Chronic Pain Treatment in Wright City, MO

Chronic pain treatment in Wright City, MO. Anyone who has had to deal with chronic pain knows how limiting it can be. For some of us, the months or years we’ve dealt with it leads us to lose sight of what it feels like to live a pain-free life. At it’s worse, the pain can keep us from comfortably completing basic tasks like doing household chores, or the things we love most, whether that be dominating your local pickleball league or picking up your kids.

Axes Physical Therapy is a collection of 15 physical and occupational therapy centers devoted to helping our Wright City, MO patients find lasting relief through personalized 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 make an appointment for safe 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 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 be anything from dull soreness to burning pain.

According to the CDC, in 2019 almost a quarter of U.S. adults dealt with chronic pain. 7.4% of adults (over a third of those who experienced chronic pain) suffered from “high-impact” chronic pain, which is pain that occurs on more days than not that limits work or life activities. Anyone who suffers from frequent pain symptoms will tell you that it causes far more than just physical discomfort. 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, is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. In most cases, pain is due to trauma, an infection, or other medical condition. “Acute pain” occurs suddenly, 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, people can experience chronic pain for several reasons. Sometimes an injury continues to cause pain after the tissue is repaired . In other cases, 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, bursitis, tendinitis, and other conditions that cause joint pain — The cartilage, tendons, and ligaments in our joints can become inflamed or wear down from overuse or overexertion, causing joint pain.
• A variety of conditions that cause lower back pain — Up to 84% of adults will deal with back pain at some point in their lives. Causes can be poor posture or technique, wear and tear 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 bother 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 — In some cases, pain does not occur for a physical reason, but rather it’s caused by the nervous system, or because of depression, anxiety, and/or stress.

There are many tips for relieving chronic pain, and while many can lead to greater comfort, many people we see in Wright City, MO 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 the things that are most important to them.

How Do Physical Therapists in Wright City, MO Help With Chronic Pain Treatment?

Chronic pain can be treated through a variety of modalities in Wright City, MO, including medication, chiropractic adjustments, massage, and regular exercise. Studies show that incorporating 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 ask you questions to better understand how we can help you. Do you experience pain every day? Most days? Does anything make it better or worse? How is limiting you in your daily life? From there, we’ll form a team with you and your physician to come up with a customized course of treatment aimed at returning you a comfortable daily life.

Physical therapy can relieve pain by increasing your strength, balance, posture, and flexibility. Helping you reach the best possible mobility relieves pain and enhances your daily life by allowing your body to function better, and interrupting certain body parts from sending pain messages to your brain. Depending on you, the nature of your chronic pain, how old you are, and the activity level you wish to get back to, your treatment plan in Wright City, MO may include:

Guided Exercise

Exercise releases endorphins, your body’s homegrown, feel-good chemical messengers, which not only reduces pain but helps with any depression, stress, and/or anxiety caused by your pain. A professional Wright City, MO physical therapist can help you perform exercises aimed at improving your mobility without causing further 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. We’ll also show you light exercises you can do at home.

Manual Therapy and Soft Tissue Mobilization

Manual therapy incorporates therapeutic touch to promote healing and relaxation of muscles and joints. Your Wright City, MO physical therapist will use their hands to gently put pressure on your muscles and joints. Research demonstrates that manual therapy and guided exercise together are 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 more and more Wright City, MO physical therapists are incorporating into their treatment plans. It involves using thin, filiform needles to penetrate irritated muscles and connective tissue. This eases pain as it stimulates the body’s “healing mode” and stimulates the nutrient-rich blood flow to the affected area.

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)

TENS works by placing electrodes where the pain is located. It delivers low-voltage currents, which releases endorphins and stimulates nerve cells that block the transmission of pain signals.

Patient Education

Understanding why you’re experiencing pain and how to deal with it in your daily life can do wonders for your chronic pain treatment in Wright City, MO. We’ll teach you appropriate posture and movement techniques, in addition to healthy lifestyle suggestions like how to keep a healthy diet.

Other services we offer in Wright City, MO include:

• Neck Pain Treatment
• Physical Therapy Clinic
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Treatment
• Sciatica Treatment
• Sports Medicine
• Hand Pain Physical Therapy
• Foot & Ankle Pain Treatment
• Hip Pain Treatment
• Plantar Fasciitis Treatment
• Stroke Rehabilitation

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

At Axes Physical Therapy in Wright City, MO, our goals are simple: to achieve positive client outcomes and help people get back 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 Wright City, MO today or schedule an appointment online for lasting chronic pain treatment.