The Truth About Pain Management Techniques

Today there are many options being used as pain management techniques.

Early in my career when I was a physical therapy aide I discovered some very interesting things about pain management treatment.

I noticed that many of the most commonly used techniques like heat, ice, ultrasound, TENS (electronic muscle stimulation), massage, medications, were only providing patients temporary pain relief.

But, as soon as they tried to return to their active lifestyles it wasn't long before the painful symptoms came roaring back.

And, most of those who tried to 'just deal with it' or push through the pain ended up with a long list of increasing injuries.

After constantly researching the how's and why's about the most commonly used pain management techniques I finally uncovered the answer as to why they weren't more effective.

When a patient goes to the doctor's office or therapy clinic the doctor or physical therapist will attempt to treat the area of the body that is in pain.

For example, a patient with shoulder pain will be treated at the shoulder. A patient with knee pain will have their knee treated.

But, I realized that in almost every case the area of pain is only a symptom and not the actual cause of the pain.

For example, you can have lower back pain as a symptom but the actual cause of your lower back pain may not actually be your lower back as I'll explain in just a minute.

I realized that I was really on to something.

But, when I presented what I had discovered to some of the therapists I was horrified at what they told me.

Because of legal issues the patients had to be treated for the symptoms they were referred to the clinic for regardless of whether or not the symptoms were the primary cause of pain.

In other words, if a patient had shoulder pain that was primarily caused by weakness in their upper back, we still had to treat the shoulder and not the upper back.

The therapists weren't to blame, but rather the insurance companies.

This became more and more frustrating for me because our patients were depending on us to help them find a permanent solution to end their pain. And, it's not that what we were doing wasn't helping them.

But, they were being charged an arm and a leg in co-payments and medications without getting the most effective pain management care that could have made the biggest difference in living a life free of pain.

I started to think about how many people are going through needless surgeries that could have been prevented by treating the causes of pain not just the symptoms.

Another thing that bothered me about the pain management methods was some of the exercises these patients were being taught to perform.

Most of the exercises were either completely wrong because they were merely treating the symptoms rather than the causes of pain or the patients were not taught how to properly perform the exercises.

I have seen patients being told to perform leg extensions after having knee surgery.

Leg extensions might be alright for a body builder or a healthy person using them for aesthetic reasons but they are one of the worst exercises to do for knee pain because of the shear stress created across the knee joint.

They also increase the potential for muscle imbalances that lead to pain.

I've also witnessed patients being told to do lunges with their toes pressed into the floor which also creates tremendous knee joint stress.

I've also witnessed similar issues for people with shoulder, lower back and hip pain.

The Actual Causes Of Chronic Pain

The actual causes of chronic pain often are created by muscle imbalances that result in a host of painful symptoms. For example, you can have lower back pain as a symptom but the actual cause of your lower back pain isn't necessarily your lower back.

It can be due to muscle imbalances that cause your thigh muscles and hip flexors to overcompensate and because your hip flexors attach to each vertebrae in your lumbar spine you can get lower back pain.

Interesting isn't it?

And, it's like this for many other types of chronic pain and injuries.

It is therefore, vital to get a thorough assessment to determine the actual causes of your pain so you can begin a pain management treatment program designed to address your causes so you can eliminate or at least greatly reduce it.

A properly designed exercise program is (at least in my opinion) the best defense against chronic pain and injuries.

Exercise is an excellent pain management technique that can eliminate injuries, strengthen muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones, maintain joint health, enhance flexibility and so much more.