Physiotherapy helps people with long term/persistent pain to better understand their condition, become more active, improve confidence, work towards their goals and increase overall quality of life.
A lot of people in persistent pain become deconditioned, due to a period of inactivity, for example, following an injury or illness. A personalised rehabilitation programme aims to restore mobility, strength and endurance, enabling a return to activities that may have been reduced or stopped.
What will the sessions involve?
- Education to enable a full understanding of the pain and reduce fear around it
- Personalised and graded exercise
- How to prioritise, plan and pace out the day/week to avoid a boom/bust approach to activity and stabilise symptoms
- Advice and support to improve sleep
- Stress management techniques to help break the pain/stress cycle
- Mindfulness practice as a tool to tune into the body, encourage acceptance, and to help let go of any struggle against the pain
- Setting goals around the things that are important to you
- Hands-on treatment as appropriate to reduce pain and sensitivity
- Acupuncture to reduce pain and spasm (see below)
- Support and guidance around staying in, or returning to work
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is one of many skills used within physiotherapy to reduce pain, muscle spasm, aid sleep and encourage the body’s natural healing processes.
The approach taken by Integrative Physiotherapy is based on the best available evidence and clinical guidelines, for example, a course of acupuncture is recommended in the 2021 NICE guidance to help with chronic primary pain.
Integrative Pain Programme
If you are looking to make significant changes in your life, then committing to a course of treatment and immersing yourself in the process will enable you to see much better results than attending for ad hoc sessions.
The pain physiotherapy programme takes place initially over 8 one-hour sessions, spread out as appropriate (and will be personalised to you as required).
What does the programme include?
- Pre- and post- questionnaires and physical measures to monitor your progress
- Information and discussions around understanding pain, activity management, sleep hygiene, stress management and mindfulness practice
- Support on how to incorporate physical activity into your day, without flaring up the pain, and grading this up appropriately
- A personalised and progressive home exercise programme to improve mobility, strength, balance, and endurance
- Coaching to help you to set and work towards regular values-based goals, and getting back to the things that you enjoy
- Putting together a flare-up plan so you are well equipped to effectively deal with them
Book a Free 20-minute Introductory Call
This call is an opportunity to ask any questions, and for me to find out more about you and the kind of help you are looking for. Together we can discuss the prospect of working together, and how this might look.