Pain Management Treatments –
Pain is complex, so there are many treatment options — medications, therapies, and mind-body techniques. The first step in pain management is scheduling an appointment with your doctor to determine the cause of your pain and learn which pain management approach is often the most effective for it. Different pain has occurred in the human body i.e. Back Pain Treatment, Spine Pain, and Neck Pain.
Passive and active treatments Passive treatments relax your body and include deep tissue massage, hot and cold therapy, electrical stimulation (TENS), Ultrasound and Hydrotherapy. Active treatment involves active stretching and strengthening exercises trunk stability, core strengthening
1. Passive Treatments :
a. Massage Therapy
Massage is a popular therapy used to relieve muscle tension, spasms, inflammation, fluid retention, aches, stiffness, and pain. Other benefits include improved circulation (blood and lymph), general flexibility, range of motion, and increased tissue elasticity (e.g. scar tissue).
During treatment, the physical therapist may include localized massage (e.g. low back or neck) as a prelude to exercise. Massage increases circulation and warms muscles and other soft tissues (e.g. tendons, ligaments). Other types of massage include full-body massage, which often leaves the patient feeling relaxed and free of anxiety.
As the therapist uses their hands or specialized tools to rhythmically knead, rub, and stroke (effleurage) muscles, circulation is stimulated. Blood flow delivers oxygen and nutrients and is key to helping muscles eliminate waste products, such as lactic acid, that may collect in muscles from spasms causing pain.
b. Hot and Cold Therapy :
Both hot and cold therapies offer their own set of benefits, and your physical therapist may alternate between them to get the best results. This reduces inflammation, muscle spasms, and pain.
c. Hydrotherapy: Gently relieves pain and relaxes muscles.
d. TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation)
Uses electrical current to stimulate your muscles and reduces muscle spasms and is generally believed to trigger the release of endorphins, which are your body’s natural pain killers.TENS works to decrease pain perception and may be used to control acute and chronic pain. It may also be used with other treatments, such as exercise.
As the therapist uses their hands or specialized tools to rhythmically knead, rub, and stroke (effleurage) muscles, circulation is stimulated. Blood flow delivers oxygen and nutrients and is key to helping muscles eliminate waste products, such as lactic acid, that may collect in muscles from spasms causing pain.
b. Hot and Cold Therapy :
Both hot and cold therapies offer their own set of benefits, and your physical therapist may alternate between them to get the best results. This reduces inflammation, muscle spasms, and pain.
c. Hydrotherapy: Gently relieves pain and relaxes muscles.
d. TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation)
Uses electrical current to stimulate your muscles and reduces muscle spasms and is generally believed to trigger the release of endorphins, which are your body’s natural pain killers.TENS works to decrease pain perception and may be used to control acute and chronic pain. It may also be used with other treatments, such as exercise.
2. Active Treatments :
Help to reduce recurrent pain but will also benefit your overall health.
a. Core stability :
Many people don’t realize how important a strong core is to their spinal health. Your core (abdominal) muscles help your back muscles support your spine. When your core muscles are weak, it puts extra pressure on your back muscles. Your physical therapist may teach you to core stabilizing exercises to strengthen your back.
b. Flexibility :
Learning proper stretching and flexibility techniques will prepare you for aerobic and strength exercises. Flexibility helps your body move easier by warding off stiffness.
c. Muscle strengthening :
Strong muscles are a great support system for your spine and better handle pain.
3. The McKenzie Method
The McKenzie Method is not merely extension exercises. In its truest sense, McKenzie is a comprehensive approach to the spine based on sound principles and fundamentals that, when understood and followed accordingly, are very successful. In fact, most remarkable, but least appreciated, is the McKenzie assessment process.
Assessment
Unique to the McKenzie Method®is a well-defined algorithm that leads to the simple classification of spinal-related disorders. It is based on a consistent “cause and effect” relationship between historical pain behavior as well as the pain response to repeated test movements, positions, and activities during the assessment process.
A systematic progression of applied mechanical forces (the cause) utilizes pain response (the effect) to monitor changes in motion/function. The underlying disorder can then be quickly identified through objective findings for each individual patient. The McKenzie classification of spinal pain provides reproducible means of separating patients with apparently similar presentations into definable sub-groups (syndromes) to determine the appropriate treatment.
McKenzie has named these three mechanical syndromes: Postural, Dysfunction, and Derangement.
• Postural: End-range stress of normal structures
• Dysfunction: End-range stress of shortened structures
• Derangement: Anatomical disruption or displacement within the motion segment (All three mechanical syndromes, postural, dysfunction, and derangement, occur in the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar regions of the spine.)
Each distinct syndrome is addressed according to its unique nature with mechanical procedures, utilizing movement, and positions. The Derangement syndrome where the phenomenon of “centralization” occurs is most common.
Treatment
McKenzie treatment uniquely emphasizes education and active patient involvement in the management of their treatment in order to decrease pain quickly, and restore function and independence, minimizing the number of visits to the clinic. And if a problem is more complex, self-treatment may not be possible right away. However, a certified McKenzie clinician will know when to provide additional advanced hands-on techniques until the patient can successfully manage the prescribed skills on their own
