Treatment Of Chronic Pain

By Heather Allen, MS, PT

Journeying into Healing, LLC

. http://www.journeyingintohealing.com/

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Treatment Of Chronic Pain

In the past month I have spoken with a number of people in the community about their chronic pain and lack of progress after a significant period of time despite various treatment methods applied. As anyone would be, they were very frustrated and fatigued from trying so hard for so long and remaining unrewarded in their healing efforts. It is an unfortunate thing to see and, as a healthcare practitioner, I feel for these people who are stuck in their journey to recovery. If you are one of these individuals who have fallen short, I would like to offer you some hope.

Traditional medicine is a well planned out and organized system with staff ready and willing to help you. You typically begin with your primary care physician, and depending on the cause of your pain, can be referred to a specialist for further examination. There is amazing technology that looks inside you; at your spine, joints, and soft tissue, finding areas of damage and determining need for repairs. There are physical therapists, chiropractors, and others to assist your recovery. You're given exercises to do, you are stretched and moved, and you're given recommendations for what to do at home and work to get you back on your feet.

For some of you however, despite your diligence and follow through, your pain continues. And as your pain continues, your frustration builds, adding a whole new dimension to your disability. You want to understand how it's possible to see so many providers, do so many exercises, follow through on all the “right things” and still have pain. Here enters the myofascial web, and within this web can be the roots of the chronic pain that so many people experience.

Our fascia is a connective tissue that surrounds all that is inside of us and does so as one complete structure, no beginning, no ending. This specialized structure is unable to be seen with traditional testing, like a see-through shrink wrap of our insides, leaving the damage it may contain invisible to the eye. Traditional medicine is just beginning to take notice of this structure and its immense importance in our pain and the functioning of our bodies. Any injury, no matter the severity, results in damage to the fascial network. If you are a chronic pain patient, your relief may lie within your fascial web and the hands of the skilled therapist who practices myofascial release.