Physical Therapy as Pain Management
Physical therapy is a medical procedure which can help patients deal with injuries and other disabilities. Physical therapy can also help in dealing with pain and encourage recovery to those who have survived surgeries and injuries. Physical therapists are equipped with knowledge and training that will arm them in dealing with rehabilitation.
Most of the manual physical therapy is used to address pain issues. In manual therapy, no machines or devices are used, just hands and pressure. Using pressure can relieve patients of back pains, joint problems, muscle strain or eve thorn ligaments. Manual therapy could relax tense muscles that would lessen the pain and increase the flexibility.
According to the American Physical Therapy Association made in 2007, there are about one-third of the adult population and 12 percent of kids in the United States use alternative medicine. And they get alternative medicine mainly for their neck and back pains. Aside from physical pain, physical therapy can also help in reducing headaches, help in speedy recovery from spinal injuries and nerve injuries which can result into chronic pain.
Back and neck pain treatment are addressed with passive and active therapies. Active therapies use stretching and strengthening exercises under the supervision of the physical therapist. The passive exercises would be using heat and cold packs ultrasound, electrical stimulation, massage and joint mobilization.
Pain management does not just address the pain itself. Physical therapy also helps patients to understand their limitations and the situations that lead to pain. Accepting and understanding limitations can lessen the frustration and depression that the patient may be feeling.
Physical therapists assisting or treating a chronic pain patient are advised to handle them gently, since their frustration can come from very deep reasons. Coming too hard or being too aggressive about the treatment plan, can be rejected by the patient and eventually can cause more physical pain.
Chronic pain patients would be mostly cancer patients. Chronic pain can come from the cancer itself or sometimes from the treatments that patients get like chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
A research conducted by the University of Pennsylvania Department of Radiation Oncology in Philadelphia and the Radiation Oncology Branch of the National Cancer Institute state that cancer patients would not take medication for the fear of addiction or dependence. Finance is also a major reason. Most chronic pain patients would opt to using alternative pain therapies like physical therapy, massage and acupuncture.
It is also more difficult for physical therapists to deal with chronic pain patients, since not all educational programs will offer chronic pain management. Actually, only a few universities and educational institutions would offer courses in pain management.
But for those who have successfully studied chronic pain management, there are different techniques that can be applied. Physical therapists may the manual trigger point therapy, dry needling, deep muscle massage therapy and other tissues and joint movements.
A physical therapists treatment plan includes goals. It is important to have an achievable plan. You do not want to have a plan which could end up with deeper frustration and anger. The treatment plan not only has the goals, but also the patients pace of having improvements. The patients goal would include physical, functional and social goals.
Physical therapy can help patients cope with pain, whether it is chronic or simple pain. Greater results can manifest on the patient if it is done in a proper way and with the supervision of the therapist.