Chronic Pain Infographic
Chronic pain affects 100 million Americans and dramatically impacts an individual’s quality of life and physical function. Chronic pain is pain that persists for more than three months. After an injury heals, the body continues to send pain signals to the brain, resulting in chronic pain in the affected area. For decades, chronic pain was treated with pharmacological methods and opioid prescriptions became pervasive. Physical therapy is one of the best methods to treat chronic pain for long-term pain management and improved quality of life without the need for medication.
Common sources of chronic pain include:
headache [4 million people have chronic daily migraines.]
post-surgical pain [Between 10 to 30% of post-surgical patients report persistent pain one-year post-surgery.]
low back pain [80% of Americans suffer back pain at some point in lives.]
cancer pain [75% of cancer patients live with chronic pain.]
arthritis pain [15 million adults report severe arthritic joint pain.]
neurogenic pain [Pain caused by nerve damage affects up to 10% of Americans.]
limb amputation
neck pain [35% of Americans experience chronic neck pain.]
fibromyalgia [5 million Americans experience fibromyalgia, 80% of whom are women.]
When an individual suffers from chronic pain, the pain centers of the brain cause the individual to feel pain even if there are no new sources of pain occurring in the body. Due to constant pain signaling, the brain and nervous system conduct sensation on high-alert and the nervous system becomes more sensitive, maintaining chronic pain symptoms. In chronic pain, pain sensations in the brain remain continuously activated, which causes the brain to interpret all sensations from the problem area as danger and therefore painful, even if there is no longer any tissue damage in that area.
Physical therapy provides chronic pain patients with a safe, effective, and non-pharmacological method to manage chronic pain over the long-term and improve overall fitness. Physical therapy treatment for chronic pain involves manual therapy, aquatic therapy, body mechanic instruction, pain education and pain management strategies, dry needling, strengthening and flexibility exercises, and therapeutic graded aerobic exercise.
A therapeutic exercise program is done under the supervision of the physical therapist to allow the patient to gradually increase their aerobic capacity, reduce stress on the body, and improve their functional movement. Through the gradual, careful introduction of exercise, the brain is trained to sense the problem area of the body without eliciting hyper-sensitive pain messaging. Manual therapy manipulates and mobilizes tight joints and soft tissue to increase range of motion and reduce pain using hands on-techniques. Aquatic therapy in a warm water therapy pool helps decrease the amount of stress on joints, allowing the patient to move more easily to build strength, while also reducing swelling and easing stiffness.
Chronic pain can be a debilitating and challenging condition. At Mangiarelli Rehabilitation, our physical therapists help you manage and reduce your pain to achieve greater mobility and physical function using treatments specific to your needs.
