Chronic Pain Treatment
Chronic Pain Counselling
It is vital to understand that on-going pain can be due to the way the brain processes information from the body. Persistent pain can also be due to the nervous system being sensitive.
Physiotherapists are trained to help you to manage your chronic pain and to educate you about how the nervous system and the brain's processing of information can contribute to your pain that you are feeling.
Kinesio tape
Soft tissue techniques can alter muscle fibres, tendon and ligament fibre orientation and connective tissue tensile strength.
Kinesio Tape is a rehabilitative taping technique that is designed to facilitate the body's natural healing process while providing support and stability to muscles and joints without restricting the body's range of motion. This tape is used to aid in rehabilitation of a muscle/joint, pain management and to manage swelling or edema.
Rehabilitation
Individual Exercise and Rehabilitation Programmes
An exercise or a rehabilitation programme is administered to each patient to meet his or her individual needs. This may be to manage an injury, acute or chronic pain, stress, chest conditions or a sports related injury.
EMG machine
An EMG is a device used for evaluating and recording the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles. This is used for the rehabilitation of muscle activation, strength and endurance during a rehabilitation program.
Sensorimotor Rehabilitation
A dysfunction in the sensorimotor control of the neck may be present after a whiplash type injury or a period of prolonged pain in the neck. In other words, there is a dysfunction in the proprioception/balance of the neck that may lead to further neck pain and dizziness. There are specific rehabilitation exercises such as strengthening of deep neck stabilisers and retraining the balance/proprioception of the neck to restore normal sensorimotor control of the neck.
Pressure Biofeedback for Rehabilitation of Stabilisers and Motor Control
Pressure Biofeedback is a device used to provide feedback to ensure quality and precision in exercise performance and testing. It is used during retraining and strengthening of the deep neck stabilisers and abdominal stabilisers.
Joint Specific Mobilisation and Manipulation
All joints in the body have been designed to move in a certain way for optimal functioning of the body as a whole. When a person experiences pain, discomfort or has decreased mobility in their joints, caused by many different factors including an autoimmune disease, immobility, pain or injury, it is necessary to retrain and move the joints in the correct pattern again. A Physiotherapist is highly qualified to be able to regain movement in joints and retrain correct movement patterns with the use of joint specific mobilisations or manipulations. This can increase range of movement of the joint, decrease pain and improve the patient's quality of life.
Soft Tissue Techniques
Soft tissue techniques can alter muscle fibres, tendon and ligament fibre orientation and connective tissue tensile strength.
Myofascial release specifically targets the muscle fibres, releasing taut bands, muscle spasms and stretching stiff muscles.
Massage is a superficial technique used to relax muscles in tension and prevent severe DOMS (Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness).
Cross Frictions is a deep technique most commonly performed on muscle tendons close to the musculo-tendinous junction to correct the fibre alignment and break down any thickenings or adhesions in the tendon.
Dry needling therapy
Dry Needling involves insertion of a filament needle into the muscle in the region of a trigger point/muscle spasm. The aim of Dry Needling is to achieve a local twitch response to release muscle tension and pain.
