Pain Management
Treating the person, not just the body
The mere mention of Pain stirs up dread and apprehension in us. It is something to be avoided at all costs. Pain is, however, a part of our lives, so our management of pain deeply influences our quality of life.
Remember the time when we accidentally touch a hot pot, or something sharp, only to quickly retract our hand on reflex? Our body senses danger, and pain is our body’s way of protecting ourselves from further harm. A lot of times, pain communicates to us that something is wrong with how we are carrying out our activities- perhaps our posture is wrong , or that we have over-exerted our body and we must allow it to rest.
When there is pain, our response to it matters a lot. It affects our perception of pain and how we cope with it.
Pain, if not managed well, can evolve into a vicious cycle of physical and emotional distress, fear and avoidance of movement, which will likely lead to more aches and pain from lack of exercise and increase in tension and stress. Pain management is a complex, multi-disciplinary, multi-faceted approach in which Physiotherapy plays an integral part of by directly addressing the physical aspect of it.
To manage pain, we need to understand what your pain is, appreciate its complexities, come up with ways and means of controlling it, and adapt or learn new ways of doing things. Our eventual goal is for you to overcome it, or adapt and accommodate better to it.
Understanding Pain: What is it?
These are the various types of pain in general:
Nociceptive Pain : the most common type of pain we experience. It is pain from physical (tissue) damage. For eg. sprains, burns and fractures. Pain is signaled by pain receptors (nociceptors) located mostly in our skin or in our various organs.
Inflammation Pain: it usually presents itself as redness, swelling, tenderness and warmth. It often happens after an injury as our body senses a tissue damage and helpful substances are sent to the injury site to begin the body’s natural healing process.
Nociplastic Pain: pain without physical (tissue) damage. For eg. backache or headache caused by poor posture or tenseness from stress. Chronic pain - pain that persists beyond 3 months - may also lead to nociplastic pain in the form of Fibromylgia or chronic fatigue.
Neuropathic Pain: arises from an injury to a nerve or a malfunctioning nervous system. You will typically experience a shooting pain, burning sensation, pins & needles or numbness. Some of its causes include diabetes, auto-immune diseases or nerve compression from a herniated disc.
Helping You Understand Your Pain
Pain is unique to each person. The way it develops in us and affects us also depends on our lifestyle, pre-existing illnesses, our genetic make-up, our previous experiences with it, and our environment; namely, how others respond to your pain. We will explore these various factors with you to gain a better understanding of how to help you and set realistic, reasonable expectations. We will also work closely with your healthcare team eg. doctor, psychologist or caregiver to give you the best care and support.
We will identify the type of pain you have, its causes, and discuss with you on the various modes of treatment appropriate to your condition. We will explore what impedes your rehab plan and figure out ways to overcome them. It could be fear of more pain as you exercise more, or lifestyle changes arisen from the pain.
Furthermore, we will incorporate relaxation techniques through increased body awareness. You will be shown breathing exercises and posture correction to help your body become less tensed. Through movement study and exercises, we will help you develop better habits to carry out your daily activities.
In cases where pain cannot be completely eradicated, we will help you to minimize its effects, explore alternatives to your activities and the way you carry them out, so you can go about your daily functioning the best you can.