Did you know that millions of Canadians suffer from chronic pain? Chronic pain is very debilitating, and many of those afflicted continue to suffer in silence because it may be hard to get a diagnosis from the traditional medical community.
Our team of physiotherapists and massage therapists relieve chronic pain by helping to restore your flexibility and strength through a wide range of treatment techniques and exercises.
What is persistent or chronic pain?
Chronic or persistent pain is any kind of pain that lasts for at least 3 months (12 weeks) or longer regardless of whether or not you’ve taken medication or have gotten treatment. Pain is likely to resolve itself or stop after an injury, however, sometimes this pain can carry on longer after injury or start up without an injury ever having taken place.
Chronic Pain Conditions We Help Treat
We treat the following types of conditions associated with chronic pain:
- Arthritis
- Fibromyalgia
- Whiplash injuries
- Chronic headaches or migraines
- Lower back pain
- Plantar fasciitis
- Achilles/rotator cuff tendinopathy
- Tennis elbow
- Sciatica
- Nerve pinching or compression (in neck or back)
Unsure if we can help treat your chronic pain? Contact our team today for more information about your chronic pain and how we can help.
What are common chronic pain symptoms?
As mentioned earlier in this post, chronic pain is any pain that lasts longer than three months. Since the reason behind chronic pain can vary drastically from person to person, symptoms of chronic pain will be as varied as the different injuries that cause the chronic pain.
Ask yourself the following questions to help you determine whether or not your pain is considered chronic:
- Has your pain gone away as expected after my injury (or illness)?
- Can you describe your pain as shooting, burning, aching, or electrical?
- Are you experiencing constant discomfort, soreness, tightness, or stiffness?
If you’re experiencing any of the above symptoms, contact us right away for treatment!
Treatments For Chronic Pain
It’s important to note that each chronic injury will have its own specific physiotherapy treatment techniques, but in general our treatment for chronic pain will include:
1. Initial Assessment
We’ll start with a thorough assessment where we will have an in-depth conversation with you to get to know your pain and how your pain affects your quality of life.
2. Detailed Physical Examination
Your initial assessment will be followed by a detailed physical examination of your injury or ailment to get to the source(s) of the pain.
3. Treatments
We primarily focus on the following techniques to treat chronic pain, however, we will further customize treatments per person depending on the pain and potential injury:
Myofascial Chronic Pain Treatments
Our experienced physiotherapists focus on myofascial techniques, which are where the connective tissue (myofascial tissue) can be scarred and adhesed, restricting proper muscle, joint and in general, body movement. These myofascial adhesions and scar tissue can lead to unresolved pain. This problematic connective tissue in many cases, cannot be stretched or lengthened without manual work (hands on treatment).
Book your appointment today.
Intramuscular Stimulation (IMS) For Chronic Pain
IMS helps with neuropathy, which is chronic nerve irritation. Which causes chronic nerve and muscular pain.
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Acupuncture Treatments For Chronic Pain
Acupuncture and/or cupping treatments can help balance the body, reduce chronic inflammation, increase blood supply, reduce muscle tension and help to optimize the body’s healing potential.
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Massage Therapy For Chronic Pain
Massage therapy can play a measurable role in the reduction of chronic pain and contribute to wellbeing on several levels, both physically and emotionally while providing a calming effect on the nervous system. Massage Therapy helps to interrupt the pain signals to the brain, so the heightened response to pain becomes less helping you better cope with ongoing pain. Overall, massage can help chronic pain symptoms like:
- Interrupted sleep
- Migraines and headaches
- Inflammation
- Moodiness
- Limited range of motion.
In addition to manual massage therapy techniques, acupressure and craniosacral therapy can help clients relax, supporting their overall nervous system.
Book your appointment today.
Shockwave Therapy For Chronic Pain
Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT) can help with chronic tendinopathies (long-lasting inflammation of the tendon), such as Achilles Heel and rotator cuff tendonitis, tennis and golfer’s elbow, plantar fasciitis, and more.
Book your appointment today.
Customized Wellness Plans For Chronic Pain
Personal and customized stretching and exercise programs help you stay active and healthy, reduce weight gain, increase weight loss, and increase strength and endurance to improve how your body physically functions and performs basic daily activities. It also helps stretch your muscles to reduce stiffness and tightness and increase flexibility in your muscles and joints.
Book your appointment today.
Ongoing Therapy Education For Clients With Chronic Pain
Some chronic pain symptoms cannot be completely resolved and (to a certain extent) you may have to learn to live with some symptoms and remain active despite being in pain. We’ll provide you with at-home strategies to allow you to remain active while continuing to manage any ongoing pain.
Our physiotherapists spend a lot of time educating clients on the best strategies to manage their pain while still staying active, working, exercising and enjoying life.
Book your appointment today.
Other Popular Ways To Help Treat Chronic Pain
Psychological counselling is very important and pharmaceuticals or medication can play a large part in managing chronic pain.
Find Support With Our Chronic Pain Treatment Team
Not sure which member of our team to work with? We can help! Contact our clinic today.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the most common chronic pain condition?
For musculoskeletal chronic pain, some of the most common chronic pain conditions our team comes across include chronic lower back pain, neck pain, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and headaches.
2. How do I know if my pain is chronic?
If your pain lasts for longer than three months, especially if it was caused due to an injury, you’re most likely dealing with chronic pain.
3. What causes chronic pain?
In physiotherapy, chronic pain is usually caused by an injury like a car accident, a fall, a repetitive or overuse injury, or a broken bone. This injury is what triggers the initial episode that leads to chronic pain.
Often the injury has resolved, but the recovered tissues or their associated nerves become irritated and cause the tissues to be more sensitive to pain. There exists a strong psychological aspect to chronic pain where the chronic pain is not associated with any type of injury but is highly associated with depression, anxiety and stress. This is referred to as psychogenic chronic pain.
4. How long can you live with chronic pain?
People can live with chronic pain for a lifetime, but most commonly, the pain will last for 6 months or longer. Unfortunately, many people live much of their lives with chronic pain. There is a high correlation between those with chronic pain and depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbance.
5. What happens if chronic pain is left untreated?
If chronic pain is left untreated, it will often get worse and your daily activities will start to decrease and your quality of life declines. Effective treatment for chronic pain includes psychological counselling, medication, physical therapy, and an active lifestyle.
6. How do you deal with chronic pain without medication?
Pain medication isn’t always necessary to treat chronic pain, but it isn’t necessarily always a bad thing. Medication can help reduce chronic pain and therefore help people remain active and reduce the psychological effects of chronic pain.
However, pain medication does need to be managed properly. If a person is completely opposed to medication, then chronic pain can be dealt with by what we’ve already mentioned (e.g. psychological counselling, physiotherapy, active lifestyle, etc).
We recommend finding an appropriate activity that brings you joy like painting, sports, fishing, working with kids, volunteering, walking, or getting out and into nature to keep you active.
7. Is it normal to be in pain every day?
No, but with chronic pain, unfortunately, it is the norm to be in some kind of pain daily. Chronic pain can be identified by how long it is lasting (e.g. more than three months).
Ready to find chronic pain relief?
You don’t have to live life in pain, we’re here to help! If you’re experiencing chronic pain, please contact us or book your appointment online.