Pain is a natural and necessary part of being human; it is the body’s way of protecting you. Your response to pain is to find relief from it as quickly as possible; to seek professional help – perhaps from a chiro – or to simply take the weight off a sore leg.
Chronic pain is ongoing pain that is very difficult to find relief from. Living with chronic pain is debilitating. Long-term pain management stops you living your life; you can’t work, you can’t exercise, you can’t do the things you love and as a result many chronic pain sufferers understandably report feeling depressed.
When you visit us at Gateway to Wellness, we’ll help you in your search for chronic pain relief. We’ll work with you to provide chiropractic care for chronic pain that is tailored and supportive.
What is chronic pain?
Chronic pain is an ongoing and constant pain that lasts for more than three months. It is one of the most common reasons that adults seek medical care, and affects almost 21 per cent of Americans.
There’s a difference between chronic and acute pain. When you hurt yourself, your nerves carry a message to your brain from the injury to let your brain know and take action. We feel this as pain. This kind of pain is referred to as acute pain.
For those who suffer from chronic pain, this usual method of nerve-brain communication is disrupted.
There are two main differences between acute pain and chronic pain:
- Cause: Usually, acute pain has a clear cause – for example, an injury – whereas chronic pain may not.
- Duration: Acute pain lasts as long as it takes for the injury to heal, whereas chronic pain lasts for long stretches of time.
What causes chronic pain?
Chronic pain is a result of a disruption in the communication between your nerves and your brain. Either, the nerve signals that carry pain messages to the brain are interrupted, or the brain does not receive these messages properly.
There are a lot of things that can lead to chronic pain, including:
- tissue injury
- nerve injury
- a bone or joint injury
- cancer
- musculoskeletal conditions like arthritis or osteoporosis
- injury after surgery
- sports injuries
Or in some cases, there is seemingly no cause for the chronic pain.
Chiropractor care for chronic pain: how can chiro care help?
Chiropractic care is designed to get you back to optimal health. When you visit Gateway to Wellness, our chiros will work with you to determine the best treatment plan for chronic pain relief – this will begin with getting a thorough understanding of your medical history.
Following that, we’ll work with you to understand what treatment will work best for you – this could be a combination of manual manipulation, massage, or analyzing your range of movement.
Our hands on techniques will relieve tension in your body, improve your range of movement and mobility and ultimately help you find natural relief from your chronic pain.
Nerves run throughout your body and between the joints of your spine. Realigning your spine ensures that there is no pressure on these nerves that may be causing you pain.
Chiro care for chronic lower back pain
Our chiro care at Gateway to Wellness will help you find natural relief from your lower back chronic pain.
Studies show that spinal manipulation therapy is an effective and natural way to find chronic pain relief in the lower back.
As chiros, we take a holistic approach to your wellness – employing a variety of treatments depending on your needs, however spinal manipulation therapy one of the key aspects of our treatments.
There are many spine-focused treatments we can use to provide chronic pain relief for your lower back; from muscle relaxation to targeted manual adjustments.
Chiro care for chronic headaches
Suffering from a headache for more than fifteen days out of the month is considered chronic pain. At Gateway to Wellness, we’ll help you manage chronic headaches in a natural, effective and drug-free way.
Headaches are often caused by either a misaligned spine or tension in the body. As chiropractors, we’ll work with you to identify where you are holding tension. We’ll use soft tissue manipulation therapies to reduce the tension and improve spinal function. This will likely reduce the frequency and severity of your headaches.
Chiro care for chronic neck pain
Chronic neck pain may be caused by an old injury, arthritis, muscle inflammation or lifestyle factors. Along with chronic back pain, chronic neck pain is one of the most common types of chronic pain suffered by Americans.
A study on the effectiveness of chiro care for chronic neck pain reported that 90 per cent of patients reported being highly satisfied with the chiro care for chronic pain.
If you are suffering from chronic neck pain we will work with you to understand the potential causes and best treatments, including manual therapy, to help you find chronic pain relief.
When you make an appointment to see us at Gateway to Wellness, we understand that you are seeking relief from your chronic pain. We will provide you with chiro care for chronic pain to help you find relief but also provide you with whole person care, that will ensure you can get back to living your life to the fullest, as soon as possible.
