When you’re in pain, you want a treatment option that works in 0.5 seconds. And even though instantaneous pain relief is hard to come by, there are plenty of ways that physical therapy can help reduce your pain in just one session. Not only can physical therapy help with current pain management, but it can also help your body by preventing worsening pain or injury in the future.
Read on to learn about the types of pain that physical therapy can treat as well as five reasons why it’s an effective way to reduce pain.
Types of pain that physical therapy can reduce after just one session
Pain can occur in almost every part of the body, and it can stem from an injury or as a symptom of a medical condition.
Many people who need physical therapy deal with chronic pain, which refers to pain that lasts longer than three months. Research shows that more than 20% of adults in the United States are living with chronic pain. There is also high-impact chronic pain, which affects more than 8% of adults in the United States.
The good news is that nearly every type of chronic pain can be treated with physical therapy, and it doesn’t take long. Most people feel reduced pain after just one appointment.
Types of pain that can be reduced with physical therapy include:
- Arthritis.
- Back pain.
- Foot and ankle pain.
- Hand and wrist pain
- Hip pain.
- Knee pain.
- Neck pain.
- Shoulder pain.
5 reasons that PT doesn’t take long to effectively reduce pain
Physical therapy is one of the best ways to reduce your pain through exercises, tools and hands-on techniques. It can tackle pain management from all sides, making it an effective treatment option for nearly any type of pain.
Reasons why physical therapy can effectively reduce pain include:
- Defining the source — If your pain isn’t connected to a medical condition that has been diagnosed by a doctor, it can be difficult to determine the cause of pain, especially if it’s coming from a broad area of the body such as the back or neck. Through assessments and movement tests, a physical therapist can help pinpoint the source of your pain to determine the correct techniques needed to reduce it.
- Focusing on the origin — When it comes to treating pain, it’s important to focus on the origin instead of other places where it’s manifesting. For instance, referred pain makes you feel like the pain is coming from a place other than its source. Physical therapy focuses on the root of your pain as opposed to other body parts where the pain may be perceived.
- Increasing range of motion — Pain does more than just cause uncomfortable aches in your body. It can also cause a reduced range of motion, which prevents you from having the mobility needed to complete your day-to-day responsibilities. By utilizing manual therapy and techniques like dry needling, physical therapy can increase your range of motion, which can be affected by pain during movements.
- Giving long-term results — Even though your pain can be reduced in just one physical therapy session, it’s often used as a long-term solution for pain management. Not only can you have multiple sessions to continue decreasing the pain each time, but the effects of the exercises and methods can have long-lasting results in the future.
- Showing safe exercises — While many people know that stretching exercises can help reduce pain, they may not know the proper execution. If you don’t do the exercises in the proper and safe way, you can risk increasing the pain and the possibility of an injury. A physical therapist can show you the correct way to safely and effectively execute the exercises needed to decrease your pain.
Alliance PTP is ready to help you find top-notch physical therapy
When you’re trying to determine how long physical therapy takes, it’s reassuring to know that it can often reduce your pain after just one appointment. At Alliance Physical Therapy Partners, we’re proudly bringing together physical therapy practices across the country to help people get the high-quality PT they need.
Want to see a physical therapist in person? We can put you in touch with an Alliance PTP partner that’s close to you and that can help you find effective physical therapy.
Not keen on in-person PT sessions or not close to an Alliance PTP partner? No worries. We also offer effective and affordable virtual physical therapy through our Agile Virtual Physical Therapy platform.
Come find help for your injury or chronic condition today!
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