Tired of Medications? Find Relief with Physical Therapy

Pain can put some extreme limits on your life. While medication can provide temporary relief, it doesn’t actually solve the problem of your pain; rather, it merely masks the symptoms. If you have been living with acute or chronic pain and you’re looking for a natural way to successfully treat your symptoms, contact our office today!

A natural alternative to medication:

For many people, even the thought of exercising can make them cringe due to the pain they are feeling. However, physical therapy exercises are one of the absolute best treatments for chronic pain. By participating in a physical therapy routine, you will see just how effective exercise can be for all types of chronic musculoskeletal and neuropathic pain. Just a few of the many conditions that can be treated through physical therapy include:

  • Chronic headaches.
  • Neuropathic pain.
  • Fibromyalgia.
  • Osteoarthritis.
  • Disc degeneration disease.
  • Disc herniation.

A physical therapist has a wide variety of treatment options to offer for pain. Just a few of the common methods and modalities that physical therapists use include manipulation of the joints and bones, movement therapy, massage therapy, microcurrent stimulation, and cold laser therapy. All of these treatments help in relieving pain, reducing inflammation, accelerating healing, and improving daily function.

The risks of pain medication:

Taking pain-management drugs as a way to rid yourself of pain may seem like a good solution in the short-term, but it has many disadvantages in the long-term. Over-the-counter medications such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen can lead to undesirable side effects. For example, taking excessive amounts of aspirin can cause your stomach to bleed and can lead to kidney damage. Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen can also both cause both kidney and stomach problems.

However, prescription opioids like codeine, oxycodone, and morphine are perhaps the worst. These are habit-forming drugs that can lead to addiction. They are also responsible for an additional number of side effects, include respiratory depression, constipation, anxiety, and nausea. Several people also overdose on opioids each year, either due to addiction or a gradually increased intake in order to relieve pain. Not only does taking meds for pain just mask the problem, it just may cause you another one.

What will your treatment plan look like?

Physical therapy is the ideal way to alleviate your pain and decrease your recovery time. A physical therapist can identify where your pain is originating and treat it accordingly, in order to correct the condition. At your initial appointment, you will undergo a comprehensive physical assessment to determine the best course of action for your specific needs. From there, an individualized treatment plan will be designed for you.

Physical therapy treatments are both passive and active. With passive treatments, the main focus will be on relieving your pain through specifically selected methods and modalities. This may include ice and heat therapies, massage therapy, electrical stimulation, ultrasound, or any additional technique that your physical therapist deems fit. With active treatments, the main focus will be on improving your strength, range of motion, and flexibility, in order to help you regain your optimum levels of function. This will include targeted exercises and stretches, as well as any other accommodations forms of exercise (such as aquatic therapy or balance boards) that your physical therapist deems fit.

Don’t struggle with pain and harmful medications any longer. Instead of settling for masked symptoms, contact our office to treat them the right way. Our licensed physical therapists are seasoned in the field of movement and mobilization, and they would be more than happy to help you achieve a full recovery. Live your life to the fullest by scheduling a consultation today!

Sources:

https://www.apta.org/PTinMotion/2018/10/Feature/Opioid/

https://www.apta.org/PTinMotion/News/2016/3/16/CDCFinalOpioidGuidelines/

Should I See a Physical Therapist for Herniated Disc Pain?

Discovering When it is Time to Seek the Help of a Physical Therapist

A herniated disc can occur anywhere in your spine. At our physical therapy practice, we often see herniated discs among our patients with back, arm, and/or leg pain.

If you believe that your pain and dysfunction may be caused by a herniated disc, we encourage you to contact us today to schedule a PT appointment. Our experienced team can help you understand the source of your symptoms, and they can help heal the injured disc for long-term relief.

You should see a physical therapist for herniated disc pain when…

Research shows that physical therapy is effective in the treatment of herniated discs. If your symptoms affect your daily life or work activities, or if your symptoms persist for more than two weeks, we advise that you consult with a physical therapist.

Physical therapy interventions such as spinal traction, remedial exercises and non-invasive modalities such as electrical stimulation or diathermy can heal the injured disc, alleviate pain, and help you avoid recurring issues.

Physical therapy may also be advised if you have been told by a surgeon that you may need spinal surgery to correct the protrusion. In many cases, surgeons ask their patients to work with a physical therapist prior to a spinal fusion or disc decompression procedure, in order to improve your core strength and spinal health. This can maximize surgical outcomes and reduce the risk of postoperative complications.

Interestingly, research shows that even “idiopathic” cases of back pain (no known cause) respond positively to physical therapy. In other words, even if it’s not entirely clear whether you have a herniated disc, our services can still help.

Are you at risk of developing a herniated disc?

In addition to analyzing your symptoms and performing various tests and measures, a physical therapist can help you determine if you have a herniated disc by assessing your medical history and lifestyle.

We’ll look for risk factors known to be linked to herniated discs, including:

  • Age between 30 and 50
  • Frequent bending, heavy lifting, or twisting
  • Obesity
  • Male gender
  • Acute trauma, e.g., auto accident or fall
  • Smoking
  • Physically demanding occupation

How to tell if a herniated disc is the culprit for your back pain

Spinal discs are small soft structures found between vertebral bones. Their main jobs are to absorb shock and maximize mobility within the spine. On the outside, these discs are tough and fibrous, but on the inside they are soft and gel-like.

A herniated disc occurs when the tough outer layer of the disc (called the annulus fibrosis) ruptures. This allows the inner gel substance (called the nucleus pulposus) to leak out. The ruptured disc tissue can trigger an inflammatory response and compress nearby structures, including joint receptors and spinal nerve roots.

Interestingly enough, not all herniated discs will lead to pain (especially because the discs themselves are relatively low in innervation and vascularization). However, when a herniated disc does cause symptoms, these symptoms often include:

  • Pain that improves or “centralizes” (moves toward the spine) with spinal extension, such as when lying down or lying prone
  • Pain that worsens with forward flexion or prolonged sitting—forward flexion may also cause the pain to “peripheralized” or move further away from the spine
  • Arm or leg pain, numbness, tingling, and weakness (if the herniated disc compresses on an adjacent nerve root that innervates the affected limb)
  • Neck or back pain, stiffness, and muscle spasms at the level of the injured disc

A herniated disc is similar to a bulging disc; in the latter condition, the disc tissue may protrude out of place but will not rupture.

Ready to get started?

According to SpineUniverse,

“Physical therapy often plays a major role in herniated disc recovery. Its methods not only offer immediate pain relief, but they also teach you how to condition your body to prevent further injury.

There are a variety of physical therapy techniques. Passive treatments relax your body and include deep tissue massage, hot and cold therapy, electrical stimulation (eg, TENS), and hydrotherapy.”

If you’ve been living with herniated disc pain and you’re looking for relief, don’t hesitate to contact us!

We’ll help you find the relief you’ve been looking for, so you can get back to living life comfortably.

Stop Your Opioid Use Once and For All with Physical Therapy

Did You Know Physical Therapy Could Decrease the Need for Opioids?

If you’ve been struggling with serious pain problems for a while, and you’ve gotten little to no relief from over-the-counter painkillers, your doctor may want to prescribe opioids to control that pain. But as tempting as it might be to numb yourself with these powerful drugs, you’re better off saying no to the offer. Opioid medications can create some major problems in your life, without actually addressing your pain at its source. That’s why the CDC recommends that patients find ways to relieve their pain through physical therapy instead.

Before you take another pill for your pain, call our office to schedule an appointment with a physical therapist. We want you to know that relief from arthritis pain is possible with the help of physical therapy.

Physical therapy can help you govern your pain without drugs, giving you a chance to break away from your reliance on opioids.

Our skilled physical therapist can help you achieve this goal – so contact our office today!

Why are opioids so dangerous?

People use opioid medications as a kind of “nuclear option” for eliminating pain that less severe methods can’t control, often as the last stop before major surgery.

Opioids such as morphine are used in combat situations or hospitals to ease the pain of traumatic injuries, terminal cancer, and surgical procedures. Opioids such as oxycodone and hydrocodone are also prescribed for managing severe pain at home.

Opioids are so powerful because they have a direct effect on opioid receptors – the parts of the brain that process feelings of pain and pleasure. When an opioid fills these receptors, it blocks pain sensations while flooding the body with feelings of euphoria and well-being.

How can my pain be managed naturally?

In some ways, opioids represent too much of a good thing; in other respects, they’re sadly inadequate for coping with long-term pain issues.

Over time, these drugs can take the place of the body’s own pleasure-generating chemicals, meaning that their absence causes severe withdrawal.

This combination of positive and negative reinforcement results in dangerous degrees of addiction. Millions of people in the U.S. alone abuse opioids, and many of those individuals die of opioid-related overdoses.

The other shortcoming of opioids is the fact that they don’t actually help to heal anything. Even the strongest pain-management drug can do nothing more than kill pain, and that only temporarily.

The underlying injury or ailments that generate the pain signals is still there, possibly getting worse from day to day, affecting your functionality and health as well as your comfort.

Physical therapy and pain relief – how they go hand in hand

Physical therapy not only helps to ease your pain safely and naturally; it also gives your body what it needs to control or recover from its underlying health problems.

Here are just three of the ways our physical therapist can use these techniques to get you feeling better:

  1. Flexibility exercises increase your range of motion. Both passive and active exercises can flex arthritic joints or tight tissues. Over time, these exercises can loosen your muscles, promote joint lubrication, and reduce the inflammation that contributes to many pain syndromes.
  2. Strength training improves posture, balance, and support. Many painful problems are caused or worsened by improper posture, musculoskeletal imbalances, and structural weaknesses that place too much stress on muscles and joints. Our physical therapist can prescribe strength training to help your body stabilize itself and support its weight more comfortably.
  3. Aerobic exercises can help you control inflammation. A physical therapy program that includes walking, cycling, swimming, or other aerobic exercises can help you control inflammation by boosting circulation and altering hormone levels. It can also improve your blood pressure and sense of well-being while helping you lose excess weight.

You should consider physical therapy if:

  • You’re interested in actually treating the underlying cause of the pain, instead of simply numbing the pain itself
  • Your pain is musculoskeletal or neuromuscular in origin (as opposed to cancer pain, for instance)
  • You suffer from a chronic, incurable pain condition that might otherwise require a lifetime on opioids
  • You’re experiencing issues such as addiction, depression, or physical side effects from opioid usage – or you’re determined to avoid such issues

Ready to get started?

These natural pain-relieving methods are just a few of the physical therapy techniques we can employ.

So skip the opioids and call our physical therapist today!

What’s At The Root of Your Hip and Knee Pain?

Physical therapy could help you find the answer!

The knees and hips are important, complex areas of the body. There are several tendons, joints, and muscles that are joined together in these parts of your body, and they help you to move in normal ways. However, if these areas are damaged at all, or if you’re feeling pain in them, it can become very difficult to do the things you normally do.

Are you struggling with debilitating or uncomfortable pain in your knees or hips? You’re not the only one. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, knee pain is a common condition resulting in 19.4 million pain-related visits to a physician’s office each year!

Thankfully, physical therapy can help relieve knee and hip pain! Call our office GoodLife Physical Therapy to learn more about how a trained physical therapist can help give you the long-o pain relief you deserve.

Common pain conditions affecting the knees and hips

The movement of your knees and hips might be hampered by a variety of problems. Traumatic injury, chronic disease, or repeated motions performed as part of a work, sport, or hobby can all create these problems.

  • Strains and sprains – Strains and sprains are common ailments that occur in a variety of ways. When a muscle or tendon is overstretched or ruptured, a strain occurs. A sprain occurs when a ligament is stretched or torn. Ligaments can even rupture, resulting in bruising, mobility restrictions, and pain.
    A physical therapist can demonstrate activities that will aid with your recovery. They can also teach you how to move in order to avoid further injury or suffering.
  • Bursitis – Bursitis is a painful inflammation of a tiny sac of fluid called the “bursa.” This, like many other conditions, is caused by overuse or repetitive injuries. Bursitis can affect the elbows, knees,, and hips, among other places on the body. Physical therapy can aid with bursitis pain relief and speed up recovery times.
  • Arthritis – Arthritis, also known as “osteoarthritis,” is a disease in which the tissues around the joints become inflamed and irritated. I This illness can cause discomfort in your hands, knees, and hips, among other sites on your body. A physical therapist can educate you how to maintain healthy posture and movement patterns to protect your joints and keep your arthritis from taking over your daily activities.
  • Tears in the meniscus – Meniscus tears are unfortunately one of the most common types of knee injury. Swelling, stiffness, and varied degrees of discomfort are all symptoms of this injury. If you’re doing a lot of hard pivoting and twisting with your legs, you’re more likely to get this energy. Athletes frequently cry as a result of this. Without surgery, a physical therapist can treat a torn meniscus in a safe and effective manner.

Finding true pain relief with physical therapy

Your discomfort may seem overwhelming, but a physical therapist can help you lessen it no matter what illness you’re living with!

Your mobility specialist will evaluate your health, medical history, and pain levels in order to design a customized program that matches your specific requirements. Continue reading to learn more about how a physical therapist can help you lessen and relieve hip and knee pain.

  • Ice & Heat – A physical therapist may use ice packs to reduce swelling and inflammation. Heat is also commonly used during physical therapy to help increase mobility and reduce pain.
  • Manual Physical Therapy – Hands-on techniques are used often in physical therapy to reduce pain in your hips and knees. This could include stretching exercises or a variety of massage techniques.
  • Laser Therapy – Laser therapy has become much more popular in physical therapy for pain management. It can help improve the growth and reproduction of cells, increase circulation, and also reduce inflammation.
  • Ultrasound Therapy – Ultrasound therapy can be used in physical therapy to provide soothing heat to deep tissues. A licensed physical therapist can also utilize ultrasound technology to easily identify specific areas of pain.
  • At-Home Exercises – Did you know you don’t always have to be in a clinical setting to do physical therapy exercises? It’s true! Physical therapy techniques can be incorporated into a home exercise program that can become part of your daily routine.

Your battle with pain is over

Your physical therapist may examine your entire body, diagnose the painful places in your hips and knees, and design a treatment plan just for you.

You have the right to return to the activities you enjoy without fear of your hips and knees limiting you. So, what are you waiting for? Get comfort from one of our highly skilled physical therapists!

Contact GoodLife Physical Therapy to schedule your one-on-one evaluation today, and get back on the road to recovery.

Source:

Discover the Natural Relief You’ve Been Looking For – Without Opioids

Did You Know Physical Therapy Could Help Provide Natural Pain Relief?

Opioids are the main driver of the widespread drug crisis across America. If you or a loved one has chronic pain, you may feel frustrated and confused about your choices.

At our physical therapy clinic, we stand with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other professional organizations who recommend physical therapy and other alternatives over prescription opioids for the management of chronic pain.

Many people simply don’t realize how effective physical therapy can be in alleviating even the most stubborn symptoms—all without the need for drugs or invasive procedures.

We’re happy to show you exactly how physical therapy can help you feel (and function) your best.

What can I expect from a PT treatment plan?

Physical therapy can help you deal with your pain so you don’t need opioids anymore. Of course, only high doses of opioids should be discontinued under professional medical supervision (to prevent a potentially dangerous withdrawal).

In the meantime, however, our physical therapist can work with you to address the biomechanical problems that caused your pain in the first place.

Here are just a few of the physical therapy modalities that can help you conquer your pain:

  • Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) uses electrical energy to block pain signals to nerves.
  • Laser therapy can ease pain caused by injuries, arthritis, muscular strain, tendinitis or neuropathy.
  • Massage therapy can control painful muscle spasms, help the tissues expel inflammatory substances, and direct more blood and oxygen to an injury.
  • Exercises can increase your pain-free range of motion, strengthen the muscles that support your body, and increase blood flow to reduce inflammation.

Physical therapy may not help you to feel that immediate relief in the same way pain medication would, but it will help you to feel gradual improvements in your experience of the pain so that you can eventually start to live your life free of discomfort.

A physical therapist can also help you discover relief through:

  • Weight lifting: As you begin to experience tension relief and decreased swelling in the targeted area, your physical therapist can then guide you through the process of building muscle mass to support a full and healthy recovery.
  • Deep stretching: Your physical therapist can guide you through specialized stretching techniques that will target the source of your pain, thereby helping to improve your range of motion and support the development of muscle mass in the area of your pain.
  • Hot and cold therapy: The combination of hot and cold therapy can help to reduce swelling and alleviate pain, and when used in combination with other natural strategies can be a great source of relief from chronic pain.
  • Targeted massage: Your physical therapist can identify the area that may be causing the pain and utilize massage techniques to reduce tension in that particular area, thereby helping to alleviate pressure in your joints and reduce pain.

5 ways physical therapy can help with the relief you’ve been looking for

  1. There are a multitude of benefits surrounding PT! When you see a physical therapist for pain relief, you’re not going to just get one type of treatment. You’ll receive multiple services that complement each other and enhance their overall effectiveness. The result? A cost-effective and comprehensive healing journey for you!
  2. You can live your best life with PT. Unlike many other healthcare providers who are limited on time, physical therapists have a lot of face-to-face interaction with their patients and can take the time to get to know their goals, demands, and preferences. This ensures that patients are engaged in their plans of care, educated about their health condition, and equipped with home exercises, stretches, and other lifestyle modifications needed to optimize results. Physical therapy is an active experience that puts you back in the driver’s seat of your own health.
  3. PT helps you move comfortably again. Research tells us that exercise is one of the best ways to manage chronic pain. But if a person is in so much pain they can barely get out of bed, how are they supposed to start exercising more? Enter physical therapy. Your physical therapist can manage your condition and other contributing factors (like range of motion limitations, tissue tension, weakness, and incoordination) that make exercise difficult. By helping you get more exercise—and showing you which exercises are best for you, as well as how to do them correctly—a physical therapist also helps you reduce the risk of other chronic diseases.
  4. PT methods and modalities are non-invasive, drug-free, and safe. Practitioners of physical therapy utilize tools like diathermy, dry needling, electrical stimulation, ultrasound, and other techniques to reduce pain, muscle spasms, inflammation, and more. The risk of side effects with these modalities is minimal to none, and unlike drugs they won’t pose the risk of dependency or withdrawal. They simply enhance your body’s natural self-healing capability (instead of just “masking” the pain). Through extensive training, a physical therapist can ensure these techniques are applied with the correct dosage (intensity, location, type, duration, and frequency) for optimal outcomes.
  5. PT can promote healing and alleviate pain. A physical therapist is trained in techniques like joint mobilizations and manipulations, massage, myofascial release, Active Release Techniques, and Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation. These can trigger physical and physiological changes in the body’s connective tissues, central nervous system, lymphatic system, and more. These techniques have been proven to relieve pain and elicit healing responses that can keep pain from coming back.

Relieve your pain with PT today!

No matter what the cause of your pain is, we invite you to schedule a consultation at our PT clinic today. Don’t hide your pain—heal your pain from the source with physical therapy!

Upcoming Surgery? Recover Faster with PT!

Discover How Physical Therapy Can Make Your Recovery Quicker and Easier!

Every year, our physical therapy team treats thousands of people recovering from surgery.

Whether you’re undergoing a joint replacement, back surgery, or some other procedure, we’re confident that working with a physical therapist in Orland Park, Homer Glen or Crestwood, IL can help you heal and get back to your active lifestyle as efficiently and safely as possible.

What can physical therapy do for me after surgery?

A trained physical therapist can advise you regarding the best post-surgical plan for your specific needs. As soon as you know when your surgery is scheduled you’ll want to make an appointment with a physical therapist.

A therapist will likely do a complete physical assessment before creating a unique rehab program.

Physical therapy treatment can help you achieve as much strength, stamina, flexibility, and improved range of motion as possible both before and after your surgery.

In fact, according to the American Physical Therapy Association, there are proven benefits to both pre-surgical rehabilitation AND post-surgical rehabilitation. A physical therapist may use a variety of manual therapies or teach you exercises you can do at home.

A therapist might also use heat, ice, or electrical stimulation. You’ll want to get started as soon as possible to make sure you’re prepared for surgery and can make a quick and full recovery.

Curious about why physical therapy is so important in the post-surgical window? We’ve got three reasons to pique your interest.

1. Improve your recovery.

Our bodies are incredibly powerful and capable of healing themselves. The type of non-invasive and drug-free services and techniques a physical therapist can offer can enhance self-healing power and work with the body—instead of just covering up symptoms.

By minimizing pain and reducing the risk of complications, your physical therapy team can help you stay on track during your recovery period so you can regain and maximize your strength, balance, range of motion, endurance, and overall function as quickly as possible.

2. Avoid complications.

Any surgery comes with at least some level of risk for complications including postoperative bleeding, infections, range of motion limitations, and hardware malfunction. Working with a physical therapist in Orland Park, Homer Glen or Crestwood, IL may help reduce the likelihood of experiencing a complication, which reduces stress, saves money, and protects your short-term and long-term health.

For example, physical therapists are skilled in teaching you safe ways to move and function in your daily life. If your surgeon requests that you follow certain precautions or activity restrictions for a while following your operation, your physical therapist can teach you how to follow these restrictions and progress or modify them appropriately as time goes on.

Physical therapists can also prescribe and fit adaptive equipment such as walkers and braces to further protect your healing tissues and help you mobilize more safely.

Your physical therapist can also act as a supportive liaison between you and your surgeon and keep him or her updated with your progress and needs. This way, if any concerns arise there can be faster communication between all the need-to-know members of your medical team.

3. Manage and decrease pain.

A physical therapist can teach you exercises, provide manual interventions like massage, and implement non-invasive modalities that can work together alleviate your pain and even reduce your reliance on pain-relieving medications, including opioids.

Many of the interventions we provide in physical therapy work directly on the central nervous system to help modulate pain signals being sent to your brain, while others help reduce inflammation, swelling, and stiffness.

Of course, pain is normal and expected following certain types of procedures, including hip and knee replacements, and taking your pain medication as prescribed can help you participate in your physical therapy more fully. So, it’s important to talk to your doctor about your pain medication options and not to stop or start taking anything without his or her input.

That said, research shows that physical therapy is a safe alternative or beneficial component to effective pain management in the post-surgical window. So be sure to talk to your doctor about setting up a referral to see a physical therapist, too!

Ready to get started?

It’s never too early to see a physical therapist! Please contact our PT clinic today to schedule an appointment for your post-operative rehabilitation.

Get Moving Once Again with Physical Therapy

If you’ve been living with acute or chronic pain, physical therapy can help. Whatever your injury or underlying condition may be, our licensed physical therapists understand how pain can significantly impact your daily life.

Physical therapists are movement experts who are trained in several different methods and modalities that are natural, non-invasive, and successful. Schedule a consultation today to find out how PT can benefit you!

While there are numerous reasons why physical therapy is the best treatment method for achieving a happy, healthy, and pain-free life, the top 5 include:

1. Patients can maximize their functional performance, mobility, and capacity through physical therapy.

A physical therapist helps patients improve coordination, core stability, endurance, agility, and any other physical skills that they can carry over into their sports, work, hobbies, and everyday life. This is essential for young active people who are looking to improve performance, as well as the older population who are looking to avoid age-related debility.

In other words, our physical therapy team can manage your injury or disease now as well as help prevent injury in the future.

2. Physical therapy is an effective way to treat pain at its roots.

A physical therapist won’t just “mask” your pain. Our therapists identify and resolve underlying factors contributing to your current condition and increasing your risk of chronic issues. Common factors include shortened muscles, scar tissue, range-of-motion limitations, muscle activation problems, impaired ergonomics and body mechanics, and postural imbalances. If factors like these are left unaddressed, your symptom relief would likely be temporary at best.

Through services such as patient education, work-hardening programs and other techniques previously mentioned, a physical therapist can address both symptom and cause.

3. There are little-to-no side effects of physical therapy.

Unlike many medications and invasive procedures, physical therapy services have a very low risk of side effects. They also remain highly effective in reducing pain, swelling, inflammation and other impairments related to a patient’s condition. PT techniques require less downtime and can be modified in order to allow for safe use on everyone, from infants to seniors.

4. The need for harmful drugs, such as opioids, is often eliminated through physical therapy.

The current opioid abuse epidemic across the nation suggests that these potentially harmful drugs are frequently overprescribed. The CDC recommends physical therapy before opioids for the management of many types of chronic pain. Additionally, treatment techniques used in physical therapy are “evidence-based,” meaning they are tested in scientific research studies in order to provide support for their safety, efficacy, and effectiveness.

5. Each treatment plan is customized to the specific needs of each patient.

A standard physical therapy plan of care is completely individualized to the patient. The main focuses of any plan of care are addressing the patient’s unique goals, resolving their impairments, and optimizing their recovery, functional independence, and long-term health. These outcomes can be achieved through PT techniques, including:

  • Modalities, such as ultrasound, kinesio taping, dry needling, orthotics and prosthetics fitting, electrical stimulation, or diathermy.
  • Therapeutic exercises.
  • Manual therapy, such as massage or joint mobilizations.
  • Neuromuscular re-education, such as balance training.

After undergoing a thorough examination with your physical therapist, you’ll receive an individualized treatment plan that will aim to accelerate your healing. This plan is modified to meet your specific needs and lifestyle, and it relies on your feedback throughout the process, giving you an active role in your recovery.

Schedule your consultation today!

Don’t let your pain limit your life any longer – schedule a consultation with us today to get started on the first steps of your physical therapy journey. We’ll walk you through each step toward your physical goals and help you achieve the active and pain-free life you deserve!

Sources:

https://www.moveforwardpt.com/benefits/default.aspx

https://www.moveforwardpt.com/Resources/Detail/7-myths-about-physical-therapy

Are You In Search of Safe, Effective Pain Relief For Your Back and Neck Pain?

There are many reasons why one may develop back or neck pain. Back and neck pain may range from mild to severe, and you may experience accompanying symptoms.

Neck pain is most commonly caused by muscle strains, which can develop due to a cervical herniated disc, cervical degenerative disc disease, or cervical osteoarthritis. Anything that causes the spine’s anatomy to change can result in back pain, such as lumbar disc herniation, lumbar degenerative disc disease, sacroiliac joint dysfunction, or osteoarthritis!

Luckily, physical therapy can help relieve back and neck pain and help you get back to living your everyday, pain-free life. If you’re searching for pain relief from a chronic back or neck pain condition, give us a call today to schedule an appointment. We will help ease your symptoms and teach you how to manage your pain without using harmful medications.

Common causes of back pain

You don’t have to be lifting something heavy to sustain a back injury. Several factors can contribute to back pain.

The source of the pain comes from injury or irritation of the muscles, joints (including the intervertebral discs and facet joints), nerves or surrounding ligaments, and other soft tissue.

Some of the contributing factors are often associated with back pain are:

  • Improper posture or prolonged positions (i.e., prolonged sitting)
  • Spinal muscle and tissue damage (i.e., lifting strains or trauma from accidents)
  • Limited hip, spine, and pelvis mobility
  • Limited muscle flexibility
  • Spinal/pelvic muscle weaknesses (aka “core” weakness)
  • Poor abdominal, pelvic and back muscle coordination (i.e., compensations due to injury)

Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t seek treatment when back pain arises. They might assume nothing—except for medication and rest—can solve their back pain problem, and this simply is not the case!

Common causes of neck pain

Neck pain is most commonly caused by an injury to the tissues or bone structures in the neck; however, certain degenerative conditions can also lead to neck pain.

Some common conditions that give you a pain in your neck include:

  • Muscle strains –The muscles in your neck can become strained by overuse. Even something as simple as sitting at your desk all day with your neck craned toward the computer screen can lead to a strain on your neck muscles.
  • Illnesses – Certain diseases and ailments can result in neck pain, such as rheumatoid arthritis and meningitis.
  • Nerve compression – If you have a herniated disc in your neck or narrowing of the foramen (space where the nerves exit the spine), the nerves that branch out from your spinal cord can become compressed. In some cases, nerve pain can even extend from the neck all the way down to the hands and fingers — a condition known as “radiculopathy.”
  • Injuries – Whiplash is one of the most common injuries that result in neck pain, typically sustained by an automobile or high-impact sports collision. This is known as a “strain” injury, causing the head to whip back and forth rapidly, thus affecting the soft tissues in the back of the neck.

What should I do if I have back or neck pains?

If you’re experiencing back or neck pain, it is important to consult with your primary doctor right away. He or she will most likely perform a physical exam and may want to take some x-rays or a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test.

With an MRI, your doctor will be able to see your soft tissues, ligaments, tendons, and blood vessels, which can provide evidence of where your back or neck pain is stemming from. Once this is determined, your doctor will suggest a course of treatment, which will likely include physical therapy.

Back pain and neck pain can lead to a loss of productivity, and it is a common cause of disability. Because of this, it is important to seek the assistance of a medical professional immediately if you are suffering from back or neck pain.

How will physical therapy help my back or neck pain?

Physical therapy is an effective treatment for both back and neck pain. The goals and expected outcomes of these treatments include:

  1. Decreased pain and stiffness. By using passive treatments such as manual therapy, your physical therapist will help alleviate pain in the affected area and accelerate the healing process.
  2. Prevention of further issues. By learning proper body mechanics, you can avoid future injuries and prevent pain from recurring.
  3. Increased range of motion. Your physical therapist will implement flexibility exercises into your treatment plan, which will help increase the range of motion in your back and neck.
  4. Improved strength. Your physical therapist will create a specific exercise plan for your particular needs, which will aid in the strengthening of muscles in the affected area.
  5. Improved quality of life. Physical therapy can help you return to your normal routine much quicker, allowing for an overall improvement in quality of life.

Treatment plans are comprised of both passive and active methods. Passive treatments work to relieve pain, inflammation, and stiffness, while active treatments work to improve strength, flexibility, and function.

Common passive treatments for back and neck pain include ice and heat therapies, manual therapy, electrical stimulation, and ultrasound. Active treatments include targeted stretches and exercises that your physical therapist will prescribe.

Contact us today for relief!

Are you living with back or neck pain? If so, say goodbye today with the help of physical therapy. Contact us today to confirm your appointment and get started on the first steps toward pain relief.

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A Physical Therapist’s Role in Chronic Pain Relief

Ready to Relieve Your Chronic Pain?

Chronic pain is extremely common – with more than 100 million sufferers alone in the U.S. So, if you’re struggling with chronic pain – you’re not alone.

Standard pain medications have so many undesired qualities that you can’t rely on them to fully treat your pain, which can leave you wondering if you’re just stuck with your pain.

Luckily, there is another potential solution. Physical therapy has been shown to be effective in reducing or eliminating chronic pain. With the right treatment plan, you may be able to reduce your discomfort significantly.

How can a physical therapist help relieve my chronic pain?

1. TENS, Ice Therapy, Heat Therapy

Physical therapists have a variety of tools at their disposal to treat your immediate pain as well. They can use things like transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), hot and cold therapies to help reduce inflammation and ease some of the pain you are feeling. These therapies can also help improve your body’s ability to heal.

2. Safe movements

Most people are not fully aware of how they move in their day to day activities. You could be bending over, lifting, walking, running, sitting, or moving in some other manner that is contributing to your chronic pain. Learning how to improve the issues with your movements can significantly decrease the pain you experience.

Your first session with your physical therapist will include an exam where they watch the way you perform different activities – like walking – to identify any possible problems. Once they know where things are going wrong, they can teach you how to improve so that you do not unknowingly increase your chronic pain.

3. Flexibility improvement

Improving your flexibility can also help reduce your pain. When you are suffering from an injury, it is common for your body to compensate in some way to avoid the pain – which can lead to unhealthy movement patterns that you may not even be aware of.

The way your body compensates may help right after the injury, but over time it will lead to wear and tear on other parts of your body. If you feel really tight or locked up in one way or another, you are probably experiencing this type of situation.

Physical therapy can gently relax your body so that you can return to moving in a healthy manner. Your physical therapist will work with you to ease the tension so that your body can move correctly and increase the strength of the muscles surrounding the joint so that you can maintain the correct movement patterns.

4. Strength training

Depending on your condition, your physical therapist may teach you some exercises designed to strengthen your muscles and soft tissues.

It may seem strange that getting stronger is recommended by medical science when you are in pain – since exercising may be painful in and of itself, especially at first. But there are good reasons to try and make you stronger.

Often, the cause of chronic pain is pressure on nerves in your joints, whether your spine, knees, hips, elbows, or some other joint. When you make the muscles around those joints stronger, they are better at providing support – which can take some of the pressure off of your nerves.

What should I know about chronic pain?

As stated by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke,

“While acute pain is a normal sensation triggered in the nervous system to alert you to possible injury and the need to take care of yourself, chronic pain is different. Chronic pain persists. Pain signals keep firing in the nervous system for weeks, months, even years.

There may have been an initial mishap — sprained back, serious infection, or there may be an ongoing cause of pain — arthritis, cancer, ear infection, but some people suffer chronic pain in the absence of any past injury or evidence of body damage. Many chronic pain conditions affect older adults.

Common chronic pain complaints include headache, low back pain, cancer pain, arthritis pain, neurogenic pain (pain resulting from damage to the peripheral nerves or to the central nervous system itself), psychogenic pain (pain not due to past disease or injury or any visible sign of damage inside or outside the nervous system).

A person may have two or more coexisting chronic pain conditions. Such conditions can include chronic fatigue syndrome, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, inflammatory bowel disease, interstitial cystitis, temporomandibular joint dysfunction, and vulvodynia. It is not known whether these disorders share a common cause.”

Find relief for your chronic pains today

If you’re struggling with chronic pain, we want you to know that we’re here to help. Our physical therapy team can design an individualized treatment program to help relieve your pain and improve your life. Please don’t hesitate to contact us today to schedule a consultation!

Feeling Those Morning Aches and Pains? We Can Help!

Find Out How Physical Therapy Can Help You Fight Painful Mornings!

Do you jump out of bed excited to experience another morning—or do you just lie there, afraid to move because of the pain you know you’ll feel when you get up?

Aches and pains are never welcome, but they can really break your spirits when they have plagued you from the very first moments of your awakening.

It helps to understand why these discomforts occur in different parts of your body, and how you can stop them by using safe, drug-free methods such as physical therapy.

How can physical therapy help me relieve my pain?

Morning pain and overnight pain are closely linked. Issues such as chronic lower back pain may cause you to wake up many times every night, creating a twinge with every little body movement. When you get up, you feel even more pain than you did when you went to bed.

Physical therapy can help you reduce your morning aches and pains. An experienced physical therapist knows how to evaluate your symptoms in detail, see how they relate to your quality of sleep (or lack of sleep), and identify the underlying causes.

This understanding enables the development of an individualized physical therapy program, aimed at eliminating or controlling the specific causes of your pain. For example, we might determine that your back needs a firmer or softer mattress, or that your neck might benefit from a contoured cervical pillow.

Other proven physical therapy methods can help you strengthen your back, tame bursitis, relieve plantar fasciitis, or control the symptoms of osteoarthritis. We can even help you learn stress-relieving techniques to help your jaw, as well as which sleeping positions are most likely to ease your joint discomfort.

Do you have any of these conditions?

Each area of the body has its own particular vulnerabilities to different kinds of morning pain. Here’s a quick troubleshooting guide to help you figure out what’s going on:

  • Heel pain: If taking those first steps in the morning are torture for your heels, but the pain then recedes as you walk around, you probably have a chronic inflammation of the arches called plantar fasciitis.
  • Hip pain: If you experience hip pain that feels like it’s coming from within the joint and is at its worst upon awakening, suspect osteoarthritis. If the pain feels like it’s on the outside of the hip and bothers you more at night, suspect bursitis.
  • Back pain: Pain can afflict any part of your back first thing in the morning. If you can barely move in the morning or never get quite comfortable at night, you may be using the wrong kind of mattress for your back.
  • Neck pain: If you feel like someone tried to twist your head off during the night, you may have the wrong kind of pillow for your individual needs. Incorrect head and neck support can leave you with agonizing stiffness.
  • Jaw pain: Does your jaw feel stiff and achy when you wake up in the morning? You may be grinding your teeth or clenching your jaw as you sleep, a problem known as bruxism. This habit is associated with emotional and physical stress.

Increasing your physical activity could help!

If you spend your days hobbling painfully from your bed to your reclining chair and back, the notion of pursuing any kind of vigorous activity may be the furthest thing from your mind.

The truth, however, is that getting active can vastly improve your health, your comfort, mobility, and overall quality of life.

The key is to find a fun activity that you enjoy doing and that also fits your current fitness level.

Make your mornings more comfortable with physical therapy!

From conquering chronic pain sources to improving sleep hygiene, physical therapy can help you ease morning aches and pains in a number of ways.

Don’t sleep through life in a haze of chronic pain—wake up and get in touch with our physical therapist for an evaluation!