Don’t suffer in silence with pain……

Often aches and pains tend to kick in a bit more at this time of year and part of my role as a Physiotherapist and Pilates instructor is to help others with their pain. Sometimes pain can last a bit longer than the odd niggle here and there and that is what we term ‘chronic pain’ which is pain that lasts for longer than 12 weeks. 

It is important to get the appropriate management of chronic pain. When you have pain for a prolonged period of time you can get central changes within the nervous system which can heighten the pain sensations that you get and sometimes only small triggers can irritate the pain more than you would expect. Being in pain can affect our mood, our sleep pattern, our mobility, our role within a family and ability to work. 

Our role as Physiotherapists is to educate patients on how you can break out of the cycle of chronic pain and make some positive steps to getting better. To help our patients we would advise the following:

Understand what is contributing to your pain 

We know that chronic pain can be complex and assessing what is contributing to your pain can help with the management of it. This will enable you to understand what might be causing or exacerbating your pain as often it can be a combination of physical, psychological and social reasons. 

Pace activities and exercise

Exercise and movement is a great way to manage pain but it can often be hard to know what to do and where to start. It is important to gradually build up your activities, trying to do something every day. Whether that is a gentle walk or cycle or some home exercises. Pilates can be a great form of exercise for chronic pain too. When you start activities you can get an increase in pain but that does not mean you are doing harm. 

Practice mindfulness techniques 

Pain can have a psychological impact so it is important to consider your mental health when trying to manage chronic pain. There are a range of different techniques that can help such as mindfulness and meditation. 

Consider other therapies such as acupuncture

Louella our acupuncturist at Cadbury Physiotherapy discusses how this can help .

“Acupuncture is believed to stimulate the nervous system causing the release of neurochemicals which can promote physical and emotional well-being. Traditional acupuncture takes a holistic approach to health and regards pain as a sign that the body is out of balance. The skill of the acupuncturist lies in identifying the cause of the underlying imbalance and then selecting the most effective treatment including needling, moxibustion, electro-acupuncture, cupping and gua sha.These treatment techniques can improve muscle stiffness and joint mobility by increasing blood flow to the area which helps with healing and flushing away of toxins.

Frustration, irritation, depression and anxiety can all be manifested by chronic pain and five element-style acupuncture can address these areas.

Typical chronic pain conditions that acupuncture can help include osteoarthritis; rheumatoid arthritis; low back, shoulder and neck pain; headache and migraine; cancer pain; fibromyalgia; neuropathic pain (sciatica, trigeminal neuralgia, post herpetic neuralgia); chronic overuse conditions (tendonitis); and chronic visceral pain (irritable bowel syndrome, interstitial cystitis, endometriosis)“

Louella is an extensively trained healthcare professional skilled at incorporating both traditional acupuncture with Five Element acupuncture to provide a truly holistic approach to your condition. Her approach will figure out how seemingly separate symptoms fit together – how digestive problems are linked to mood problems, how poor sleep and hormone imbalance are related etc. The onus is not to rely on medication, which can often mask a problem and therefore prolong it, but identify and treat the root cause of the problem.

For further information please visit www.cadburyphysiotherapy/acupuncture

There are so many ways that can help manage chronic pain so do not feel you have to suffer in silence. Get the appropriate help to enable you to enjoy living life again.