There are few things in life as unpleasant as physical pain. The human condition is primarily a physical experience, and our bodies are surprisingly fragile for their burden. The human body can be damaged relatively easily, leading to serious health complications that make everyday tasks nearly impossible.
Fortunately, the fragility of the human body is something medical professionals have been working around for millennia. Newer treatments are created daily to improve life for those suffering from pain issues. However, some treatments are not getting as much attention due to the general preference for mainstream medical care. Pain management therapy is one treatment option that shows promise despite the lack of attention.
Pain management therapy is not necessarily something you will encounter when dealing with chronic pain or physical injury. However, it is slowly making a name for itself in the healthcare industry for its ability to provide pain relief.
That said, it is not unreasonable for people to want to know more about a lesser-known treatment option before committing to it. Fortunately, the information on pain management therapy has grown alongside the treatment’s prevalence in society. This article will help shed some light on pain management therapy and what you can expect should you seek it out.
Such a simple question raises broad answers. Pain management therapy is not a single treatment designed to mitigate chronic pain but a program comprised of multiple physical therapy treatments. Pain management therapy sessions involve applying multiple physical care options to patients to ensure all effects contribute to their recovery. Pain management therapy is a program designed to handle any physical damage that might ail you. This is not to say that pain management therapy will always be the answer, but it often fits the role quite well.
Physical health clinics offer pain management therapy nationwide, with treatments tailored to your specific needs. The best pain management therapy programs will only apply treatments essential to your recovery rather than adding unnecessary treatments for profit. However, some clinics might see fit to issue more treatments in the therapy plan than you might think is necessary. Finding an honest and accredited facility is critical, but more on that later.
For now, the question is what types of treatment are commonly used in a pain management therapy plan. The treatments in question will likely be familiar to most readers as they are commonly employed to treat physical pain, chronic or otherwise. The average plan will incorporate some of modern medicine’s most popular physical therapy treatments. However, the way each treatment works is very different from one another and requires a separate explanation. However, the general list of options in a pain management therapy plan includes:
All these treatments can be a part of your pain management therapy plan if your caregiver believes you will need them. It remains a matter of your needs and how severe your injuries were. However, how these different treatments work is just as important as knowing they are part of pain management therapy.
Regarding pain management, chiropractic care is essentially the first line of defense. You have almost certainly heard of chiropractic care if you have not used it already. While the concept of chiropractic care is a little more generalized than other treatment options, it uses a standard set of procedures to treat your pain. Typically, chiropractic care is designed to treat injuries to our necks and backs, which are the easiest parts of the human body to damage compared to the rest of it. However, some chiropractic care does extend past the vertebral column.
However, if your injuries or pain involve your neck and back, chiropractic care could easily be a part of your pain management therapy plan. The chiropractic care you receive will vary depending on the injury you sustained. That said, it is extremely likely that you will be given a chiropractic adjustment of the spine. This process is the proverbial bread and butter of chiropractic care and is most commonly used to correct chronic spinal pain. However, other chiropractic treatments will likely factor into your pain management therapy plan.
While a spinal adjustment is not always needed in chiropractic care, there is another extremely common treatment offered by chiropractic clinics. Massage therapy is perhaps the first thing people think of when they think of chiropractic care. While some are quick to dismiss massage therapy as a pseudo treatment, it is one of their more effective treatments. They promote the body’s healing response by applying pressure to the problem areas.
Through a combination of adjustments and massage therapy, chiropractic care can easily factor into your pain management therapy plan. While chiropractic care is extremely important for pain management, especially after a traumatic injury, there are other aspects of your plan.
Another potential treatment used in pain management therapy plans is trigger point injections. However, trigger point injections are a niche treatment option used as an emergency option when your pain is severe enough to warrant a slightly more invasive treatment. Trigger point injections should not be taken lightly, however, as they are far from an ideal solution for pain management and should only be employed in severe circumstances. However, they might factor into your pain management therapy plan if your pain is serious enough.
A trigger point injection involves the injection of anesthetics and corticosteroids into knots formed in the body’s muscles. These knots are also known as trigger points, hence the term “trigger point injection.” When these knots form, they cause severe pain that is extremely difficult to cope with, let alone function through. The injections are designed to minimize the pain you feel from the knots by deactivating the muscles and allowing instant relief. However, the injections themselves do not yield permanent results.
Due to the nature of trigger point injections, you will likely need to pursue supplementary sessions to ensure the procedure works. However, the need for trigger point injections in your pain management therapy plan will likely be unnecessary. Trigger point injections are often reserved for severe injuries that cause the muscle tissue to knot. This means you would be in a rare situation if your pain management therapy plans required injections.
Additionally, trigger point injections would have to be the only treatment in your pain management therapy program. This is because the treatment has not been approved for use in conjunction with other forms of physical pain treatment. Even pain medication should not be used by those who have undergone trigger point injections. However, more common injuries and issues remain with equally common treatment options. These other treatment options are far more likely to factor into your pain management therapy.
One of the most common additions to a pain management plan is the recovery period after the initial treatment. When you are in pain, you instinctively avoid stressing the wounded area until it heals. Unfortunately, some injuries are severe enough that the healing period causes the limb to weaken and can reduce the limb’s functionality. Fortunately, most physical health professionals are equipped to help you recover lost limb function through rehabilitative treatments.
Rehabilitation is another way of referencing physical therapy, a process you have likely heard of. Rehabilitation involves a curated list of controlled physical activities that ease you back into using the limb as you did before. In addition, rehabilitation is designed to help you heal from the injury and the procedures you went through to deal with the injury. As both the source of your pain and the medical intervention used to treat the pain can cause bodily weakness, rehabilitation will certainly be part of your pain management plan.
Physical therapy promotes healing and improves blood circulation, allowing the injured party to recover from their wounds. Rehabilitation will slowly reacclimate you to using your injured body parts and help you return to the quality of life you knew before by restoring your range of motion and flexibility. However, the process of rehabilitation will require you to go through the exercises under the supervision of a trained physical therapist to ensure you do not injure yourself again.
With rehabilitation, your pain management plan is all but complete. In an ideal world, you will not need pharmaceutical aid to get through your program, but you should prepare for the possibility. Once you have completed your pain management plan, you can recover from the pain and return to life as you knew it. However, you might be wondering what kinds of injuries and conditions make pain management therapy plans necessary. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of answers.
Based on the name of pain management therapy, it is reasonable to assume that the plan is needed by anyone suffering from pain. However, some will need pain management therapy more than others. Not because their pain is more important but because it is far more consistent. Chronic pain is a common issue worldwide, with a huge percentage of the human population suffering from at least one chronic condition that induces pain. These chronic sufferers are among those who need pain management therapy the most.
When you constantly suffer from pain, it makes leading a productive and fulfilling life virtually impossible. Several causes of chronic pain can put someone in this unfortunate position.
Among the most severe are:
There are countless additional reasons for people to seek pain management therapy. However, these are among the worst. Living with chronic pain is by no means pleasant and having a pain management therapy plan established to help cope is one of the better solutions available. While it is true that some injuries and conditions are too severe to be managed without surgical intervention, you can handle the vast majority with pain management so you can live your life as you see fit.
Pain management therapy is a very effective way to live with pain. However, it is only as effective as the provider treating you. This means that the only way to take advantage of pain management therapy is to find a reliable provider who can treat you properly.
Pain management therapy is highly effective for dealing with pain and not letting it control you. However, too many people are unaware that pain management therapy is not a one-trick pony but an amalgamation of multiple physical care treatments. Through these treatments, you can regulate your pain and be eased back into everyday life.
There are yet more possible treatments for your physical pain that we have not covered here, but these are some of the most common additions to a pain management therapy plan in modern medicine. However, the treatments used in your pain management therapy plan mean little if you are not going through a qualified professional for your treatment.
Fortunately, we at Ortho Integrative can help provide the services commonly employed in pain management therapy. Massage therapy, physical therapy, trigger point injections, and so much more are available through our trained staff. With qualified doctors like Emmett Blahnik on staff, your care will always be in good hands as we tailor a pain management plan ideal for your needs. So, visit our website today to take your health to the Next Level!
