1 in 5 people 45 years old and over are living with persistent pain. Osteopathy is an allied health service that can help to manage and recover from acute and chronic pain.
It’s National Pain Week, an initiative lead by Chronic Pain Australia. As Osteopaths, we regularly encounter people who are facing pain on a daily basis whether from injury, illness or simply wear and tear. In fact, 1 in 5 people 45 years and old are experiencing persistent pain – that’s constant pain throughout their everyday life.
Understanding pain
Establishing the root cause of the pain and a treatment plan to manage and recover from chronic pain can be a challenging and time-consuming process.
The first step to understanding and overcoming pain is to ask yourself these questions:
- Why am I experiencing pain?
- What is causing my pain?
- How do I become pain-free?
You might not know the answers to these questions, so it is important to seek guidance from your health professional.
If you can understand your pain experience, together we can get on track to overcoming it.
What chronic pain sufferers want you to know
Chronic pain is often out of sight, hidden from the view of others. It’s often difficult for others to understand how living in persistent discomfort impacts their lives. Chronic pain can be debilitating, affecting people on both a physical and emotional level.
According to the Australian National Pain Survey 2020, there are several things chronic pain sufferers want you to know about their pain:
- We are not one size fits all
- Believe us when we say we are in pain
- Pain is real, debilitating and exhausting
- Just because we try to function normally day-to-day doesn’t mean we are pain-free
- Understand that we don’t like using strong pain medication but sometimes it is necessary to assist us to live a somewhat productive and worthwhile life
- Pain affects all areas of our health and lives
- Living with chronic pain can be isolating and depressing
Chronic pain sufferers also describe the value of allied health professionals, such as osteopaths, in assisting them to live with and ultimately overcoming the pain. As described by the sufferers themselves, these professionals can:
- Help me move
- Help me cope with daily pain
- Allow me to have a life outside of the pain
- Make my life easier
How Osteopathy can help with chronic pain
As Osteopaths, we are trained to help explore and understand the root cause of chronic pain. Through in-depth questioning, we can help establish causation for the pain and get a greater understanding of your overall health picture.
Whole Body Health and Wellness Osteopaths work to help restore your body’s natural state of health. Where appropriate, we use manual therapy techniques such as soft tissue release, stretching, joint articulation, joint manipulation and cranial osteopathy. We recognise that everyone’s pain experience is individual and as such, we focus on how your bones, joints, muscles, nerves, circulation, connective tissue and internal organs function as a holistic unit.
In addition to our hands-on treatment, we often prescribe at-home exercise or stretch programs to continue progression outside the treatment room and get you one step closer to being pain-free.
The journey to overcoming pain is individual
The time it takes to gain relief and ultimately overcoming pain will differ from one person to the next. That’s why the treatment and management of chronic pain conditions at Whole Body Health and Wellness are individually tailored to you, your complaint and your lifestyle.
Depending on your goals and expectations of treatment, you may choose to undergo frequent and shorter appointments of 30 minutes initially or until the pain has become more manageable. This can be followed by maintenance treatments that are further spaced out and reflective of your ongoing treatment needs.
If you are suffering from chronic pain or a complex condition, you may wish to take up our new Extended Appointment. This 50-minute appointment allows our Osteopaths to further explore your pain presentation or treat additional problems.
At Whole Body Health and Wellness, we value individualised and holistic care. We aim to work together with you to design a management plan that will help you achieve your goals and bring you long term relief.
Explore our services here or click to book an appointment now.