Why see a physiotherapist for pain?
Physiotherapists play an important role in helping you overcome the challenges of living with a pain condition. They are trained to assess, investigate and manage the different factors that contribute to the development and maintenance of your pain. Physiotherapists with specialised training in pain management take into account the bodily changes that occur as a result of your pain condition, as well as the impact of your thoughts and mood, and the way you interact with the people around you and your environment. Your Physiotherapist will collaborate with you to form a plan for your return to meaningful and enjoyable activities.
What can I expect at appointments?
During your first appointment, the Physiotherapist will aim to understand how your pain has developed. This may involve questions about the circumstances of the onset of your pain, and the impact subsequent changes have had on your life, like your ability to engage with day-to-day and leisure activities, work, hobbies, and your relationships with others.
Part of the assessment is a physical examination to assess the affected parts of your body and investigate the functional status of your muscles, nerves, joints and other relevant body structures.
It is also important for your Physiotherapist to know what you would like to achieve from your treatment.
Your physiotherapist will assess the functional capacity of your muscles, nerves and joints.
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Physiotherapists play an important role in helping you overcome the challenges of living with a pain condition. They are trained to assess, investigate and manage the different factors that contribute to the development and maintenance of your pain. Physiotherapists with specialised training in pain management take into account the bodily changes that occur as a result of your pain condition, as well as the impact of your thoughts and mood, and the way you interact with the people around you and your environment.
Your Physiotherapist will collaborate with you to form a plan for your return to meaningful and enjoyable activities.
Your occupational therapist will help you reengage with the activities that are meaningful to you using body- and mind-based de-sensitising strategies.
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Occupational Therapists use the therapeutic effect of engagement in activity to reduce pain. Occupational Therapists with specialist training in pain management will help you feel more confident and comfortable doing activities that you want and need to do.
Your Occupational Therapist will use a graded or paced approach that reduces the sensitivity of the nervous system.
Your psychologist will help you alter the way your brain processes pain sensations.
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Chronic pain is just one expression of the link between the mind and the body. Modern research into persistent pain shows that psychological and emotional elements can play a major role. These non-physical components cause the brain to ‘learn’ to be in pain and re-wire the body’s nervous system to be more sensitive to what in other circumstances would be normal situations and stressors.
Psychological treatment treats pain directly by addressing heightened mental and physical stress.
For many people with chronic pain, the nervous system has learnt to be hypersensitive and to overprotect in response to normal situations, inputs and stressors. Effectively managing stress is an important part of working with chronic pain.
Psychological treatments for pain can help alter how your brain processes pain sensations. One way to do this is to learn to challenge any unhelpful thoughts you have about pain. Negative, unhelpful, unrealistic thoughts can lead to increased perception of pain, anxiety, anger and depression, social isolation and withdrawal, lower activity, over-reliance on pain medications and poor sleep.
Your nurse is the link between all the providers involved in your care. They work full-time to support you.
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The pain journey that each patient travels is entirely unique. While everyone will need to see a doctor, some will also need to see an Occupational Therapist or Psychologist. Some patients will start new medication whereas other patients will need to have a surgical procedure.
The nurse’s role is to help guide the patient along every step. They're involved in everything from helping to co-ordinate appointments and helping the doctor with procedures, to simply being there to answer your questions.
Our specialist pain nurses are well trained and keep up to date with best practice. They are educated in all things to do with pain, so if there is anything happening in our patients’ lives, the nurses feel confident in being able to assist them through it.
Although you won't have an appointment with the nurses specifically, they are available and working on your behalf in the background. Because the nurses work full-time, they are often an excellent resource for the other team members at Pain Specialists Australia and a great point of contact, whether via phone or email.
Subsequent physiotherapy sessions may involve the following:
Enhancing your understanding of your pain condition
Greater knowledge about your pain will allow you to better understand your symptoms and arm you with strategies shown to be effective in pain management.
Practising self-management strategies that will enable you to control your pain
Consistently applying active strategies can help with improving your pain, reduce its impact on your life and improve your overall function in the long-term.
Optimising function with independent exercises
These home exercises are aimed to reverse the secondary effects of having pain like weakness, stiffness, poor balance and fatigue.
Exploring ways to return to much-loved activities that you currently have difficulty with or are unable to do
The physiotherapist will guide you through a graded approach of return to activities.
Utilising appropriate pain relief
This is a measured use of manual therapy to facilitate improvement in your capacity to move and function.
“Your Physiotherapist will collaborate with you to form a plan for your return to meaningful and enjoyable activities.”
