniques that have been proven to work. To get back to the activities you love most, reach out to our location nearest you or make an appointment for safe chronic pain treatment.

What Is Chronic Pain?

Chronic pain is pain that doesn’t go away after 12 weeks, which is generally considered to be the “normal” healing period. The pain can occur every day or every few days, can stay in one spot or hit different body parts, and can be anything from aching to agonizing pain.

According to the CDC, in 2019 almost a quarter of adults nationwide suffered from chronic pain. 7.4% of adults (over a third of those with chronic pain) suffered from “high-impact” chronic pain, defined as pain that, on “most days” or “every day,” affects how somebody can work or perform other 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.

Why Do People Experience Chronic Pain?

Pain, generally speaking, occurs when nerves called nociceptors detect damage somewhere in your body, and send a signal through your spinal cord up to your brain. Often, pain is due to a specific incident or illness. “Acute pain” occurs at once, usually because of a known, underlying cause such as burns, cuts, broken bones, 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. In some cases there may be an injury that hurts even after it’s healed . In other cases, it’s caused by an illness, 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 soft tissue in our joints can become inflamed or wear down over time or due to an injury, causing joint pain.
• A variety of conditions that lead to low 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 a variety of disc injuries.
• Cancer pain — Tumors can lead to pain when they push up against 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, pain does not occur for a physical reason, but rather it’s caused by the nervous system, or because of mental health issues or your personal history.

You can read our suggestions for easing chronic pain, and while many are effective, many of our Weldon Spring Heights, MO patients have felt like they tried everything and still can’t feel better. 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 Weldon Spring Heights, MO Help With Chronic Pain Treatment?

There are many possible options for chronic pain treatment in Weldon Spring Heights, MO, including prescription or over-the-counter medications, chiropractic adjustments, massage, and regular exercise. Studies show that making physical therapy a part of your treatment plan can lead to considerable improvement. You are welcome to come to any of our 15 locations 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 does your chronic pain affect you in your daily life? After our evaluation, we’ll form a team with you and your physician to develop a tailor-made treatment plan 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. Collectively improving those aspects of the best possible mobility eases pain and improves your quality of life by making your body function better, and disrupting certain body parts from sending pain messages to your brain. Depending on you, the nature of your chronic pain, your age, and your desired activity level, your treatment plan in Weldon Spring Heights, MO may include:

Guided Exercise

Exercise boosts your body’s production of endorphins, your body’s natural, feel-good hormone, which not only alleviates pain but helps with any depression, stress, and/or anxiety related to your pain. A qualified Weldon Spring Heights, MO physical therapist can guide through 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 performed 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 promote healing and relaxation of muscles and joints. Your Weldon Spring Heights, MO physical therapist will use their hands to gently manipulate your muscles and joints. Studies have shown that manual therapy combined with guided exercise is more effective than either technique used by itself.

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

Dry Needling

Trigger point dry needling is a relatively new technique that increasingly more Weldon Spring Heights, MO physical therapists are incorporating into their treatment plans. It involves using thin, filiform needles to gently create small tears or rips in damaged soft tissue. This eases pain as it encourages the body to start to heal itself and encourages the flow of nutrients to the affected body part.

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)

TENS works by placing electrodes on the skin near where you are experiencing pain. 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 cope with it can have a significant positive effect on your chronic pain treatment in Weldon Spring Heights, MO. We’ll help you learn the best way to sit, stand, and move, in addition to healthy lifestyle tips like how to keep a healthy diet.

Other conditions we treat in Weldon Spring Heights, 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 Weldon Spring Heights, MO

At Axes Physical Therapy in Weldon Spring Heights, MO, our objectives are clear: to deliver positive patient outcomes and help people get back to the activities they love. Whether you miss being able to hit a breakaway layup like you used to, or just want to walk up the stairs pain-free, speak to a physical therapist in Weldon Spring Heights, MO today or make an appointment online for meaningful chronic pain treatment.