Dealing with pain is no fun. Regardless of the type of problem you’re experiencing, pain can disrupt your life at best and completely alter it at worst. The good news is, your pain can be treated, and you can live a comfortable, normal life once again, especially if you live in Cape Coral or Fort Myers.
Types of Pain
To effectively treat your pain, we first need to identify the type of pain you’re experiencing and its origin. Once we know what that is, we can get to work.
. Acute pain: This pain comes on suddenly and tends to fade after a few weeks.
. Chronic pain: This is ongoing pain that typically disrupts your daily routines and life in general.
More specifically, there are specific types of pain the body experiences:
. Nociceptive pain: Nociceptive pain is a nervous system response designed to help protect your body. This is what compels you to pull your hand away from a hot stove, so you don’t get burned. When this type of pain comes from a sprain or strain, it forces you to rest, so the injury has time to heal.
. Neuropathic pain: This kind of pain has no real benefits. It might be caused by mixed signals between your nerves and brain or spinal cord, or it could be the result of nerve damage; your brain could interpret these faulty signals as pain.
Examples of neuropathic pain include postherpetic neuralgia (better known as shingles), diabetic neuropathy (nerve damage caused by complications of type 1 or type 2 diabetes), and carpal tunnel syndrome.
How Physical Therapy Manages Pain
Apart from surgery (which may or may not be necessary), your pain-management options come down to medication, self-care, or physical therapy. Guess which option we recommend?
There are plenty of great reasons to choose physical therapy over the other two options. First and foremost, medication can be dangerous. Sure, taken as prescribed, pain medication can help mask and ease the pain you’re experiencing…but it doesn’t fix it long term. Once the drugs wear off, the pain is back.
Too many people know all too well, this is how addictions form. The pain is unbearable, so pills are taken one after another–before you know it, it becomes a dependency that quickly transforms into an addiction. And if you’ve been paying attention to the news, that’s a path no one should ever take, but once the addiction occurs, it becomes difficult to overcome.
Because of the nation’s opioid epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends physical therapy to manage most non-cancer-related pain. Physical therapy actually treats the pain–it doesn’t hide it.
How Pain Management at Physical Therapy Now Works
Our Physical Therapy Now therapists are ready to help you manage your pain through a few different methods, including:
. Manual therapy: Hands-on treatment of pain has proven effective, whether it’s lower back pain or carpal tunnel syndrome. Manual therapy can reduce your pain and improve your movement through joint and soft tissue mobilization, manipulation, and proven other strategies.
. Exercise: It’s a fact that those who exercise regularly generally experience less pain than those who don’t. Our skilled physical therapists can work with you to create an exercise routine that helps alleviate your pain and achieve your goals.
. Education: Our physical therapists will discuss your pain history and determine the best course of treatment.
Pain Management at Physical Therapy Now
If you want to manage your pain and work your way toward taking little to no medication, come check out our beautiful, fully equipped Physical Therapy Now facilities in Cape Coral and Fort Myers. Give us a call to schedule your first appointment, where you’ll meet with one of our staff members to create the perfect treatment plan designed just for you.
www.physicaltherapynow.com
Fort Myers
239-533-9903
Cape Coral
239-424-9904