Pain Management
Understanding Chronic and Acute Pain
Acute pain occurs suddenly, in response to an injury or unhealthy change in physical function. Pain from running into a doorway, for example, is acute pain. Chronic pain is pain that may have started suddenly, but persists long after. Some accidents and disease processes result in pain that lingers long after the event that triggered it, sometimes even when the tissue is completely healed. Chronic pain is a complex entity, as the longer we feel a particular pain, the more our bodies and brains change to accommodate it. It's as if chronic pain creates grooves in brain function that complicate attempts to reduce or stop it.
There are three basic components to the perception of pain: the sensory effect, which involves the electro-chemical perception of pain by the brain; the emotional effect, which is our immediate response to pain; and the sensory-emotional effects of chronic pain. Each of these components relates to a different part of the brain. Hypnosis, meditation and placebo effects, for example, work primarily on the emotional component. Manual techniques, such as massage, acupuncture and chiropractic, work on the sensory component, interrupting or mediating the pain signals before they get to the brain.
Chiropractic and Osteopathy treatment for pain (Anna Hindley/Ellie Weldon/Rob Brooks)
While organ dysfunction or physical injury may be the original cause of pain, nothing in the body happens without involvement of the spine. Any trauma to the body sufficient to cause injury will involve the skeletal structure in general, and the spine in particular. Likewise, disease causes muscular reactions. Muscles, anchored in the bones of the skeleton affect the spine too. Nerve impulses impeded at the spinal roots due to spinal dysfunction may prolong pain and dysfunction along the nerve pathways.
Chiropractic and Osteopathy are methods of adjusting the bones to improve skeletal alignment, in doing so the nervous system work more efficiently, relieving pain increasing mobility. This can relieve pain by removing the mechanical dysfunction that is the route source of the painful tissue and normalising the neurological input from the body to the brain and spinal cord.
Chiropractors and Osteopaths assess your lifestyle as well as your body, enabling an understanding of how you use your body and establishing factors which could be hindering your recovery; this helps to improve success in long-term issues to give great results. Chiropractic is based on the concept that given the opportunity, the mind and body can heal itself. In relieving some of the effects of chronic stress, chiropractic care provides just such an opportunity.
Research has found that chiropractic treatment can help such as certain types of headaches, low back pain, as well as joint pain. The NICE guidance (2009) for chronic low back pain for example suggests to GP’s that one option for treatment is spinal manipulation by Chiropractors.
Pain Management and Acupuncture (Anna Hindley/Ellie Weldon/Rob Brooks)
The use of acupuncture needling for the treatment of pain is supported by an ever-growing body of scientific evidence.
Scientific research has examined the effectiveness of acupuncture for various conditions. In recent years large studies have begun to emerge which have helped to support the benefits of acupuncture treatment. For example it is accepted that acupuncture can help tension-type headaches and pain of osteoarthritis, for example osteoarthritis of the knee, especially when it is used in conjunction with other manual therapies.NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) recommends that acupuncture should be available as a cost-effective short-term treatment for persistent non-specific low back pain and tension-type headaches.
Anna , Ellie and Rob are trained in pain relief acupuncture - and uses this therapy in conjunction with chiropractic and osteopathic adjustments to help restore function and reduce pain. This is one of the skills provided to give an integrated approach to pain and inflammation management.
Hypnotherapy for Chronic Pain (Aniko Hevizi)
Pain is a physical sensation that causes suffering and distress in a person. Hypnotherapy can help by addressing these sensations and the associated stress and anxiety that can come with it. Hypnotherapy works with the mind-body connection to change your perception of pain using the power of your own mind and imagination. Using hypnotherapy helps to break the cycle of emotional and physical symptoms that people can find themselves in and puts you back in control. It works in two stages - first, by changing your perception, thoughts and feelings of the experienced pain and second, teaches you how to use relaxation techniques as a coping tool for you to use in the future and at home.
Hypnotherapy can help with other factors around living with pain such as health anxiety, preparing for surgery or procedures and relaxation techniques to help with sleep problems. Pain is your bodies way of telling you something is wrong, so please check with your GP for an appropriate diagnosis before commencing with hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy works well alongside conventional medical treatment to promote positive health and has generally no side effects. It is effective for treating both acute and chronic pain. Hypnotherapy is a pleasant, relaxed experience which is like the state you feel just before falling asleep or are fully awake. You are always in control and the therapist cannot make you do anything you do not want to.
Acute pain occurs suddenly, in response to an injury or unhealthy change in physical function. Pain from running into a doorway, for example, is acute pain. Chronic pain is pain that may have started suddenly, but persists long after. Some accidents and disease processes result in pain that lingers long after the event that triggered it, sometimes even when the tissue is completely healed. Chronic pain is a complex entity, as the longer we feel a particular pain, the more our bodies and brains change to accommodate it. It's as if chronic pain creates grooves in brain function that complicate attempts to reduce or stop it.
There are three basic components to the perception of pain: the sensory effect, which involves the electro-chemical perception of pain by the brain; the emotional effect, which is our immediate response to pain; and the sensory-emotional effects of chronic pain. Each of these components relates to a different part of the brain. Hypnosis, meditation and placebo effects, for example, work primarily on the emotional component. Manual techniques, such as massage, acupuncture and chiropractic, work on the sensory component, interrupting or mediating the pain signals before they get to the brain.
Chiropractic and Osteopathy treatment for pain (Anna Hindley/Ellie Weldon/Rob Brooks)
While organ dysfunction or physical injury may be the original cause of pain, nothing in the body happens without involvement of the spine. Any trauma to the body sufficient to cause injury will involve the skeletal structure in general, and the spine in particular. Likewise, disease causes muscular reactions. Muscles, anchored in the bones of the skeleton affect the spine too. Nerve impulses impeded at the spinal roots due to spinal dysfunction may prolong pain and dysfunction along the nerve pathways.
Chiropractic and Osteopathy are methods of adjusting the bones to improve skeletal alignment, in doing so the nervous system work more efficiently, relieving pain increasing mobility. This can relieve pain by removing the mechanical dysfunction that is the route source of the painful tissue and normalising the neurological input from the body to the brain and spinal cord.
Chiropractors and Osteopaths assess your lifestyle as well as your body, enabling an understanding of how you use your body and establishing factors which could be hindering your recovery; this helps to improve success in long-term issues to give great results. Chiropractic is based on the concept that given the opportunity, the mind and body can heal itself. In relieving some of the effects of chronic stress, chiropractic care provides just such an opportunity.
Research has found that chiropractic treatment can help such as certain types of headaches, low back pain, as well as joint pain. The NICE guidance (2009) for chronic low back pain for example suggests to GP’s that one option for treatment is spinal manipulation by Chiropractors.
Pain Management and Acupuncture (Anna Hindley/Ellie Weldon/Rob Brooks)
The use of acupuncture needling for the treatment of pain is supported by an ever-growing body of scientific evidence.
Scientific research has examined the effectiveness of acupuncture for various conditions. In recent years large studies have begun to emerge which have helped to support the benefits of acupuncture treatment. For example it is accepted that acupuncture can help tension-type headaches and pain of osteoarthritis, for example osteoarthritis of the knee, especially when it is used in conjunction with other manual therapies.NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) recommends that acupuncture should be available as a cost-effective short-term treatment for persistent non-specific low back pain and tension-type headaches.
Anna , Ellie and Rob are trained in pain relief acupuncture - and uses this therapy in conjunction with chiropractic and osteopathic adjustments to help restore function and reduce pain. This is one of the skills provided to give an integrated approach to pain and inflammation management.
Hypnotherapy for Chronic Pain (Aniko Hevizi)
Pain is a physical sensation that causes suffering and distress in a person. Hypnotherapy can help by addressing these sensations and the associated stress and anxiety that can come with it. Hypnotherapy works with the mind-body connection to change your perception of pain using the power of your own mind and imagination. Using hypnotherapy helps to break the cycle of emotional and physical symptoms that people can find themselves in and puts you back in control. It works in two stages - first, by changing your perception, thoughts and feelings of the experienced pain and second, teaches you how to use relaxation techniques as a coping tool for you to use in the future and at home.
Hypnotherapy can help with other factors around living with pain such as health anxiety, preparing for surgery or procedures and relaxation techniques to help with sleep problems. Pain is your bodies way of telling you something is wrong, so please check with your GP for an appropriate diagnosis before commencing with hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy works well alongside conventional medical treatment to promote positive health and has generally no side effects. It is effective for treating both acute and chronic pain. Hypnotherapy is a pleasant, relaxed experience which is like the state you feel just before falling asleep or are fully awake. You are always in control and the therapist cannot make you do anything you do not want to.