Pain neuroscience describes pain as an output of the brain in which the nervous system functions as an alarm for the brain about pain in the body and the brain interprets these signals to decide whether pain would be beneficial for healing, causing the nerves to increase their sensitivity in the injured area. In a patient with chronic pain, the nervous system remains hypervigilant, signaling to the brain that an area of the body is injured and painful, even when the tissue is no longer damaged. Combining physical therapy exercise and pain neuroscience education (PNE) helps chronic pain patients desensitize the sensitive chronic pain area through graded movement and understand the mechanism of pain in their body.

Arthritis, a chronic, progressive condition characterized by inflammation of the joints, is the leading cause of disability in the United States, affecting more than 50 million people. Physical therapists can help reduce arthritic symptoms, slow the progression of the disease, and create a customized, comprehensive program to help arthritis patients move safely and improve function, strength, and range of motion in the affected joints. However, there are numerous misconceptions about who is affected by arthritis and how to treat it effectively. Check out our post debunking 6 myths about arthritis!

Regular exercise can help you complete the stress response cycle and help your body return to homeostasis. The stress response system is a mechanism that is triggered by a threat to one’s well-being or survival, causing a cascade of protective physiological responses that prepare the individual to combat the threat or flee from it. While this is helpful in response to an acute stressor, a chronic stress response can have detrimental effects on your physical and mental health, contributing to disease, chronic pain, and anxiety. Exercise helps you complete the stress cycle by engaging your body in movement, which completes the flight response your body prepares for when encountering a stressor. Exercise can also be used therapeutically to help calm the chronic stress response and reduce chronic pain through graded low-impact exercise.

Chronic knee pain, which affects one in four Americans, can be debilitating and limit your function and mobility. Chronic knee pain involves ongoing pain, swelling, and sensitivity in the knee that lasts more than 4-6 months and can result from a traumatic injury that healed incorrectly or from medical conditions like osteoarthritis. Physical therapy can help you manage chronic knee pain long-term without the need for surgery to reduce pain and improve your mobility and function.

Chronic pain affects up to 28% of American adults each year and is one of the most common reasons adults seek medical care. Chronic pain develops when the nerves that communicate pain to the brain become hypersensitive, causing the brain to perceive that area of the body as a potential threat and therefore painful beyond the normal healing timeframe. Exercise is an effective way to manage chronic pain by building muscle strength, reducing pain sensitivity, and improving mobility through targeted strengthening, low-impact aerobic exercise, stretching, and aquatic therapy.

On the blog, Mangiarelli Rehabilitation physical therapist Bobby demonstrates exercises to relieve acute low back pain. Low back pain is the most common condition treated by physical therapists, affecting 30% of Americans each year. Low back pain can involve dull, burning, throbbing, sharp, or shooting pain in the lumbar spine and through the buttocks and leg. Physical therapy is the first line of treatment for low back pain. A physical therapist can improve and restore mobility in the low back as well as reduce low back pain without expensive surgery or pain medications.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain condition characterized by pain and tenderness throughout the body and extreme fatigue. It is considered a condition that causes central nervous system hypersensitivity and affects nearly five million Americans, the majority of whom are women. Physical therapy is a safe, non-pharmacological method to manage symptoms, reduce pain, improve function and quality of life, and help desensitize the chronic pain response of the nervous system using progressive therapeutic exercise, aquatic therapy, and manual therapy.

September is #PainAwarenessMonth. While pain is an important survival mechanism to protect an injured area of the body, chronic pain is persistent pain that lasts beyond the normal healing process. Chronic pain develops when the nerves that communicate pain to the brain become hypersensitive, causing the brain to perceive that area of the body as a potential threat and therefore painful. Physical therapy offers safe and effective treatment for chronic pain, reducing pain and improving mobility, strength, and function.

Pain neuroscience education offers patients a deeper understanding of the mechanism of pain in the body and our body’s processing of pain. Pain is a survival mechanism to protect an area of the body that the brain perceives as damaged. Physical therapy combined with pain neuroscience education provides patients an active role in their recovery and pain management and helps to reduce pain and restore patients to the highest possible level of activity, function, and quality of life.

Arthritis, the leading cause of joint pain in the United States, is a chronic, progressive condition causing inflammation, swelling, and stiffness in one or more joints. Winter weather can increase arthritic pain. To manage arthritis during winter, follow our 8 tips and work with our physical therapists to craft an individualized exercise and aquatic therapy program to improve your fitness and relieve arthritic pain this winter!

Chronic pain affects 100 million Americans and dramatically impacts an individual’s quality of life and physical function. Chronic pain is pain that persists for more than three months. After an injury heals, the body continues to send pain signals to the brain, resulting in chronic pain in the affected area. Physical therapy is one of the best methods to treat chronic pain for long-term pain management and improved quality of life without the need for medication. Check out our latest chronic pain infographic to learn more!

Nearly 80% of Americans experience back pain at some point in their lives. Misconceptions about back pain and proper treatment for it contributes to the prevalence of ongoing back pain and overspending on diagnostic tests, MRIs, medication, and surgery that can be avoided in most cases. Today, we debunk 7 myths about back pain and explain how physical therapy can help you manage chronic back pain.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain condition that involves generalized chronic musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, and tender-to-touch areas of the body. Physical therapy is a safe method to decrease pain and symptoms as well as improve fitness and quality of life. Physical therapists create an individualized treatment plan based on the patient’s symptoms and condition. Learn more about physical therapy treatment on the blog!

Neck pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal issues in the United States with 35% of the population experiencing chronic neck pain. Whether you are experiencing mechanical neck pain, a pinched nerve, or whiplash, physical therapy can help. Physical therapy is the most effective treatment for neck pain and includes manual therapy, dry needling, neck stretching and strengthening exercises, and posture improvement.

Knee pain is one of the most common orthopedic conditions that bring patients into physical therapy and the second most common cause of chronic pain in the United States. Knee pain is felt behind and around the kneecap, often during activities that place stress on the knee such as stair climbing, squatting, running, or walking while carrying a heavy load. Physical therapists are experts of the musculoskeletal system and are qualified to assess and treat knee pain, injuries, and conditions to reduce pain and restore function.

Low back pain is one of the most common reasons people seek physical therapy. At any given time, 25% of Americans report having experienced low back pain in the last three months. Physical therapy is a non-surgical, non-invasive treatment option for low back pain. A physical therapist can help improve and restore mobility and reduce your low back pain without the high costs of imaging scans, surgery, and medications. Staying active is an important aspect of successfully addressing your back pain. 

Arthritis is a chronic pain condition that involves swelling and tenderness in one or more joints. It is the leading cause of disability for American adults, affecting 54 million adults each year. Aquatic therapy is a safe, low-impact physical therapy option that allows a patient to exercise and build aerobic capacity with reduced pain. Aquatic therapy at the Mangiarelli Rehabilitation clinic heated pool involves specific exercises and aerobics performed in heated water.

Chronic pain is a condition that can dramatically affect and limit an individual’s activities, physical function, work, and daily life. For too long, chronic pain was treated with pharmacological methods and prescriptions for opioids became pervasive. In 2016, the CDC recommended that the preferred treatment for chronic pain is non-pharmacological methods, particularly physical therapy and exercise interventions. Physical therapy is an effective treatment for chronic pain, using exercise therapy, manual therapy, aquatic therapy, and dry needling to manage and reduce pain.

Nearly 80% of working Americans experience symptoms of back pain at some point in their lives. Early intervention for musculoskeletal pain like back pain has been shown to decrease health costs and improve recovery outcomes for the patient. Physical therapy not only will decrease medical costs for a patient with back pain, but also help restore movement and teach the patient how to minimize and manage pain in the future.