Don’t Mask the Symptoms: Treat the Origin of the Issue with Physical Therapy

physical therapy pain relief Dec10th 2018

Looking for a Drug-Free Pain Solution? Look Into Physical Therapy

Pain can be a helpful messenger, an alert that something in your body needs fixing ‒ but it can also be an agonizing annoyance affects your quality of life. To make matters worse, many pain problems are rooted in deep-set underlying conditions, often originating in a different part of the body than the part exhibiting symptoms. Medication may mask your pain temporarily, but it isn’t going to solve a chronic underlying functional problem. For a more meaningful pain solution, take advantage of the drug-free options Life In Motion Physical & Hand Therapy offers at our outpatient therapy center.

The Origins of Pain Problems

The cause of acute pain may be clear enough, especially if it accompanies an auto accident injury, work injury, infection, operation or other event. As the affected part of your body heals, the pain generally fades away. But this is not necessarily the case with some forms of pain. Chronic pain may linger for months or years with no obvious relief in sight. This pain may be due to:

  • Areas of internal scar tissue buildup that restrict neighboring muscles and connective tissues (adhesions)
  • Extended disuse after a lengthy recovery period (such as frozen shoulder after many weeks with your arm in a sling)
  • Degenerative joint conditions such as osteoarthritis, which produce chronic pain and inflammation
  • Muscle weakness, knots or spasms related to poor posture or an unbalanced body
  • Chronic pain syndromes such as fibromyalgia, which may affect both nerves and muscles
  • Chronic overuse injuries such as tendinitis, plantar fasciitis or carpal tunnel syndrome

Modern medicine tends to turn to drugs early and often in an effort to alleviate pain problems. Unfortunately, this approach may turn out to be nothing more than a stopgap. The drugs may mute the pain temporarily, but the underlying problem that’s causing the pain remains untreated. As long as that problem persists, so will your long-term pain problems. This may force you to use more and more medication ‒ a troubling proposition, especially for addictive personalities or individuals who are already on other medications.

Natural Treatment From Our Physical and Hand Therapists

Our physical and hand therapists can succeed where painkilling drugs fail. Once we understand the actual origin point of your pain, we can prescribe a therapy regimen aimed at correcting (or at least reducing) that functional abnormality. Our physical and hand therapists may start by addressing your immediate discomfort with passive physical therapy techniques. These natural treatment techniques can include any combination of:

  • Deep tissue massage to break an adhesions grip on your internal tissues
  • Heat or cold applications to reduce swelling and inflammation
  • Application of the Class 4 Light Laser to reduce pain and swelling and restart the body’s natural ability to manage pain and inflammation on its own

Once you’re responding to passive physical or hand therapy, we can introduce active therapy. Our physical and hand therapists can prescribe exercises that address both localized pain and referred pain problems. For instance, gentle stretching exercises from our physical and hand therapists can loosen tight, painful muscles and increase mobility in arthritic joints, while core training exercises that correct your balance may relieve chronic strain or neurological symptoms in the body.

How effective is physical and hand therapy as a drug-free natural pain solution? The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) states that non-pharmaceutical pain treatment is to be preferred over pharmaceuticals such as opioids ‒ and may actually do a better job of controlling pain conditions.

Stop Your Pain at the Source ‒ Contact Our Physical and Hand Therapy Offices

Our physical and hand therapists are ready to help you stop your pain at its source, with no need for drugs. Contact our Pinellas Park & Seminole, FL offices today to schedule your appointment!

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