There are different stages in physiotherapy for managing your of pain, and usually it starts with assessment like all the other medical managements. This is followed by treatment and self management strategies. 

Assessment

The aims of the assessment process is to diagnose your condition, identify the type of pain, and highlight influencing factors upon pain such as stress, fatigue and poor health. The initial assessment allows us to identify the nature of the problem by listening to the story about your pain and other medical conditions. A thorough physical examination then allows us to look at the way you move, highlighting any restrictions or altered movement patterns. The synthesis of the information from the assessment provides a template based on which we could tailor a bespoke treatment programme for you.

Treatment

We tease out the mechanisms that underpin your pain and the influencing factors. The treatment, therefore, is focused, individualized, dynamic and created to meet your requirements.

Aims of the treatment programme:

1. To maximise your potential.

2. To provide you pain relief

3. To restore your activity levels

4. To facilitate your return to sports, hobbies, work & family life

5. To improve and maintain a healthy living

6. To optimise your quality of life.

Treatment Programme: We use range of interventions and therapies in managing your pain, such as Ultra Sound Therapy, Short Wave Diathermy, Interferential Therapy, TENS, and Infra Red Radiation.

Manual Therapy: Re-establishing your normal movement is a key part of the treatment process as it will reduce and relieve your pain. Treatments include a range of soft tissue massage techniques and joint mobilisation for different pain conditions and circumstances.

Therapeutic Exercise and Rehabilitation: Exercise is an important part of the rehabilitation process. The programme aims to improve the mobility of stiff joints, restore normal control of movement, improve fitness and ensure that you are physically & mentally ready for the demands of day-to-day activities, work and sports.

Mindfulness, Meditation, Breathing, & Relaxation: These skills are extremely useful to learn for pain control and relief. Mindfulness stems from Buddhist thought and is concerned with the present moment and being aware and non-judgmental. This approach certainly has a role in pain management.

Education: We will help you to understand why you have pain, why chronic pain differs from acute pain, why it persists and what you could possibly do.

Follow-up: we keep in touch after the programme to offer support, motivation and to answer any questions that you may have about your treatment, your exercises or your pain. Just to remind, self-managing your daily activities is a vital part of the treatment process, including work, exercise and postures. Healing comes from within, and we are here to help you along.

This article was written by Dr Pradeep Kumar, Consultant Physiotherapist at Axon Pain Management Centre, Hyderabad. It is posted with his consent.

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