How Can Physical Therapy Help In Treating Chronic Pain?

How Can Physical Therapy Help In Treating Chronic Pain?

Physical therapy is considered to be very effective in the treatment of chronic pain. Physical therapy involves improving the overall movement and strengthening of the body. A trained and certified physical therapist for chronic pain at Huntington Beach, CA, and others will work with you along with your individual needs to give you the maximum range of motion and activities possible. 

Benefits Of Physical Therapy For Improving Chronic Pain

Physical therapy techniques for improving chronic pain may include the following:

  • Reducing Pain – The therapist helps lessen the pain by gradually building up the exercise and movements and thus retains the brain away from the pain. In the process, the human brain is being taught that doing each activity gradually without causing a flare does not cause pain. So, the pain signals can be reduced and even eliminated in response to the movements. 
  • Reducing Inflammation – Inflammation is very common among chronic patients, and it contributes to the level of pain and leads to decreasing the mobility of that area. By doing regular exercise, you can quickly decrease the inflammatory effect. Physical therapy helps in reducing inflammation by teaching you various kinds and levels of exercise. 
  • Strengthening The Body – Physical therapy helps in strengthening the muscles and makes your body more flexible. It also helps reduce the pain, makes your body more relaxed, and helps in increasing your fitness. If you have strengthened muscles around your joints, it can reduce the pain and give more support to your joints. 
  • Relaxing The Muscles – By chronic pain, the muscles may become more tense and tight. It can make you feel more uncomfortable. Physical therapy helps by providing relaxation to those muscles and makes the patient feel more and more comfortable in life. 
  • Improvement In The Range Of Motion – If your joints remain inactive for a more extended period, they are often seen to become stiff and lose their range of motion. It means that your joints have become less flexible, and you may face difficulty doing certain activities or movements. Physical therapy can be beneficial in regaining the motion. 
  • Educating To Exercise Safely – Exercise can be beneficial in reducing chronic pain. But if it is overdone, then it may create flares in the symptoms. A physical therapist would teach you the process of doing the exercise safely without hurting yourself. 
  • Reducing Stress – Physical therapy can help you by providing various tools and increasing your level of confidence to make you get engaged in daily exercise. Exercise can be beneficial in reducing stress by reducing the cortisol level (stress hormone) in the blood. Reduction in the stress level can help reduce the pain by breaking the stress and pain cycle. 
  • Teaching Ways To Perform Daily Tasks Safely – A physical therapist walks you through your daily tasks, which you may find challenging. They provide you with various kinds of advice on ways to approach those tasks safely along with confidence. 

Physical Therapy Treatments For Treating Chronic Pain 

There are various therapies for treating chronic pain. Some of them include the following:

  • Strengthening Exercise – Your physical therapist would go through various strengthening exercises tailored individually for you. While progressing, the exercise would increase the intensity and their duration as well as the skill level. There are various equipment, exercise bands, and machinery that can be used in exercise to target specific muscle groups.  
  • Flexibility Exercise – Some specific exercises can be done to increase the flexibility of the muscles and your joints. Over time, these exercises would help you build up the muscles and gradually increase your range of motion. 
  • Massage Therapy – Deep tissue massage therapy can be beneficial in relaxing the muscles by releasing the tension. It, therefore, helps a lot in reducing the pain and increasing mobility. Massage therapy leads to putting pressure on some specific parts of your body, which is very useful to provide you relief and relaxation. 
  • Ultrasound– Ultrasound in physical therapy treatment involves creating targeted sound waves and sending those into your muscles. Ultrasound treatments are beneficial in reducing the pain and swelling in that specific area of the treatment. It is usually a painless procedure administered to patients suffering from chronic pain. 
  • Heat And Cold Therapy – Various heat and cold therapies can be administered to the patients, such as hot or cold packs, ice treatments, heated whirlpools, etc. Hot therapy helps by reducing the pain while doing exercise by increasing the blood flow in that area. Cold therapy helps in the reduction of pain and inflammation in that area. 

Conclusion

You may usually take the help of a physical therapist if your doctor refers to it for treatment of specific conditions in your body. Physical therapy can be beneficial in providing long-term relief from chronic pain. The therapist usually uses various techniques and procedures to provide you relief from the pain and inflammation.

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