Chronic pain may leave you wanting to curl up in bed with a heating pad and a bottle of medication to help ease your aches. Although doing exercise may sound like sheer torture, it may actually be one of the best pain management options for your chronic pain.

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Physical Therapy for Pain Management

Physical therapy is used to alleviate sources of chronic pain, including:

• Osteoarthritis

• Fibromyalgia

• Chronic headaches

• Rheumatoid arthritis

• Neuropathic pain (pain caused by injury to tissues or nerves)

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One of the goals of physical therapy, is "to help chronic pain patients become stronger, because they're usually weak from not moving."

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Physical Therapy: Chronic Pain Treatment Options

Physical therapy involves a number of different types of pain management methods, including:

• Massage

• Manipulation of joints and bones

• Manual therapy using hands or tools on soft tissue

• Cold laser therapy to alleviate inflammation and pain and release endorphins

• Microcurrent stimulation, which emits alpha waves into the brain and increases serotonin and dopamine to alleviate pain naturally

• Movement therapy and exercise

 

Within each of these categories, our physical therapist has to offer as far as variety of treatments. Exercise may involve walking on a treadmill or swimming in a pool, depending on the person's pain and physical abilities.

 

We works with each patient to understand his or her particular pain — what causes it and what can be done to manage it. This is the kind of attention that a regular doctor doesn't often have the time to give, but we can ask questions and talk about pain issues as you are going through your exercise routine.