Chronic Pain: Finding Relief with Physical Therapy – Manual Stretching

When chronic pain affects the neck, back, hands, feet or hips, difficulties arise when trying to get through even the most menial daily tasks. The surrounding muscles begin to tighten as they try to overcompensate for the pain and protect the injured area. These tight muscles can create tension headaches, impaired mobility, and limitations on range of motion.

Chronic Pain can lead to depression, addictions, anxiety, stress, isolation, and even suicide. Finding relief from pain is critical to having the quality life you deserve. Avoiding surgery and being over medicated should be at the forefront of most people’s minds when dealing with chronic pain. However, many of these individuals would do almost anything to relieve their agony.

Over 116 million people suffer from various types of chronic pain disorders ranging from fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, neuropathy, back, hip and neck pain just to name a few. Whether trauma or degenerative diseases have caused your pain, the consensus is usually the same; people want their pain to go away.

Physical therapy is the leading way to relieve pain and discomfort at its core for many individuals. Therapeutic manual stretching and exercising provide real results in controlling pain for countless patients. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) also launched new guidelines recently, recommending the use of physical therapy for chronic pain.

Arthritis
Arthritis is an inflammation of the joints. Some of the common arthritic symptoms are joint pain, stiffness, warmth, immobilization, and loss of range of motion, fatigue and inadequate blood flow. Two of the main types of arthritis are Osteoarthritis (OA) and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). With Osteoarthritis, wear and tear damages the cartilage in the joints and causes friction between the bones rubbing together. Injury or infection usually causes Rheumatoid Arthritis. RA is an autoimmune disease that causes the body to attack its own lining of the joints and membranes; this results in painful swelling and inflammation. Most people may find that there is little to no relief with over the counter NSAID’s like ibuprofen.
Physical therapy and manual stretching offer arthritic joints and sore surrounding tissues much needed relief and over time, the individual will see more and more improvement in their pain level.

Back Pain
Unfortunately, back pain affects up to 80% of individuals at some point in their lives. Studies show that for those who suffer from back pain, the symptoms often come in persistent, continuous episodes. This is why being proactive about physical therapy treatments and techniques can help to alleviate or lessen these intervals of pain.

For patients suffering from back pain, the first step to recovery is to receive a proper diagnosis so the cause of the symptoms can be determined. Physical therapists are trained to administer flexibility and strengthening tactics along with body mechanics and awareness techniques to get your body moving and creating a much less painful range-of-motion. With ongoing therapy, most people see remarkable outcomes and lasting results.

Examples of Stretching Exercises to Relieve Pain
Hands: make a fist with the thumb on the outside and hold for 30 seconds. Open the hand abruptly with the fingers spread wide. Repeat six times.
Back: lying flat on your back, bring one leg in towards the chest with the leg bent. Put your arms or hands around the back of the bent leg and gently pull towards your chest. Switch legs and repeat 10 times.

Patient Education is critical to alleviate further injury and to promote the most efficacious healing. Coupled with family participation, self-help management to promote and maintain independent function, mobility and communication is critical.

Physical therapy is used to help with numerous indications and conditions like retraining the body to improve gait and balance and also after hip, knee or shoulder replacement and so much more. There is no better way to alleviate pain, increase range-of-motion and live a more mobile higher quality of life than through physical therapy.

To find out more or to schedule your appointment, please contact Innovative Therapies Group today.

Innovative Therapies Group, Inc.
352-433-0091 | innovativetherapiesgroup.com