Pain is a major part of many medical illnesses and needs to be treated in order to live a healthy life. Chronic diseases often involve pain that may last for long periods of time. Also, being pain-free is the major part of treating some terminal illnesses like cancer. But are drugs the only option to get rid of the pain in all kinds of illnesses? The answer is no!

Physical therapy is a popular and effective way to manage pain associated with many diseases. Physical therapy doesn’t only relieve pain but it also promotes healing and restoration of function, especially when muscles are involved.

Performing physical therapy requires the help of a certified physical therapist who has got a degree in this field and has specialist skills. A certified physical therapist is an expert in the evaluation of a problem, conservative management, and eventually rehabilitation of various health issues.

Let’s look how pain can be managed with the help of physical therapy.

What Are Different Ways To Manage Pain Using Physical Therapy?

Various techniques are utilized by certified physical therapists that are effective in relieving different kinds of pains. They are divided into two major categories:

• Active physical therapy
• Passive physical therapy

What Is Active Physical Therapy?

This type of therapy requires performing different exercises that can help with pain relief as well as rehabilitation. They include:

• Pain relief exercises
• Low-impact aerobic conditioning
• Movement based activities like stretching
• Strengthening exercises

Pain relief exercises are different for different parts of the body and are really effective in curing musculoskeletal pains.

What Is Passive Physical Therapy?

This type of physical therapy doesn’t involve any kind of exercise. It rather uses different techniques for pain relief. List of such techniques is following:

• Electrical stimulation like TENS units
• Acupuncture or dry needling
• Ice packing
• Heat packing
• Ultrasound
• Manual therapies like massage

So How Does Physical Therapy Help In Managing Pain?

Performing physical therapy exercises for thirty minutes every day can improve your pain by various mechanisms. It increases muscle strength, increases flexibility and stability of joints, and increases endurance. This helps with chronic pain as well if you keep up with your exercise routine. Physical therapy manages the physical side of your problems like soreness, muscle weakness, and stiffness. It also encourages healing. It even increases production of some chemicals that are your body’s natural mechanisms to relieve pain. These chemicals especially include endorphins.

Do The Same Physical Therapy Exercises Or Techniques Work For Everyone?

Well, it doesn’t! Everyone has a different body so the response to physical therapy is different for everyone. This is why it is necessary to find a right combination of techniques and exercises to be able to cope with the pain. It is where the help of a certified physical therapist becomes necessary. Your physical therapist tries out different combinations of physical therapy on you and finds out the one which suits your body requirements the best.

What Are The Hazards?

A certified physical therapist is required for adequate and effective treatment. Failure to get the help of a therapist and trying out different exercises and techniques on your own can be harmful at times and can aggravate your condition.

If you happen to be in need of a physical therapist and happen to be in the Miami area, I would highly recommend you check out Multi-Care Medical.

Multi-Care Medical

11270 Pines Blvd

Pembroke Pines, GL 33026

(954) 441-7246

 

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