Chronic pain

Pain is the body’s alarm system. It lets us know we’ve hurt ourselves, and helps stop further injury. Sometimes, though, pain continues longer than it should. This is called chronic pain.

Chronic pain happens when the tissue has healed, but nerves in the injured area become overly sensitive. Even a gentle touch can hurt. Chronic pain is complex and may be difficult to resolve. This means unfortunately, it can have a huge impact on how you think and feel.

Physiotherapy for chronic pain

A physiotherapist can give you skills to better manage your pain and lessen its impact on your daily life. There are usually several factors influencing your ongoing pain and we attempt to address them all.

Often, manual therapy only provides short-term pain relief since there isn’t any tissue damage left to treat. In such cases we’re only relieving symptoms associated with muscle spasm, fatigue and joint stiffness, not addressing the cause. Sometimes, manual therapy isn’t appropriate at all, due to the increased neurological processing of information and central sensitisation, which can make hands-on therapy simply too painful.

Our goal in cases of chronic pain is to help you gradually return to activity by:

• Addressing contributing factors such as posture, behaviour, muscle dysfunctions and weaknesses
• Helping with goal setting
• Designing a carefully graduated exercise program
• Offering strategies to reduce the fear of pain

Chronic pain is very individual. Whatever you’re experiencing, we work closely with you to agree a treatment plan that meets your needs.

We hope you find this article helpful and informative, however it is not intended as medical advice and should not be taken as such. We always recommend you see a medical professional if you have specific concerns about your health.