Physical Therapy: The Cause Of Chronic Pain

Each year, 50% of Americans over the age of 18 develop a musculoskeletal injury that lasts longer than 3 months. Most of these injuries can be healed naturally through physical therapy even though some people don’t know that. In some cases surgery can even make the condition worse and often hinder the patient’s mobility even more than before the surgery causing the recovery time from the accident to increase, even more surgeries as a cause of the first, or leaving them with physical impairments for the rest of their life. The physical therapy field is currently testing the limits of what people think can heal naturally. Physical therapy at present can prevent invasive surgeries in the cases of meniscal tears,sports hernias, herniated disks, …show more content…
Many elderly people have pretty severe cases of chronic pain because they have lived a lot of life and have the effects of life have taken their toll on their bodies. Individuals will usually develop a case of chronic pain after an injury and instead of healing correctly their brain and nervous system will continue to stay on “high alert” so as to be easily agitated. “Chronic pain is any discomfort or unpleasant sensation that lasts for more than 3 months, or beyond an expected normal healing time. “ (What is Chronic Pain?)Your brain will start to misinterpret sensory signals to cause you even more pain when no pain is present. Every sensation from the problem areas will start to be interpreted as dangerous to your brain and as a result you will think that you are in pain. You may become more emotional, fearful, your movement will begin to be hindered, it can be harder to learn, and problem solving abilities will be damaged. Even thinking about the area can cause pain. Physical therapy has been shown to reduce chronic pain for many reasons. A 44-year-old woman named Helen was diagnosed with chronic pain and experienced the symptoms for nearly 4 years. Helen even had to quit her job. She struggled to pay her rent every month. She went to a physical therapist who found that she had poor posture, weakness in her hip and trunk area, and fear of being touched. The therapist found no serious underlying condition. Helen was taught about how the pain system works, and how the brain and central nervous can manufacture chronic pain. She learned relaxation exercises and imagery techniques. She was encouraged to start to be more active and learned how to put less stress on her body. She started to do her normal activities again and found that she was able to control her symptoms. Helen was taught exercises for conditioning because her muscles were weak and tight after years of inactivity. She was prescribed exercises to help