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4 Ways to Manage Chronic Pain Without Medication
Chronic pain can make it hard to go about your daily life. Medications are not the only solution, and there are several alternative methods for managing pain.
Physical Therapy for Pain Management (Chronic Pain Therapy)
Our specialists offer the latest physical therapy for pain management, using evidence-based techniques for the most effective treatment.
When you experience chronic pain, it can make it hard to sleep, exercise or focus while at home or work. At Henry Ford Health, our licensed physical therapists offer chronic pain therapies, including personalized treatments and pain control strategies to improve your quality of life.
Physical therapy for pain management: Why choose Henry Ford Health?
- Whole-person care: Our chronic pain therapists offer a whole-person approach to treatment. We not only address your pain, but also assess the ways it’s affecting your physical, mental and emotional health, then work with you to develop a personalized care plan.
- Experienced team: Our chronic pain therapists complete ongoing pain management education. We put the latest evidence-based research into practice, ensuring you receive the most effective chronic pain therapy.
- Convenient access: With locations throughout southeast and south central Michigan and the greater Flint area, we make it easy to find chronic pain therapy near you. Our large staff and extensive network mean you can get timely treatment near home, work or school.
- Henry Ford Pain Center: We treat people who are referred to us by other specialists in neurology, orthopedics, primary care and pain medicine. Our physical therapists work within Henry Ford Health’s multidisciplinary pain clinic as part of a collaborative team.
- Integrated care and support: Physical therapy for pain management is a collaborative effort, and this includes working closely with your referring provider to ensure you receive complete care. We work together to adjust your care plan as needed, so you can get the most effective treatment. We also provide support throughout treatment to help aid your recovery.
- Streamlined referrals for complex cases: Underlying issues such as stress, depression or sleep deprivation may make your pain worse. In these cases, our chronic pain therapists can help streamline referrals to other specialists within Henry Ford Health, including integrative medicine, behavioral health and sleep medicine.
FAQs about physical therapy for pain management at Henry Ford Health
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What Chronic Pain Conditions Do You Treat?
We treat persistent pain (lasting longer than three months) due to pain syndromes, surgery or trauma. We also treat pain that doesn’t have a known cause or diagnosis. Our chronic pain therapists can help with the following conditions:
- Chronic spine pain
- Fibromyalgia
- Headaches
- Neuralgias
- Chronic joint pain
- Limb amputation
- Pain caused by neurologic conditions such as multiple sclerosis
- Chronic postoperative pain
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What Chronic Pain Therapies Do You Offer?
Pain is often caused by the way your nervous system processes pain signals. During physical therapy for pain management, we may use a variety of techniques to reset the communication between your body and brain, including:
- Education: Our chronic pain therapists use a multifaceted approach to help you understand why you’re feeling pain and how to help control it.
- Relaxation techniques: Chronic pain can have many causes, including stress from the normal pressures of daily life, or from specific life situations. Relaxation techniques such as progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, meditation, visualization and more may help alleviate pain.
- Manual therapy: With hands-on chronic pain therapy, our chronic pain therapists move, stretch and massage soft tissues and joints. Manual therapy can reduce pain sensitivity and inflammation.
- Exercises: We can teach you exercises that are specifically designed to address range of motion, flexibility, strength and endurance, which can boost endorphins and other natural pain relievers, as well as lower your pain sensitivity.
- Activity simplification: Our chronic pain therapists break activities down into manageable steps, showing you ways to move your body to perform each step with less pain.
- Functional training: With this technique, your physical therapist will teach you how to use the best movement patterns and positions for everyday activities to help control your pain.
We also offer other treatments such as electrotherapy and heat and cold therapies to help manage symptoms and promote healing.
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What Do I Need to Start Physical Therapy for Pain Management?
- Get a referral: A referral for physical therapy that’s dated and has been signed by a physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner within the last 90 days.
- Make an appointment: With this referral, you can schedule an appointment by calling one of our locations, or through your Henry Ford MyChart account.
- Provide your information: Either way, our team will gather information from you about your condition and referring provider, and will also verify your insurance coverage.
- Start your chronic pain therapy: Then you’ll be paired with the most appropriate specialist for your needs and start your physical therapy for pain management.
You should also plan to attend regularly scheduled chronic pain therapy appointments to ensure that you get the most out of treatment.