Chronic Pain Treatment Wilbur Park, MO | Physical Therapists Near Wilbur Park

Chronic Pain Treatment in Wilbur Park, MO

Chronic pain treatment in Wilbur Park, MO. Anyone who has lived with chronic pain knows how limiting it can be. For some of us, 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 carrying in groceries, or the activities we love most, whether that be sprinting down the field or painting bowls of fruit.

Axes Physical Therapy is a collection of 15 physical therapy and rehabilitation locations committed to helping our Wilbur Park, MO patients find meaningful relief through custom-tailored chronic pain treatment plans, based on techniques that have been proven to work. If you’re finally ready to move on from chronic pain, reach out to our location most convenient for you you or contact us online for safe chronic pain treatment.

What Type of Pain is Considered “Chronic”?

Chronic pain is pain that lasts for longer than three months, which is how long it typically takes pain to go away after an injury, surgery, or illness. The pain can occur every day or every few days, can stay in one spot or radiate through your body, and can be anything from dull soreness to burning 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,” limits work or life activities. Chronic pain doesn’t just hurt you physically. Chronic pain reduces quality of life and leads to significant economic costs. It can also lead to anxiety, depression, and insomnia.

Why Do I Have Chronic Pain?

Pain, in general, occurs when nerves called nociceptors perceive damaged tissue, and send a signal through your spinal cord up to your brain. Often, pain is due to an injury, an infection, or other medical condition. “Acute pain” occurs suddenly, usually because of a known, underlying cause such as falling, dental work, or surgery. It can last for anywhere from a moment to months while the injury heals.

By contrast, people can experience chronic pain for several reasons. In some cases there may be an injury that hurts after the tissue is repaired . In other cases, it’s caused by an illness, 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 diseases 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 cause low back pain — Almost 9 out of 10 adults will deal with back pain at some point in their lives. Causes can be poor posture or technique, repetitive motions at work, sciatica, or disc injuries that impinge on the nerves in the spinal column.
Cancer pain — Tumors can cause pain when they push up against other parts inside your body.
Fibromyalgia — While experts are still trying to understand the exact cause of fibromyalgia, this refers to widespread muscle pain and tenderness.
Neurogenic pain and psychogenic pain — Sometimes, pain does not occur for a physical reason, but rather it’s caused by the nervous system, or because of psychological stress.

You can check out our pointers for relieving chronic pain, and while many can lead to greater comfort, many of our Wilbur Park, MO patients have felt like they tried all of them and more and still can’t feel better. Often, physical therapy is the treatment that finally gets them relief and returns them to a pain-free daily life.

Chronic Pain Treatment Wilbur Park, MO | Pain Management | Physical Therapist Near Wilbur Park

How Do Physical Therapists in Wilbur Park, MO Help With Chronic Pain Treatment?

There are many possible options for chronic pain treatment in Wilbur Park, MO, including medication, chiropractic care, massage therapy, and regular exercise. Studies show that including physical therapy into your treatment plan is incredibly effective for relieving chronic pain. You are welcome to come to any Axes location in the Wilbur Park area for a free screening to better understand why you might be suffering from chronic pain. We’ll get to know you and your pain better. 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 your screening, we’ll form a team with you and your doctor to develop a personalized course of treatment aimed at getting you back a pain-free daily life.

Physical therapy can relieve pain by increasing your strength, balance, posture, and flexibility. Collectively improving those aspects of optimal movement health 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 your desired activity level, your treatment plan in Wilbur Park, MO may include:

Guided Exercise

Exercise boosts your body’s production of endorphins, your body’s homegrown, feel-good hormone, which not only alleviates pain but eases any depression, stress, and/or anxiety caused by your pain. A professional Wilbur Park, MO physical therapist will help you perform exercises that will safely and effectively improve your mobility. With these exercises, your brain will come to understand that certain movements can be carried out 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 incorporates therapeutic touch to encourage your body’s natural healing process and relaxation of the surrounding tissues. Your Wilbur Park, MO physical therapist will use their hands to safely put pressure on your muscles and joints. Research demonstrates that manual therapy combined with guided exercise is better at treating pain than either technique used by itself.

Instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization is a form of 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 technique that is becoming more popular among Wilbur Park, MO physical therapist. It involves using thin, filiform needles to gently create small tears or rips in irritated 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 over the body part that’s causing you pain. It delivers low-voltage currents, which releases endorphins and awakens nerve cells that block the transmission of pain signals.

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 Wilbur Park, MO. We’ll teach you the best way to sit, stand, and move, as well as healthy lifestyle tips like diet recommendations.

Other services we offer in Wilbur Park, MO include:

Chronic Pain Treatment Wilbur Park, MO | Physical Therapy | Pain Management Near Wilbur Park

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

At Axes Physical Therapy in Wilbur Park, MO, we do what we do for simple reasons: to achieve positive patient experiences and help people return to to the things they love doing most. Whether you miss being able to hit a breakaway layup like you used to, or just want to get out of bed in the morning without discomfort, speak to a physical therapist in Wilbur Park, MO today or request an appointment online for meaningful chronic pain treatment.