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Physical Therapy Can Help You Regain your Activities of Daily Life Once Again

Pain doesn’t always disappear on its own. For some underlying conditions, pain can linger for days, weeks, or even months. Pain is considered chronic when it persists for three months or longer.

Do you have a chronic condition that’s limiting your ability to live life comfortably?

If so, physical therapy at Long Island Physical Therapy is the answer for you. Our advanced methods of treatment can help you find relief as quickly as possible.

We’ll get you set up with a treatment plan that will manage your chronic pain the right way.

How can physical therapy help with my chronic pain?

If your condition is posing limitations to your life, our physical therapist can assess the best ways to manage those. One of the main goals of physical therapy is pain relief, and discovering the root cause of the pain to treat it, rather than mask symptoms with medication.

Our physical therapist is highly-trained movement expert who diagnose physical problems and treat underlying structural causes surrounding those problems.

At Long Island Physical Therapy, we perform physical evaluations to analyze weak areas of the body, focus on places with limited range of motion, and look for any imbalances in gait or standing. All of this helps to identify the underlying causes of your chronic pain.

Once the evaluation is complete, our physical therapist will create a treatment plan unique to your specific needs. Your treatment plan will incorporate in-clinic treatments, as well as an at-home program to ensure that you are remaining healthy and active at all times.

Treatment plans will likely also include specialized manual therapy techniques to help restore soft tissue and joint movement, pain-relieving modalities, and gentle targeted exercises to improve your strength.

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Chronic vs acute pain – what’s the difference?

Acute pain can be defined as pain that goes away on its own in a few hours, days, or weeks. An example of acute pain may be a minor ankle sprain, as the pain will subside shortly within a few days.

Chronic pain is a constant discomfort that lasts for 3-6 months or longer. There are several reasons why people may experience chronic pain, and it is the most common reason for seeking medical help.

It can greatly hinder your quality of life by limiting your mobility, creating a dependence on prescription drugs, or even causing anxiety and depression. However, this can all be avoided with the help of physical therapy.

Causes of my chronic pain?

Chronic pain can appear in the form of back pain, joint pain, nerve pain, or headaches. Most cases of chronic pain stem from a neurophysiological origin. 

Chronic injury, illness, anxiety, and feeling depressed are intertwined in a complicated web, which leads your neurological system to always be on high alert.

It most commonly occurs due to one of the following causes:

 

Surgery

Surgical procedures are sometimes unavoidable. While they may be necessary for alleviating certain conditions you are facing, the recovery period can be just as painful.

Surgical repair of an area of the body is enough to correct a structural problem, but we often compensate in our movement for the pain we experience.

Weeks, months, or even years of compensatory movement often causes additional pain after surgery if the movement is not corrected. Physical therapy offers post-surgical rehabilitation services that can help speed up recovery time, relieve pain, and reduce the risk of chronic pain in the future.

Disease

There are many diseases that can lead to chronic pain, including arthritis, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, shingles, neuropathy as a result of diabetes, and more.

These can all result in chronic pain, which can be alleviated through physical therapy treatment at Long Island Physical Therapy.

Overuse Injuries

Overuse injuries are very common, and they can occur in any part of the body that is used repetitively in your day-to-day life.

For example, the way you stand, walk, work, and exercise can all take a toll on your body. It results in overuse injuries if you are not using proper techniques.

This can result in damage to your joints and muscles, thus causing chronic pain.

For example, if you perform heavy lifting at work many times a day, with improper techniques, this can lead to chronic back pain.

Physical therapy can help you learn how to properly move your body in your everyday life, in order to avoid these issues.

Accidents

Any accident can lead to chronic pain, whether it occurs in an automobile, workplace, or even in your own home.

According to a 2016 statistic found by OSHA, workplace injuries happen to approximately 2.9 out of every 100 employees.

Additionally, a study published in a journal called Pain determined that 21% of people involved in motor vehicle accidents develop chronic widespread pain in the weeks following their accident.

This pain does not go away on its own, but seeking the help of a Long Island Physical therapist can help alleviate it.

 

Fibromyalgia

If You’re Living with Fibromyalgia, we can help.

Let us alleviate  your Fibromyalgia Symptoms?

Do you know if you have been living with fibromyalgia? It can sometimes be difficult to tell, as the symptoms can vary.

It is normal to experience a little bit of pain from time to time. You may feel sore from exercising too much, or you may stub your toe on a piece of furniture. Most of the time, you’re able to shake it off or take ibuprofen and go about your day.

However, sometimes you can experience pain that’s widespread and chronic, failing to diminish despite your best efforts. This can cause a large impact on your life that anti-inflammatory drugs simply will not fix.

If you are suffering from chronic pain that is accompanied by fatigue, changes in mood, or irregular sleep patterns, you may be dealing with a more serious physiological condition, known as fibromyalgia.

If you can identify, contact Long Island Physical Therapy to request your appointment  with our physical therapist. We can help provide relief for your fibromyalgia.

Physical therapy and fibromyalgia relief

At our physical therapy office , we can provide effective treatments for both managing symptoms in the long-term and regaining optimum function to your body.

Since fibromyalgia is not a disease, but rather a range of symptoms, there is no single, surefire treatment for the condition.

Our Long Island Physical Therapist will examine your physical abilities, analyze your medical history, and discuss your current symptoms, in order to design a treatment plan that will fit your unique needs.

Primary physicians will typically prescribe some sort of pain medication or an anti-depressant to manage symptoms; however, those medications do not address the chronic nature of the condition or the loss of function that chronic pain and distress typically bring.

Physical therapy treatments will typically begin with pain-relieving modalities to provide relief and promote healing. This may include the use of trigger point therapy, medical massage, stretching, electrical stimulation, or other therapeutic tools that our physical therapist believes could be beneficial to your recovery.

After this, your treatments will shift toward active therapies, such as muscle strengthening, range-of-motion activities, and cardiovascular exercises.

So, what exactly is fibromyalgia?

The exact causes of fibromyalgia are still unclear, although some medical experts believe it may be caused by an overactive sympathetic nervous system – the part of your body that elicits “fight or flight” responses.

This theory makes sense, as people tend to develop their first symptoms of fibromyalgia after experiencing a physically or emotionally traumatic event, though it has never been scientifically proven.

Fibromyalgia is somewhat of an umbrella term used to describe someone who is experiencing a certain combination of symptoms.

Some people who develop fibromyalgia begin with chronic bouts of stress or depression, while other symptoms build over time.

Fibromyalgia also tends to affect more women than men, and your likelihood of developing it increases if you have a family member with the same condition.

The most common symptoms of fibromyalgia include:

  • Nausea
  • Fluctuations in mood
  • Forgetfulness or disorientation
  • Disrupted sleep cycles/irregular sleep schedules
  • Sensitivity to touch/numbness
  • Chronic and/or sharp muscle pains
  • Tender areas of the body
  • Fatigue
  • Headaches
  • Multiple joint pain at one time.
Long Island Physical Therapy

Ready to find relief?

Studies have shown that cardiovascular exercise paired with postural strengthening activities not only relieves widespread pain, but also increases energy levels, improves sleep, and elevates mood.

Regardless of where you are on your journey, it is possible to find relief from even your worst fibromyalgia symptoms, through our Long Island physical therapy services.

Contact Long Island Physical Therapy today for your appointment today and find out how we can get you started on the road to recovery.

Ready to reclaim your life?

Are you ready to take your life back? If so, contact us at Long Island Physical Therapy 

Contact Today

Contact Long Island Physical Therapy today for your appointment today and find out how we can get you started on the road to recovery.

Appointment

Are you ready to take your life back? If so, contact us at Long Island Physical Therapy .